GREAT Easter Egg Hunt Guide: Pt 2 SUPPLIES!

Here we are in my second installment of my Essential Guide to organising a GREAT Easter Egg Hunt!  If you are looking for the first post please click here  for part 1.

In this installment we are focusing on the supplies you'll need to gather in advance of Easter weekend.  It's easy to walk in to a shop and be overwhelmed with all the options and end up with stuff which doesn't all work together.  Also it is annoying to shell out for baskets and realise you need to buy some more the following year again as those you bought weren't quite right.  It is also a reality that the shops are shut on Easter Sunday so you have to be organised and get everything bought in good time!  So here is my take on the essentials and what to look for in your Egg Hunt purchases.

Collecting baskets, buckets or bags 

You will need one of these for each participant in your Egg Hunt for them to collect the items around the trail.  There is lots to consider when choosing your easter baskets, as these can be re-used year on year, so I have done a full guide on what to look for in buying your Easter Egg Hunt Basket here.  However, spoiler alert... my favourite item to use are seaside buckets!

Small items for 'on the trail 

So there is a big debate on going 'chocolate-free' for Easter.  I don't want to get in to it all here, but here is my blog post on why I won't be going chocolate-free for Easter any time soon.  Therefore I highly recommend some small chocolates for the trail. 

I think it's best for egg hunt chocolates to be individually wrapped.  Don't get me wrong, I love a Cadbury's mini egg however the risk of melting in a sweaty hand or falling out of the basket as they tear around means that I recommend the little foil covered chocolate eggs for a bit more protection. 

I also like that you can colour code them so each player only gets to collect their 'colour' should you choose to.  I get them from Amazon these are my budget option or or they are usually good from a discount supermarket or superstore. 

I also lay out some slightly larger items like easter bunnies and the classic Cadbury creme eggs randomly as bonuses as it keeps the frisson of excitement going!  One idea I got from a friend for older children is to have some little 'chicks' hidden around the route and if they collect them all the children get an added bonus - this is quite a fun way to low the kids down!

Egg Hunt Clues 

To paraphrase Shakespeare: the clues are the thing!  They need to be just hard enough to offer a bit of challenge but also not too difficult that they never make it round!  This balance is difficult to strike and will depend on the age and interest level of your participants.  If you're a bit creative you can write your own.  I recommend 'fill the blanks' clues where they can work out what the answer is from the anagram and the clue itself.  Remember to consider the size of the clues so they aren't too small for littles one to read or too big to successfully hide.  If this all sounds like too much work my business specialises in ready made Easter Egg Clues for both indoor and outdoor (or both) which can just just be placed in the places you want the trail to visit.

Small plastic eggs 

Now these are not an 'essential' but I think it makes sense to use these.  Basically you can hide the clue and the little foil wrapped eggs inside a little plastic egg which the hunters then have to find.  As these are quite small and easy to hide it is fun to add a level of challenge as the kids get older to put these in more and more obscure places.  You can have the clue in an obvious place but the accompanying chocoalte require a lot of searching.  If you have children of different ages and abilities on the hunt you can instruct children to only collect plastic eggs of one colour meaning you can vary the challenge within the hunt for different ages.  The four year old can have it in an obvious place but the 9 year old has to look under the bed!  These are an investment and can used every year so worth buying.  These are the ones we have bought from amazon:

The end of trail 'loot' 

Now this is very much in the eye of the beholder!  You can make it is single large easter egg or another basket filled with a range of goodies.  It can be nice to include a soft toy or other tangible item to keep as a memento of the easter - we usually pick up a little easter bunny, or duck, but our son is still small.  It can also be fun to include some activity or ongoing game to play together as part of the this end 'stash'.  Maybe a new family board game or we also sell little easter themed games like 'Easter Traditions True or False' or 'Easter Charades' which keeps everyone together and having fun.

Once you've collected all bought all your supplies you're ready to plan your Easter Egg Trail!   I've dedicated a whole post to this topic so click here to go on to the next step of the series