Easter Egg Hunt Ideas

Not everyone has an expansive outdoor area to host an Easter egg hunt. Even if you do bad weather can force your Easter party activities inside. Indoor egg hunts can work well when the hunters are young and limited in number but it is easy to run out of good places to hide eggs. Using cutout paper Easter eggs for your indoor hunt instead of real or plastic eggs opens up many more potential hiding spots to challenge your little egg hunters. After all, when a game is too easy it is not as much fun.

The Setup: All you need to do is to cut out eggs from different colors of construction paper. You can make them all the same size or a variety of sizes. Small eggs can be useful for hiding in particularly sneaky places(maybe tape one to the bottom of the TV remote). If you decorate them or how much you decorate them beyond what is necessary it up to you. You can simply use colored construction paper eggs for a quick and easy set up or if you want more decorative eggs you can add colors and designs with crayons, makers or even paint. If you decide to really go all out you can glue on pictures or add some scrapbooking decorations. To add a craft to your party, instead of you decorating the eggs you can provide the kids with art supplies and let them decorate the eggs.

Once you have your eggs ready grab a roll of clear tape and start hiding. You will not need the tape for every hiding place. You can easily hide a paper egg under the magazines on your coffee table, in a kitchen drawer or between two books on your bookshelf without tape. But the tape does come in handy if you want to tape an egg to the bottom of your coffee table, drawer or bookshelf.

The Rules: Give each participant a basket to keep their collected eggs and turn them loose just like a traditional Easter egg hunt. The only difference with the paper eggs is that you want to help make sure that they remove the tape from any egg before putting it in their basket. If they leave the tape on it can stick to other eggs in the basket and be bothersome.

First it is important to clarify that the golden egg does not actually have to be golden. It is merely a term used to represent a special egg with a super-duper prize. How you designate an egg as the golden egg depends on what type of egg you are using.

Real Eggs: If possible wrap the egg in gold foil. If that is not an option you can extravagantly decorate the egg. If all else fails wrap the egg in aluminum foil and call it a “Silver Egg” instead of golden.

Plastic Eggs: Since finding a single golden plastic egg might be more trouble than it is worth, the Willy Wonka “Golden Ticket” method is a good option. Take a slip of paper and decorate it ornately using as much golden as possible. Put the golden ticket in a normal egg. The person who finds the golden egg will not know they won until they open the egg.

Paper Eggs: If possible wrap the egg in gold foil. If that is not an option, decorate a paper egg with as much gold as possible and label it the “Golden Egg”. Alternatively, much like the real egg option you can wrap it in aluminum foil and call it a “Silver Egg” instead of golden.

However you make your golden egg be sure to show it(or the Golden Ticket) to your egg hunter before the hunt so they know exactly which egg to look out for while hunting.

The Rules: While playing any other Easter egg hunt rules set, simple add in a golden egg with a very special prize that goes to whoever find it. Be sure to pick an extra difficult hiding place so the drama of who is going to find the golden egg has a chance to build.

As a Secondary Egg Hunt: This game works very well as a secondary egg hunt, meaning a hunt to be held after your main egg hunt. The kids should already have a nice amount of loot and winning the secondary hunt would just be a bonus. Simply hide only the golden egg and start the hunt. Whoever finds the egg is the winner and gets a special prize.

The Easter Weasel Scavenger Egg Hunt: Playing this game, which must be played before your main hunt, yields a special egg as a reward which works perfectly as a golden egg for your main Easter egg hunt.

Kids can be very sensitive about fairness. Putting a limit on the maximum number of eggs any one player can find assures every player of getting a good amount of eggs. This is also a handy way to make sure younger players get their fair share without the older kids gobbling all the eggs up.

The Rules: Set a limit to the maximum number of eggs each player can find. Once a player has found their limit they either sit out while the other hunters find their eggs or help some of the younger participants to find eggs. So if you have six player and an egg limit of ten eggs each, you would hide a total of 60 eggs.

Optional Rule Addition: If these rules sound a little too fair, you can add in a bonus round. Play the game with the normal rule set, but hide more eggs than the total needed for each kid to find their limit. So if you had six players and a limit of ten eggs each(a total of 60 eggs), you could hide 80 eggs and there would be twenty left for the bonus round. Once all of the egg hunters has found their limit everyone rejoins the hunt to find the bonus eggs.

A Quick Disclaimer: This game should only be played as a secondary egg hunt, meaning a hunt to be held after your main egg hunt. The major focus should be on the kids, the Reverse Egg Hunt just gives you some bonus fun.

The Rules: After your main egg hunt have each kid hide the eggs in their Easter basket while the adults are off somewhere they cannot watch. If you are using plastic eggs tell the kids to be sure they have taken their candy out before hiding. Once all of the eggs are hidden the adults come out and search for the eggs. The grown up that finds the most eggs is the winner and gets a prize, perhaps a night of free babysitting.

Each egg hunter is allowed to find a predetermined number of eggs, each with a point value. Once all of the players have found their limit the point value of each egg is added up and the person with the highest point total is the winner. This game is a good option if you are looking for fairness since the winner is completely determined by luck.

The Setup: Since this game has an egg limit you are going to have to do some math yourself to determine how many eggs to use. You want to shoot for an egg limit of around eight eggs per player. That is enough to insure that one or two high point eggs does not guarantee a win and not so many that the hunt itself becomes a chore. So multiply the number of egg hunters by eight and prepare that many eggs for the game. If you cannot do eight eggs be sure that the total number of eggs is the exact number you need for each player to reach the limit. So if you have six players and your egg limit is seven you will need 42 eggs(6×7=42).

To prepare the eggs, give each egg a point value of 1-5. The method of assigning the value will change depending on what type of egg your are using. If you have real eggs or paper eggs write the number on the egg itself with a permanent marker, be sure to give ample time to dry. With plastic eggs, write the number on a slip of paper and put it inside the egg.

Sometimes it is a concern that some of the players might be tempted to not pick up an egg they find if they see that it has a low point value or even rehide the egg if they have picked it up. You can remove this temptation with a little duct tape.

Real Eggs: Put a piece of tape over the number once the marker has dried.
Paper Eggs: Write the number on one side of the egg and tape a second egg onto the first to cover the number. Make sure you do no tape the number itself since the tape could pull the number off when the eggs are separated.
Plastic Eggs: Put the slip of paper with the number inside the egg and tape the egg closed.

Explain to the players that they are to pick up every egg they find until they reach their limit and that no tape is to be removed.

The Rules: Each player hunts eggs until they have reached their egg limit. At that point encourage them to help the others find eggs until everyone has their limit. Once all players have their eggs, add up the points and the person with the highest point total wins.

As a Secondary Egg Hunt: This game works very well as a secondary egg hunt, meaning a hunt to be held after your main egg hunt. The kids should already have a nice amount of loot and winning the secondary hunt would just be a bonus.

With Teams: An alternate method is playing the game with teams where each player find their egg limit but it is the total points of the team that determines the winner.

Girls vs. Boys: If you are lucky enough to be able to have close to balanced teams of girls and boys this game is a natural fit. If the teams are not exactly even adjust the egg limit of individual players so that the total number of eggs for each team ends up even. Once everyone has collected their egg limit the gender with the highest point total wins.

hile not a good fit for all Easter parties, having a hunt with a sole winner works great when all(or almost all) of the egg hunters are close in age. It really raises the stakes and adds excitement. This is a great option for teens and tweens, but is not recommended younger kids and toddlers.

The Rules: Hide your eggs, give the kids their baskets and turn them loose. Whoever finds the most eggs is the sole winner and gets a big prize. You can give the other egg hunters a small participation prize, but the whole point of Winner Take All is that you have one big winner.

As a Secondary Egg Hunt: This game works very well as a secondary egg hunt, meaning a hunt to be held after your main egg hunt. The kids should already have a nice amount of loot and winning the secondary hunt would just be a bonus. Collect up all of the eggs from the previous hunt, making sure that any plastic eggs have the prize removed, and hide the eggs a second time. It is that simple, you are ready to go. You can even repeat the game as a third egg hunt if your guests are still wanting more and you have a prize left over.

A lot of Easter parties are family affairs with a limited number of kids to participate in the egg hunt. This can present a real problem when the egg hunters are of a variety of ages. If you have three year old little Nicky who is preparing for his first Easter egg hunt and cousin Sarah who at nine is an egg hunt veteran both looking for the same eggs it will be tough for little Nicky to compete.

The Rules: To level the playing field assign a specific color of egg to each participant. All of the blue eggs are for little Nicky while the yellow eggs are only for cousin Sarah. This removes any confusion about which eggs are fair game for the older kids and guarantees that each egg hunter is going to get their fair share of loot. Not only can this encourage a spirit of cooperation with hunters helping each other out(Hey Nicky, there is a blue egg over here!), but it also allows you to cater the prizes to each participant. If you know that cousin Sarah loves jellybeans, you can make sure that a lot of jellybeans end up in the yellow eggs.

The obvious downside of this type of hunt is that things become difficult if you have more egg hunters than options of egg colors. If this happens you can assign a color to a group of players. For example if you have three kids ages eight to ten, assign the color yellow to all three of them. But, if you do this make sure that you have three times as many yellow eggs.

The Story: When you went to get the Easter eggs for the egg hunt you where shocked to discover that they were missing. All that was left was a note explaining that someone(or something) called the Easter Weasel has hidden your basket of eggs and if you want them back you must follow his clues to the location of the stolen eggs. You must rally the support of all of your party guests to work together to find the eggs and save Easter.

The Prep Work: With any scavenger hunt the success depends on the quality and creativity of the clues. Take some time to plan a path for the hunt and then one by one write out the clues that lead the hunters to each spot. You want it to be somewhat challenging but not so hard that your younger guests are so confused that they feel left out. Once you are done number each clue in order and then make a master list of exactly where to place each clue by number. Since it might be difficult for you to get away to place the clues during your party you may need to enlist the help of an ally. Having a detailed master list will make the job much easier for your helper.

The Set Up: Put all of the Easter eggs for your egg hunt in a big basket. Place the basket where your guests can see it as they arrive so they know what they are looking for later. About half an hour before you want to start the game move the basket of eggs to a bedroom or someplace out of the way so the Easter Weasel can steal the eggs unseen.

You or your ally should place all of the clues in their location taking care to use tape or some method to insure that the notes are going to stay put. Once everything is ready, checked and double checked, it is time to steal the eggs. Take the basket of eggs from where you placed it earlier and hide it in the final spot of your scavenger hunt. Add a special egg(could be a golden egg) on top with an extra special prize inside. Place the final note which congratulates your guests on successfully winning the game and explains that as a reward the Easter Weasel has given you this special egg to add to your egg hunt.

Once everything is ready, make a scene to get the attention of your guests. Explain that the basket of eggs is missing and that there was a note left behind. When all eyes are on you read the first note left by the Easter Weasel to get the scavenger hunt started.

During the Hunt: Join in with all of the hunters and be ready to push them in the right direction if they get confused. If you have done your prep work and set up things should go smoothly. Once the basket of eggs is found it is time hide the eggs for your normal Easter egg hunt. You can be sure that all of the little hunter are now going to be focused on finding that special egg.

Sample First Note:

I have your eggs, I do! I do!
Hidden away where no one can see,
No Easter egg hunt for you! For you!
Unless you carefully, listen to me.
I love to play games, I do! I do!
So here is your chance to get on the right track,
I leave for you this clue! This clue!
Follow it wisely if you want your eggs back.

-The Easter Weasel

Your first clue is: (add your first clue)

Sample Final Note:

You won the game, you did! You did!
I did not think you would get the job done.
You found all the eggs I hid! I hid!
So take this egg for your egg hunt fun.

-The Easter Weasel

This egg hunt is not for your party guests, it is for a neighbor that might be feeling down, is away from their family on Easter or in some way needing a boost of Easter spirit.

The Rules: Fill twelve plastic eggs with Easter candies. Have some of your party guests(ideally kids) sneak over to a neighbor’s house and hide the eggs around the front yard. The hiding places should be fairly simple since you do not want finding them to become a chore. Leave a note on the front door explaining that the Easter Bunny has dropped by and hidden twelve eggs for them to find.

Make sure to tell them exactly how many eggs there are so they know when to stop looking. It is up to you if you ever reveal that you were responsible for the impromptu egg hunt, perhaps credit is best left to the Easter Bunny.

he Flashlight Egg Hunt plays exactly like a normal Easter egg hunt but at night(or in the dark indoors) and the hunters use flashlights to help them find the eggs. Pass out a flashlight and an Easter basket to each player or if you do not have enough flashlights break the guests up into teams with one flashlight each. You might consider getting a roll of reflective tape and sticking a small piece to each egg so they will really stand out when hit with the flashlight. Also, be sure to test all flashlights before the party and keep some extra batteries on hand.

Outdoor Version: This is truly an egg hunt your guests will remember. Once the eggs are hidden and you are ready to start be sure to turn off all outdoor lights and do anything you can to make it as dark as possible. Give a heads up to any close neighbors by telling them that there will be groups of people running around your yard with flashlights. You might also ask them to turn off any outdoor lights during your egg hunt.

Indoor Version: If weather keeps you from having your egg hunt outside or if your live in an apartment with no outdoor area for a hunt the indoor flashlight egg hunt is a great alternative. Particularly if you think an indoor egg hunt with light would not be challenging enough for your guests. Basements work best, but wherever you have your hunt make sure to make it as dark as possible and clear anything that might be easy to trip over.