Easter is just a few days away, and for the little ones that means the Easter Bunny is coming. Your family might have put you in charge of the Easter Egg Hunt this year and you are tired of the same boring hunt every year. We have compiled eight different ways to take the traditional hunt and make it something fresh and exciting. Some of these ideas are simple and others will take a bit more skill. No matter what type of hunt you do, remember the true meaning of Easter is Jesus resurrecting from the dead, just as Jesus said in John 2:19.

Trace letters on the eggs to spell out “Happy Easter”

• This idea is an easy way of knowing if you have found all the eggs. Put one letter on each egg to correspond with your phrase. The phrase doesn’t have to be “Happy Easter”, it can whatever you want it to be. If you are having a big Easter egg hunt, then make a longer saying or make multiple sayings. You can find stencils at any craft store to keep the letter neat or you can just freehand it. You can decorate the eggs however you want, just remember to make the letters easy to read.

Take plastic Easter eggs and put a glow stick inside of them

• This hunt will only work at night or in a dark room. The glow sticks will make the plastic eggs shine just enough to notice them. If you have really young kids who are afraid of the dark, this is not the hunt for you.

Use hints or clues to find all the Easter eggs

• You could do this in one big group or multiple groups to compete. Give each group one egg and one hint to start off and let the groups go. You could make the hints rhyme or just give clues. Maybe you want to relate each hiding spot back to the Bible or a piece of candy. All the clues and hiding spots are up to you.

Themed egg hunt

• You could make the theme religious or you could have kiddy themes such as pirates, princesses, or Disney movies. The prizes should match up with the theme of the hunt. For example, if you choose to do a pirate themed hunt, the grand prize could be in a treasure chest. This works best with plastic eggs to put small prizes in.

Design the eggs as your favorite movie or TV characters

• Playing off the idea of a themed hunt, maybe using real eggs and printing the children’s favorite characters on them on the eggs could excite the children.

Color coordinated eggs

• Before the hunt, count how many people will be participating in the hunt and have an assigned color for each hunter. Begin the hunt as a normal hunt where everyone finds as many eggs as they can. After all the eggs have been found, tell everyone what color they have been assigned. Everyone will swap plastic eggs to match their color. Each egg has sticker, temporary tattoo, money, etc. in them so each participate gets a variety of prizes. An optional idea is each hunter gets a golden egg with a larger prize, like a toy or gift certificate. Try not to tell everyone what color they have before the hunt so that way they are not only looking for their color egg.

The gold, silver, and bronze eggs

• Take gold, silver, and bronze colored plastic eggs and match the prizes up to the colors. The gold eggs are rare and have a larger prizes in them, the silver eggs are a little more common and have a little bit more reasonable prizes, and the bronze eggs are the most common and have a smaller prizes in them.

Make confetti eggs

• Try to either make confetti eggs or do the normal eggs. If you choose to do both hunts, make confetti eggs as a separate hunt. The confetti eggs are meant to be played as a game. Smash the eggs on the other people’s heads and whoever has the golden confetti smashed on their head, goes home with the grand prize like chocolate or a large Easter basket. If young children will be at the hunt, do not smash the eggs on their heads.
• What you need:
• Raw eggs, Egg dye (vinegar and food coloring), Confetti, Gold Glitter, Tissue paper (a round 1″ punch for perfect size), Glue, Pin/Needle, Scissors
• How to make them:
• Using the pin or needle, poke a single, small hole at the top an egg.
• Open up a larger hole at the bottom of the larger part of an egg.
• If your yolk is too large, sometimes it helps to use a toothpick or something to stir the yolk up and make it more liquid
• Let the egg drain out of the larger hole into a bowl, blowing the residue out through the small pin hole in the top of the egg if you need to encourage the yolk out a little more quickly.
• Rinse the egg shell (a little bleach to get rid of the egg smell) and allow it to dry.
• Use dye to color the eggshell (you’ll have to fill the hollow shell with dye to make it stay submerged); allow it to dry thoroughly.
•  Fill the egg about halfway with confetti. Use a funnel if needed.
• Cut a piece of tissue paper slightly larger in size than the egg’s hole. Glue the paper to the edges of the hole. You are finished!

These were just a few ideas to take the Easter egg hunt your grandparents know and love, and put your own spin on it. A few quick tips, if using dye, follow all the directions, know your audience and make everything age appropriate, and mark where all the eggs are placed. Your parents will not appreciate a rotten egg smell in the summer heat. No matter what type of hunt you enjoy, have a very happy and blessed Easter!