How to host an Easter egg hunt

Egg hunts aren't just for little kids. They can be fun for older kids and even adults by adding little twists (nighttime hunt with torches, anyone?). Use these tips from iVillagers to plan a fun hunt and find out what supplies you'll need.

'My girls are now 13 and 16, and they still love to hunt for hidden Easter eggs. I purchase plastic eggs and put coupons in them (i.e., 'This coupon allows you to stay up one hour past your bedtime,' or, 'This coupon is good for a trip to the mall and the purchase of the outfit of your choice'). I also hide money - a fiver or tenner. They absolutely love it, and to this day they look forward to it. Happy Easter.' iVillager karen12238

'Our family has an Easter egg hunt for the kids, whose ages range from two to 11. We give the little guys a head start, and the older ones are told that anything on ground level belongs to the two-year-old and five-year-old. An adult accompanies the little ones. We fill the eggs with party goods, candy, coins, stickers, tattoos, tiny nail polish bottles and fast food gift certificates. Upon returning with their goods, the kids divide the eggs according to colour. Each child has a designated colour. It works best when the kids don't know their colours until after the hunt, so everybody is working just to gather all the eggs, and not necessarily their own colour. Then they each have one 'special' egg that's designated by the child's name on it. Those are the 'big' eggs and have a gift certificate to a local bookstore or a note saying where a special toy is in the house. I think the adults have just as much fun - if not more - than the kids.' iVillager cl_jeanne

'My son is grown now, and the nieces and nephews are too, but when they were smaller I had egg hunts and they looked forward to them so much. I would get the plastic eggs, and then buy little inexpensive toys, figurines, hair slides, necklaces and cars to fill them. I would also put some small change in them. If there were both boys and girls, we just divided the eggs once they were all gathered, and I would take a marker and make a "G" or "B" on the egg. This way, everyone got something in the end, and they loved it.' iVillager craftlady50

'Here's an Easter egg hunt idea for older children: We have an annual nighttime hunt. The kids' ages range from eight to 21. They can use torches, and we put sweets, money and numbers in the eggs. The numbers match prizes that wouldn't fit in an egg like little cars, knick-knacks, balls, kites, stuffed animals, 12-packs of fizzy pop, bags of sweets and dolls. (Be sure to use stickers to put the numbers in the eggs, or they get lost.) After the hunt, the best part starts: We hand out the prizes according to the numbers in the eggs, and then the kids start bartering, either by trading prize for prize or buying a prize with money that was found.' iVillager jakeyidol

'Our family did an Easter egg hunt last year. We held it outside, so we had a nice big area to hide the eggs. I went to the party department of a pound shop for some of the surprises. We used ink stamps, key rings, money, tiny Slinkys, hair clips and little cars. It was lots of fun - we all had a blast. After the egg hunt, everyone came inside, and the eggs were divided up fairly by a grown-up. That way no one felt left out, and everyone was a happy camper!' iVillager powers777