How To Plan An Easter Egg Hunt - Plan a fun, colourful Easter egg hunt for your little bunnies this weekend  -

But first, why do we have an Easter egg hunt in the first place?  Well, the egg is an ancient symbol of new life, with its hard outer shell, they are said to represent the giant rock that was placed in front of the tomb where Jesus's body was laid to rest, and moved by God when he was reborn. Decorating eggs for Easter dates back to the 13^th century illustrating the forbidden food of Lent, when people would paint and decorate them to mark the end of the fasting season ready to eat on Easter Sunday.

The Easter hare became the symbol of Easter, representing fertility, new and continuing life.  The hare was the deliverer of eggs, laying them around the garden for children to find. This tradition later spread to the USA in the 1700s, which made the bountiful Easter bunny popular among children and the symbol we know of today.

As a result of these early symbols, communities across the country got together to make nests for the Easter bunny, and decorate colourful eggs to hide, ready for children to unearth and fill their baskets, or roll down the hills as a fun game for the family. As a thank you to the Easter bunny for all of the treats and spoils.

So here’s TOAST’s guide to planning the ultimate kid friendly Easter Egg hunt sure tmake even the Easter bunny a little envious. 

How To Plan An Easter Egg Hunt 

Create an Easter Egg decorating station

If you’re making a full day of it, get your little guests excited by getting them to decorate their eggs together so when you hide them later, they are even more excited to find where their eggs went. Create a craft area full of decorating supplies such as; glue, paints, brushes, stickers and accessories from Hobbycraft and set your little ones to work for the first part of the adventure.

Gather Up Your Eggs

As well as your painted eggs that will be made on the day, make sure you have a variety of additions, of all colours, shapes and sizes, dyed or hand-painted, plastic eggs with treats and toys and of course plenty filled with chocolate and sweets, and get ready to place them around your garden for your little ones to forage for. Remember to count your eggs so you know how many you’ve hidden.

Plan Your Route

Mark out your route carefully and make a note of your hiding places for later so once the hunt is over you can salvage any leftovers. If you’re feeling creative, you can also draw a little map of your garden for your challengers to follow.

Get some signs to direct your little scavengers so they can navigate their way around the garden, we love this package from Postbox Party which includes a personalised sign with a ribbon to hang at the start of your hunt, Four directional arrows that can be stuck into the ground and additional props also with sticks to decorate the route of the hunt, including bunnies, eggs and flowers. Made from 3mm Plywood and laser engraved – all for £22.00.

Add Some Beautiful Bunting

Drape some bunting around the garden to mark your Hunt area and to add a splash of colour. Emma Bunting has a wide range of colourful options to hire  from £1.70pm, or this multi-coloured bunting from the Cotton Bunting Co, £13 for 5m.

Set Your Clues

Get some tags and write a series of clues with the first one to be all wrapped up and given to your challengers at the beginning of the hunt. Take the rest and lay them around the course to be found around the garden. If you want some ready-made clues, we love these egg shaped hints from Milly Inspired or this personalised egg hunt kit from Love Give Ink, just hide each one somewhere safe, and somewhere near hang these cute bunny tags £12.50 for 10 from Clouds and Currents to mark the position of the clue on the route so your little ones know how many more they need to find.

Remember – don’t make it too hard for your little guests, otherwise you’ll be running around having to find them all yourself!

Hand out your Easter Sacks

Collecting eggs is heavy work so don’t forget to get some traditional Easter baskets like this one from Seahorse to help carry them all around alternatively, we love thee personalised egg-cellent adventure sacks from Clouds and Currants £12.50.  

Fancy Dress

Really get into the spirit of your Easter egg hunt and get your little bunnies all dressed up with these bendable clip on hair bunny ears from felt artist Karen Rao for £30.00 or for something  more traditional A is for Alice have these cute brown bunny ears and traditional white and pink Easter bunny ears for £9.99.  These gorgeous bunny costumes from children’s designer Wild Things Kids made from soft camel baby cord with a handmade applique face, complete with pom pom tail are also just too adorable.  

Don't Forget The Prizes

There must be prizes and fun for the winners and so surprise and delight your Easter guests and egg hunters with these Carrot Surprises, filled with treats and jokes! £12.00 A fun item to discover along with the traditional eggs. We also love these Lovely Bunny hop Easter biscuits from Honeywell Bakes from £18.00.

Of course, nothing beats an Easter egg for the main prize – this Star egg from Thornton’s it perfect for the winner, and for the grownups and the biggest helper of the day, this All Our Eggs in One Basket set from Hotel Chocolate at £40.00 is just dreamy!

Create Lemonade Station

Hunting is thirsty work, so set up a lemonade station for the finish line to refresh your scavengers once the hunt is complete. The guys at The Shack Revolution have the perfect rustic fresh lemonade bar, or try a traditional Lemonade stand from Box and Cox Vintage for the perfect fairground feel. 

For more inspiration and ideas this Easter weekend, head over to TheEdit and discover our Easter feast with Spread, Spring florals for the perfect table with expert florist and designer Simon Nickell and the perfect Simnel Cake recipe with Head Chef Gopi Chandran from Sopwell House.