Who doesn’t love candy, competition, and a chance to win prizes? Most children will tell you that hunting for eggs is the best part of Easter. With a bit of spirited competition, brightly colored décor, and in-egg loot, what’s not to love? Hunting for eggs filled with sweets or trinkets can be exciting at any age. So, if you’re wondering how to plan an Easter egg hunt party at home, church, the office, or the community, you’ve come to the right place.
Whether you’re party planning for the first time or looking for creative ways to spice up this year’s hunt, we can help. In 10 simple steps, this guide shows you how to plan an Easter egg hunt party that embraces everything we love about the holiday. From picking a location and gathering supplies to planning a menu and hiding the eggs, you’ll discover everything you need to know about planning a fantastic event.
Learn how to plan an Easter egg hunt party that guests of all ages will enjoy
Hunting for eggs is among the most common and eagerly anticipated Easter traditions. Each year, kids race one another to uncover tasty treasures hidden in the grass, but how do these events come together? Where can you host it? Who hides the eggs? What do you fill them with? How many do you need? Should you make snacks? How do you actually plan an Easter egg hunt party?
How to plan an Easter egg hunt party in 10 simple steps
With a few plastic eggs and a little candy, anyone can host a holiday hunt, but an Easter egg hunt party includes much more than that; it’s an entire event with all the trappings and trimmings we love about parties: food, fun, and festivities. Large or small—indoors or outdoors—for work or play—Easter egg hunt parties are fun for all ages and easy to organize.
By the end of this post, you’ll know how to plan an Easter egg hunt party at home, in the office, in a park, or anywhere else that suits your needs. Here’s how to do it:
- Brainstorm basic party details
Before diving too deep into the party planning process—gathering decorations and collecting crowd-pleasing holiday recipes—take a few minutes to outline some Easter egg hunt party essentials. Think about what you most want to achieve and the type of party you’d like to plan.
- Who is the party for?
- How many people do you want to invite?
- How many of your guests will hunt eggs?
- What other Easter activities would you like to include?
- Are you serving food? Snacks or a full meal?
- Who’s paying for the party?
- Set a party budget
Before booking an event venue, ordering food, or purchasing eggs, establish how much money you can spend on the Easter egg hunt party. Determine how much you have to spend on the event and how much can be spent in various categories, including the venue, decorations, eggs, and food.
- If you’re planning a family event, how much have you set aside for the holiday?
- Are you footing the bill alone, or are multiple people chipping in?
- If you’re sharing expenses with others, how will you collect the funds?
Planners organizing a sizeable public party, like a charity Easter egg hunt, should consider promoting an enticing prize and charging a small entry fee. Selling low-cost tickets, homemade baked goods, raffle tickets, and access to unique Easter experiences can help recoup planning expenses for residential or community-wide hunts. Is your budget large enough to cover the cost of a caricature artist or professional Easter Bunny?
- Pick a party location
The Easter holiday is busy for many people, so figure out when and where you want to have the hunt early in the planning process. If hosting at home, you have total control over when the hunt happens, who attends, how it looks, and where the eggs are hidden. However, you’ll also be responsible for setup and cleanup. Hosting at the office, a public place, or a special event venue helps with preparation and teardown but limits your planning freedom, like where you can decorate, how boisterous guests can be, and where you can hide the eggs.
For larger events, like a community-wide holiday party, consider booking an event venue to make the party easier to manage. Look for unique and activity-friendly venues with characteristics that meet your party planning needs. Schedule a site tour to view locations that interest you, and write a list of important questions for venues, like—
- How early can you arrive to set up?
- Will you have access to outdoor areas?
- Where are you permitted to hide the eggs?
- Do you have to use the venue’s vendors, or can you book your own?
- Are outside food and drink allowed?
- What are the venue’s cleanup policies?
- Is a deposit required? If so, how much?
Closely review all venue contracts before signing. Look for additional fees, event restrictions, and other policies that could impact your plans. Add the deposit due date, contract deadline, and other important dates to your party planning calendar, and give guests as much notice as possible.
- Get the word out
After picking a place to host your Easter egg hunt party, start spreading the news. Mail physical invitations, create a social media event page, or get the word out via email; it’s up to you. While formal invitations are unnecessary for intimate family events (unless you want to make them just for fun), we do recommend them for larger gatherings like office parties, church events, or neighborhood celebrations. Add seasonal decorations to your announcement, or choose Easter invitations with a fun pun like—
- “Hop to it, and RSVP YES!”
- “The hunt is hoppening! Are you ready?”
- “Hop on over and join the hunt.”
- “You’re invited to our eggs-cellent Easter event.”
Request that guests RSVP by a specific date so that you can estimate the total guest count and plan accordingly. Expect to host a few more visitors than RSVPs indicate, just in case.
- Plan an Easter-inspired menu
Whether you plan a full-service meal, book a catered buffet, or set out a few snacks, guests at your Easter egg hunt party will appreciate a tasty treat. Cooking yourself cuts costs, but it can be time-consuming and stressful. Hiring an event caterer saves time and energy but is more expensive than the DIY method. Determine which option better fits your needs, and start planning an Easter egg hunt party menu your guests will love.
Find and book food services ASAP if you want the party catered. Easter is a food-focused holiday, quickly filling caterer’s calendars, even at the largest restaurants. Build a menu that offers sweet, savory, and splendid seasonal dishes. Some of our favorite Easter foods include:
- Deviled eggs
- Potato salad
- Sausage balls
- Buttermilk biscuits
- Hot cross buns
- Roasted lamb
- Honey-glazed ham
- Fruit tarts
- Cupcakes
- Chocolate and peanut butter bunnies
On Easter, partygoers may be hopping from event to event. To prevent ordering or cooking too much food, consider offering an array of Easter appetizers or a self-serve buffet instead of a multi-course meal.
- Gather party supplies
Make a list of everything you need to get for the party. Figure out what you already have, what you can repurpose, and what you need to purchase, from decorations and serving supplies to plastic eggs and the surprises inside.
Plastic Easter eggs are inexpensive and easy to find in-store or online. They come in many colors and sizes—from miniature to jumbo—with some only holding a few chocolate eggs or loose coins and others capable of hiding toys or travel-size treats. Consider fan-favorite egg fillers like:
- Candy
- Confetti
- Toy cars
- Bubble wands
- Finger puppets
- Bouncy Balls
- Crayons
- Mini-puzzles
- Chocolate bunnies
- Keychains
- Bracelets
- Animal erasers
- Self-inking stamps
- Hair ties
- Temporary tattoos
- Flower seeds
- Money
- Clues to the location of other eggs
Gather any additional supplies, like napkins, cups, or utensils, that you might need. Collect extra egg carriers, like baskets, pails, and buckets, for participants who don’t have one. Finally, a day or two before the Easter egg hunt party, shop for ice or other perishable items, like fresh fruit and baked goods.
- Create an event timeline
Outline the general order of activities to create a day-of-event timeline. Reduce event stress by being prepared and knowing what comes next. Outline a general order of activities to keep the event organized and ensure you have helping hands available when and where you need them.
- How long will it take to decorate? When should you start?
- If you need assistance, how early can helpers arrive to lend a hand?
- How long will it take to hide the eggs?
- When are the caterers arriving?
- What time do you expect guests to start showing up?
- Will the Easter Bunny pay a visit? If so, who will play the role, when will they show up, and where will they get ready?
- What time will the big event begin?
- What other activities will you offer?
Hosting at home or the office gives you more time to prepare, as you can come and go as you please. If you’re hosting somewhere else, double-check how early you can start setting up. Prepare to spend some time cleaning up afterward as well.
- Fill the eggs
Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare the eggs. Whether dying real eggs or stuffing plastic ones, it will take time, and getting ready for large holiday hunts will take even longer. Set aside an afternoon to fill Easter eggs with goodies, toys, and other treasures. If you’re hosting the hunt off-site, pack the eggs in easy-to-carry containers, and consider keeping eggs with extra special prizes separate from the rest. This will prevent the most valuable eggs from mixing in with the rest and help you remember where they’re hidden.
- Decorate
When the big day comes, arrive early to decorate for your Easter party and hide the eggs while nobody else is around. Hang a “Happy Easter” banner, blow up pastel balloons, string colorful egg-shaped garlands around snack tables, or place bunny décor around the space. Then, start hiding the eggs.
Have fun looking for creative hiding places, but remember who will hunt for them. The younger the participants, the easier it should be to find the eggs. If all ages are attending, make some eggs more difficult to find while placing others in the open for the youngest competitors.
- Hide Easter eggs
Although hiding a few dozen eggs around the house won’t take long, concealing hundreds requires covering lots of ground quickly. Speed up the process by asking a few folks to help hide, especially if the party’s outside and the day is warm. Keep a list of where the eggs are hidden to avoid unfortunate future surprises, like finding melted chocolate inside the couch or petrified jellybeans in the soil. Use picture clues to help the youngest seekers find their fair share. Yard signs are great for pointing them in the right direction.
That’s it! You’re all done. So, sit back, relax, and let the games begin.
Now you know how to plan an Easter egg hunt party that entertains and impresses.
After Valentine’s Day and Easter, the holiday season begins to slow. The next major celebratory occasion doesn’t occur until the end of May when we honor those who have served over Memorial Day weekend. During this downtime, many professional planners take a break and prepare for the rest of the year, scheduling meetings, planning team-building sessions, and organizing other functions. If you’re looking for entertaining, versatile, and affordable event ideas to get you over the holiday hump, here are 25 corporate event themes you won’t want to miss.
