The kids love Easter and why not celebrate with one of these special Easter egg hunt ideas? There are many ways to organise an Easter egg hunt, these are just a starting point. Perhaps you can combine a couple of these suggestions or maybe they will even inspire you to create your own version of a hunt.
Before we get into the hunting ideas, below I have listed a few different items you could use instead of chocolate.
Chocolate Free Easter Hunt Treasure Ideas
Whilst chocolate and candy are what the kids are all expecting, it's often nice to gift other items. They are receiving so much sugar, here are some alternatives you can include in your Easter egg hunt:
- Temporary Tattoos
- Lego pieces
- Puzzle pieces
- Money
- Earrings and other jewellery
- Stickers
- Cars
- Hair accessories
- Nail polish
- Miniature figurines
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#1 Traditional Outdoor Easter Egg Hunt
We will start with a traditional Easter egg hunt as it is simple, fun and easy to organise. Hide a bunch of eggs around your backyard, park, or any other outdoor space, and let the kids loose to find them. You can even add a little competition by making it a race or offering a prize to the person who finds the most eggs.
#2 Scavenger Egg Hunt
Take your Easter egg hunt to the next level, by turning it into a scavenger hunt! This is a great way to get everyone involved, and it can be tailored to any age group. You can create clues and riddles for the participants to solve, leading them to the next egg. If you don’t want to come up with your own clues, I’ve got you covered with these printable Easter scavenger hunt clue cards available to download from the shop. You can also include fun challenges and tasks along the way to make it even more exciting.
#3 Performance Easter Egg Hunt Idea
The way in which you search for eggs is up to you, perhaps it’s a scavenger hunt, relay race or an egg and spoon race. The fun part of this Easter egg hunt is to include singing and dancing challenges. Each time an egg is found or a teammate has performed a task, they have to sing a silly song or perform a dance before they can move on.
#4 Golden Egg Hunt
A twist on a traditional egg hunt, hide a special golden egg! The golden egg could be a painted plastic egg or even a regular Easter egg with gold wrapping. You could also hide several special golden eggs. Hide it in a difficult spot, making it a challenge to find. Then whoever finds the golden egg can receive a special prize, such as a chocolate bunny or a stuffed animal.
#5 Glow-in-the-Dark Egg Hunt
Why not add a little twist to your Easter egg hunt by doing it at night? There are a few ways that you could do this.
- Glow-in-the-dark eggs are super fun.
- Make your own glowing eggs by putting mini glow sticks inside plastic eggs.
- Decorate Easter eggs with glow-in-the-dark paint.
- Use glow-in-the-dark paint or pens to create a map to point out hidden eggs.
Add some glowing decorations for additional excitement! It's a magical and unique way to celebrate Easter and is sure to be a hit with both kids and adults.
#6 Indoor Easter Egg Hunt
Keep your Easter egg hunt indoors when the weather isn’t playing fair. You can hide eggs around the house, and even add some fun challenges along the way. With indoor hunts, you tend to be able to come up with trickier hiding spots. I have some indoor Easter scavenger hunt clue cards in the shop that you can also print out. They will save you from having to come up with hiding places!
#7 Easter Egg Pinata
Although not exactly a hunt, an Easter egg pinata is an excellent way to add some excitement to your celebration. Simply fill a pinata (such as this Easter egg one or this cute little chick) with Easter eggs and treats. Let your guests take turns hitting it with a stick until it breaks open. Then, they can scramble to collect as many Easter eggs as they can.
#8 Easter Bunny Trail Footprints
Easter bunny footprints are a creative way to make your Easter egg hunt more magical. I have created a free printable with the Easter bunny’s footprints that you can download and print. If you’re a lover of DIY then you can also make your own bunny footprints using flour or draw them with chalk. Leave the prints around your house or backyard. Then, let your guests follow the footprints to find the Easter eggs.
#9 Toddler Balloon Landmarks
I love this idea from Chris. It’s perfect for smaller children who haven’t quite grasped the concept of an Easter egg hunt yet. Use helium balloons, or balloons on sticks and tie them to plastic eggs. Within the plastic eggs are your treats. The kids will love this one! You'll find the full article of Easter Egg Balloons from Celebrations at Home
#10 Easter Egg Hunt with Color-Coded Eggs
An Easter egg hunt with colour-coded eggs is an excellent way to make your celebration more organized and exciting. Coloured plastic eggs are perfect for this Easter egg hunt idea, particularly as you can put prizes in them. You can also use any other eggs or egg objects you have, colouring them or putting coloured stickers on them.
You can then allocate a colour to each participant. This is a great way to give each recipient their own special Easter treats. Or you could base the colour code on the difficulty level of the hiding spot. The greater the difficulty, the better the prize.
#11 Pop Stick Hunt: Keeping it Fair for Everyone
As a school teacher, my Mum would send her class out on their Easter hunt which could easily be disastrous. Firstly, chocolate eggs in the sun are not always a great idea. And with so many children (let’s be honest, even if you just have two), it can get competitive. Some children end up with nothing whilst one or two kids have all of the eggs.
Mum and her assistant would write each child’s name on three coloured pop sticks. Whilst Mum kept the kids busy in the class, her assistant would hide the pop sticks through the playground, often burying them in the ground or getting creative with other hiding spots.
The children would then be let loose to find their three pop sticks. During the hunt, the children would find somebody else’s pop stick. But in all of the excitement oftentimes they would be helping each other if they found someone else's pop stick. Once the child had found all of their pop sticks, they would go to the teacher to claim their prize. Typically this would be Easter eggs however for children who do not celebrate Easter, Mum had a special generic chocolate/lolly so that they could still participate in the Pop Stick Hunt.
#12 Easter Treat Advent Bags
Get the kids eggcited with some Advent bags in the days leading up to Easter. You can place any type of Easter treat (or non-treat) you would like in there. Instead of giving baskets on Easter with things like pyjamas, books and teddies, place them in bags like this. Sarah created bags and then placed numbered stickers on them. This way you could remove the stickers to use the bags for something else. You'll find the full article, Colourful DIY Easter Treat Advent Calendar from Sarah Hearts
#13 Puzzle Egg Hunt
I am such a big fan of puzzles and so too is my eldest son – add an extra challenge with puzzles. Instead of finding complete eggs, create pieces of an egg for participants to find. They will need to complete the egg and solve the puzzle to claim their prize. This style of Easter hunt is perfect for groups.
Another version of this would be to place single jigsaw puzzle pieces inside plastic eggs. Once they have all of the eggs then they can complete the puzzle!
#14 Reverse Egg Hunt
Why not turn the tables and have the kids hide the eggs instead? Give each child a set number of eggs to hide, and let the adults try to find them. The kids will love coming up with creative hiding spots to trick the adults.
#15 Catch the Easter Bunny Egg Hunt
Create some additional magic to your Easter egg hunt with a game of “Catch the Easter Bunny.” Have someone dress up in a bunny costume and hide eggs around your yard or house. Kids will love trying to catch the Easter bunny whilst searching for their eggs.
#16 Harry Potter Egg Hunt Idea
A Hogwarts-themed Easter egg hunt is perfect for those Harry Potter fans (Yup, I just got a little excited too!). Decorate plastic eggs to look like the golden snitch and other magical objects. Brush up on your HP trivia! Create clues that lead kids to different “houses” around your yard or house.
#17 Gift Box Treats
Instead of hiding chocolate eggs why not use some treat boxes? How you choose to hunt for them is up to you (check out any of the ideas in this article!). However, with treat boxes, you can include your own food or non-food treats. I have free printable Easter packaging you can download from the library so you don’t even need to go to any great expense. Whilst I can’t imagine not being prepared enough to have Easter treats in the house, these are also a great way to dress up non-Easter chocolates and candy if you’re short on time or have left things late.
#18 Beach Egg Hunt
If you're nearby the beach this Easter, take advantage of that! Organize a beach egg hunt by hiding plastic eggs in the sand, and include small toys or beach-themed treats inside. Kids will love the challenge of finding eggs in the sand, and you'll get to enjoy a day at the beach. Just be sure to take note of how many there are and where you placed them, or you could be searching for days!
Easter is a magical time to spend with family. I hope that whichever Easter egg hunt idea you choose, you have a wonderful time making many happy memories. I would love to know your favourite Easter hunt idea, comment below to let me know!
Other resources you may like:
FREEBIE: Backyard Scavenger Hunt
FREEBIE: 3 Types of Easter Candy Packaging Printables
ARTICLE: Free Printable Easter Bunny Garland Decor DIY
ARTICLE: An Easy Easter Charcuterie Board
SHOP: Easter Party Printables + Activities
