5 Fun twists to put in your kids’ Easter egg hunt

Does your typical Easter hunt involve tucking away kids’ candies and chocolates in eggs scattered around your home? Try switching that up this year by creating a trail that leads them to all the major hiding spots. You can make the trail out of any small treats that are OK left sitting on the floor for a bit, such as wrapped mints, chocolate eggs in foil or nuts in their shells. Kids will have just as much fun picking up treats as they go as they will when they make the bigger discoveries.

Kids of all ages love working with colours, so why not incorporate colours into your Easter egg hunt? When you go shopping, look for treats that are in a wide range of colours, such as Jujubes, foil-wrapped chocolate eggs, Cadbury Mini Eggs, peeps, jelly beans, etc. Then, for each child, make up a list of how many of each colour needs to be found for the quest to be complete. In the morning, present your kids with their lists, and set them to work. Not only will they have fun looking for all the brightly coloured treats, but having to count out all the items as they find them will be a great educational exercise as well.

When kids wake up on Easter morning, they can’t wait to track down all the treats the Easter Bunny has left for them. So the chances of getting them to sit down to do a lengthy craft aren’t very high. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get their creative juices flowing this holiday weekend. The day before the big hunt, create a basket-decorating station, where your kids can dress up the carriers they’ll soon be loading up with goodies. To get all the supplies you need, simply stop by your local dollar store to pick up some colourful and budget-friendly craft items. Paper cut-outs of bunnies, plastic eggs, faux flowers, pastel ribbons and colourful moss can all be tied, twisted and glued to a nice basket. Kids will love being able to personalize their Easter carriers, and you can feel good knowing you injected a little creativity into the typical egg hunt.

If your kids are expecting sweet treats this Easter, you of course don’t want to disappoint them. But if you want to make the holiday about more than sugar, try cutting back on the candies and replacing some of the goodies with other special items. If your kids are old enough to know the Easter Bunny isn’t real, consider filling the eggs with special promises from you, such as a mother-daughter movie night or an evening when you’ll cook whichever dinner your son wants. If your kids are younger and you don’t want to tip them off, there are still plenty of other great items, such as craft kits or paint sets, that you can feel good about offering them instead of candy. It’s a great way to show that the holidays can be about so much more than sweet treats while still letting kids have their fun.