An Easter egg hunt can be the highlight of the day for the children and the adults. It is great to see everyone running around looking for hidden treasures, you can bring all of that excitement to your yard this Spring with your own Easter egg hunt. When you learn how to plan an Easter egg hunt, you can easily find unique and simple ways to make your yard the place to be.

For centuries, people have been coloring and hiding eggs in observance of Easter. The first hunt was held in Germany when eggs, believed to symbolize birth and rebirth, were exchanged in the springtime as a symbol of the new season. The eggs were dipped in tinted, boiling water and colored before they were exchanged. The people who could afford to wrapped their eggs in gold leaf before the exchange. http://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm

If you want to plan your own Easter egg hunt but you are not sure how to go about it, on this page you will find several ways to make sure your party is a complete success.

If you are going to have an Easter egg hunt, you have to make plans that will give you step-by-step guidance that will cover all of the aspects of the hunt.

You should know:

• How many people will be there—You need to know how many children and parents will be attending so that you can have enough eggs, Easter baskets, prizes and candy available so that each child can get a fair amount. You should decide if you will supply the baskets or if the guests are require to bring their own.

What are you going to hide—Will you hide eggs only, or are you going to add surprises to the hunt? If there are older children coming to your Easter egg hunt, you will need to have something for them if they feel they are too big to go around hunting for hidden eggs. Small toys inside plastic eggs may be suitable for the older children or you can put a quarter or half dollar inside of plastic eggs. http://www.ehow.com/how_4850345_plan-easter-egg-hunt.html

If you are going to hide real eggs, you should make a note of every hiding place so that you can make sure all of the eggs are removed after the hunt.

What are the ages of the hunters—If there is a wide range in the ages of the children attending the hunt, you will need to have prizes and baskets that fit the age of the child. Younger children will need someone to help them find the hidden treasures.

What will happen after the hunt—When the Easter egg hunt is over, what are your plans? Will everyone go home or will you have other festivities to entertain the group? If you are going to offer refreshments and snacks, you should plan a simple menu that can be enjoyed by everyone, with the main emphasis on the children. http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-plan-an-easter-party

If you plan to send out invitations, make sure you let the parents know if they need to bring their own baskets or if you will supply them. http://www.ehow.com/how_4850345_plan-easter-egg-hunt.html

Now that you know the number of people who will attend, you need to purchase the supplies.

1. Eggs—Get enough plastic and real eggs for each child to have enough to take home with them.
2. Baskets—If you are going to supply the baskets, you need to make them or purchase them to give to the children.
3. Prizes —There should be a few prizes to give to the person who find the most eggs in the different age groups.
4. Refreshments—When the hunt is over, you can serve refreshments and snacks to the parents and to the children.
5. Egg color—You can dye your eggs naturally by boiling beets and other colored vegetables or you can use food coloring.
6. Accessories—Decorating your yard for the event can make the Easter egg hunt feel like a party.

With the guest list complete and all of the purchases made, you can almost get ready for the fun to begin.

Make sure you have enough goodies to stuff inside of the plastic eggs so that there is enough to go around. To make sure the older children do not take all of the eggs before the youngsters can get some, you can color code the eggs for the different age groups. This will give everyone a good chance to find the hiding places.

Now that you have taken care of all of the preliminaries and you know how many eggs you will need, it is time to color the eggs and stuff the plastic eggs with prizes and goodies. There should be a golden egg with a special prize for each age group with a prize fitting the age group. If you use plastic eggs, you can put decorative stickers on them to make them more festive and attractive to the children.

The area where you are going to hide the eggs and prizes needs to be clean and free of debris so that the children will not get hurt while the are hunting for the eggs. To make the affair seem even more festive, you can add decorations to fit the event.

When the area is cleaned of broken glass and other possible hazards, you can begin to hide the eggs in areas that are easy to find for the youngest children and in areas that are a little harder to find, for the older children who will attend. You can set a time limit for each age group and give the winner a small consolation prize.

When the hunt is over, if you have decided to serve refreshments and snacks, you can have a table decorated and set up with the food and drinks. The menu can be as simple as a cold beverage with sandwiches or you can use this time to put food on the grill and make it an all day event that is satisfying for the adults and the children. http://www.ehow.com/how_12723_organize-outdoor-easter.html

After everything is over and it is time to clean up, you can appoint a clean up crew to help get rid of the trash and to make sure all of the hidden eggs are accounted for.