Easter Egg Hunt 2010 (& as a bonus--pics of 2009 too!)

Once again...YAY for TRADITIONS!!!! Some of you may already know about my obsession with traditions, but I stand firm in my excitement! This year was no exception. This was Bryce's FIRST Easter Egg hunt and it was also the first time that we have done a Nighttime Easter Egg Hunt which I thought was SUPER FUN! We also switched up a few more things this year to help meet the needs of our pocketbooks ;-) Let me first tell you the norm and then I'll tell you the switch up.

Normally, we fill hundreds of easter eggs with:

• candy including Jelly Beans (and always a black one)
• coins...always including pennies
• dollar bills...up to a $5 dollar bill

As you can see, the silent eggs were always the most exciting!

Then there were the prizes. Oh yeah, prizes! As if getting the stuff in the easter eggs wasn't enough. Grandma always found a way to improve a great thing and make it out-of-this-world wonderful!

Prizes were done by category:

• most money
• most pennies
• least money 
• the black jelly bean

 Then for prizes we got more money!!!

Also for prizes we received HUGE easter eggs and they were filled with big goodies like:

• full size candy bars
• king size candies
• big money
• more candy
• fun small toys

Easter egg hunts always involved all the local cousins too.

This was all a tradition started by my Grandma Earl and we have carried it on.

As for location, in years past we have had the Easter Egg hunt either in someones backyard, or at a park, or school playground. We had it out at San Tan National Park last year, 2009. Pictures are below. It was very peaceful out there. And as a side note...John and I got engaged at the same park in Feb. of 2008 =D

This year we did the hunt in my sisters backyard again. We like it.

To start the hunt we go according to age. The youngest child goes first and then the next and so on. I think we wait about 30 seconds to a minute between each age. This way it makes it a little more fair for all the kids.

Now, as I said, we switched it up this year. So here are the CHANGES:

• no prizes
• no dollar bills
• less candy and only two types
• no black jelly bean
• fewer eggs

 Instead we added "coupons" to the eggs which had a variety of things such as:

• 20 min. of weekday Media Minutes
• your choice Netflix movie
• one itunes song
• homemade mini treat from Grandma
• skip a chore(or something to that effect)
• go get an ice cream with parents
• play a game with dad

Those are all the ones I can remember right now, but there were more.
We were admittedly a little worried that the coupons would be a flop, but instead they were a hit that created a bartering and trading station amongst the children that lasted an hour or so. 

We did do coins and lots of them.
For candy we only did Jelly Bellys and M&Ms.

Like I said, we also did it in the dark this year with flashlights. The kids were supposed to each have their own flashlight, but some of the older kids didn't think they needed one. So you know what ended up happening? This is so typical of teenagers, they exploited the younger children. They would ask the closest younger child with a flashlight to, "Shine it over here Isabelle". And of course the sweet, kind, loving younger children would quickly obey. So sad! Had I noticed earlier in the hunt I would have policed the situation, but I was too late by the time I noticed.

Oh dear children, someday they’ll learn.

Overall the night was a success and we carried on beloved TRA-DI-TIOOOOOOOOOONS, TRA-DI-TIONS!!!
(from a fantastic song from Fiddler on the Roof)

Below- San Tan National Park-Family Easter Egg Hunt 2009

Above- Nathan(far right) thought that was the coolest that his name was engraved at the park

Above- (left to right) Olivia, Stephanie, Josh and Isabelle awaiting the call for the hunt to begin

Left- the youngest child, Kate, started first 

Above- next came Izzy 

 Below- then came Josh

Above- then came the trio of Stephanie, Nathan & Olivia

Below- Kate on her "No rush" hunt & Below- Izzy loading her bag with the goods

Above- Steph finding the eggs I hid in the bushes

Above- Josh and his speedy egg hunt

Above- Nathan showing us one of his many finds

Above- Olivia hunting for the eggs