too old for easter egg hunt?

[hmbay]

I'm hosting the Easter get together for DH's family. There are 14 kids involved. 3 of them are older than 10 (10,11 and 13 to be specific). I knowI need to probably ask my SIL to make sure it won't cause an issue but I was thinking of just making a "goodie bag" for those 3 and leaving them out of the easter egg hunt (we hide the plastic eggs filled with candy, stickers etc). Do you think they are technically "too old" for an easter egg hunt or should I include them (we usually label eggs--so many per child, hide the bigger kids eggs in harder places etc). I just think there are too many small kids and the big kids kind of get in their way (the ages of all the kids: 13, 11, 10, 6, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2, 2, -1 -1)

So my question is do you think 10 and older is too old for easter egg hunts?

[karlatta]

I would still let them hunt. I was always the oldest child in my extended family, and I remember even at 10 being really upset when I was told that I was too old for certain things. 10 is pretty young. Last year my foster daughter was 9 at Easter and was HUGE into the egg hunt.

Maybe you could do the hunt kind of staggered? Let the 2 and unders start, then 5 minutes later, let the 4 year olds start, then the six year olds, then the 10+? All the kids could still hunt together, but the younger kids would have a little more room.

[jay&erinn]

I remember hating being too old for things too. On the other hand, it's really hard to plan events when kids range in age so much. I did recently see plastic eggs at Target that were camoflage/had pebbles all over them/colored like water. They would be much harder to find. You could always set up a separate area for the older kids and REALLY hide the eggs. Either that or you could ask the older kids to pair up with the younger ones to help.

[PinkMartini]

You could always set up a separate area for the older kids and REALLY hide the eggs. Either that or you could ask the older kids to pair up with the younger ones to help.

That's what I'd do.

[amorey]

When my family did Easter egg hunts, my mom would write everyone's name on their eggs. This served two purposes; first, everyone got the same amount of eggs/candy, and second the eggs could be hidden in age appropriate spots. You weren't supposed to say anything if you found someone else's egg - it was a secret. I think we participated until we were in college!

[myshel]

When my family did Easter egg hunts, my mom would write everyone's name on their eggs. This served two purposes; first, everyone got the same amount of eggs/candy, and second the eggs could be hidden in age appropriate spots. You weren't supposed to say anything if you found someone else's egg - it was a secret. I think we participated until we were in college!


This is a neat idea.

To be honest, I participated until I had my own family at age 28. :o My family hid some eggs in really obvious (or height friendly) locations for the smaller kids and then did some eggs in really tricky places or hard to get to places for the older kids. We were also released by age-- meaning the younger kids got to go first and gradually the older kids got to go too (except the year I was on crutches with a broken ankle; I was 19 then and got to go with the under 4 crowd).

I think the older kids would still like the thrill of the hunt at the ages you listed.

[Megande]

I thought easter egg hunts were fun for a LONG time. Definitely past 10. In my family, when you got too old for the hunt, you helped hide the eggs for the younger kids. If you decide not to include them, they might enjoy that. I actually thought that was more fun.

[hub1176]

I voted that yes it is too old, but only because I've been to too many egg hunts where the "big" kids clean house and the little ones are left with nothing....so if you decide to let them participate then plan accordingly - either a seperate area or a staggered start time.

[boilermaker]

My older nieces would be very hurt if they were left out of the egg hunt (well, the 16 yr old prob wouldn't care but the 12 &14 yr would). We do what the others do and just make it separate somehow. In my family, the little kids have the smaller size eggs and the older kids have the jumbo size eggs. They are hidden accordingly. The older kids usually finish first, then help the younger ones.

[Fenway]

When my family did Easter egg hunts, my mom would write everyone's name on their eggs. This served two purposes; first, everyone got the same amount of eggs/candy, and second the eggs could be hidden in age appropriate spots. You weren't supposed to say anything if you found someone else's egg - it was a secret. I think we participated until we were in college!

We did this last year. The entire family from grandma to toddlers were involved in the hunt. It was really fun!

[Niobe]

We used to set the egg hunt up so that a lot of the eggs were really obvious, but some were really well-hidden. Then we sent the littlest kids out first, so they could grab the easy ones, and let the older kids go after a few minutes so they could start hunting for the trickier ones. Always worked well. :)

[littlebear]

I just took my 3 year old to an egg hunt this weekend, and there were 10-12 year olds who were participating as well. The organizers had hidden some eggs in high places and told the older kids that they couldn't get the lower eggs. They also gave the little ones a 3 minute head start before the older ones participated. They also told the older kids that there was no running so that little ones weren't getting pushed over accidentally. The older ones were actually really having a good time pointing out eggs for the little ones.

[Kanga]

For our extended family, everyone participates, adults included. In years past, we've done real eggs with the wax crayon to write names on them, plastic eggs that are color coded - green for adults, yellow for teenagers, etc. For the adults who really didn't want to participate, younger kids would gladly go hunt out their eggs for them. I'd include them and then if you they don't want to participate, it's more for the younger ones.

[hmbay]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm sure SIL would have freaked out if I even suggested her oldest 3 not participate but last year it seemed the 13 year old could have cared less. The 11 year old walked around clueless and bored and the 10 year old is an obnoxious boy who was just in all the little kid's way so I thought about just giving them a goodie bag and calling it good enough.

We also do the suggestion with the labeled eggs with everyone's name so everyone gets 5 or whatever but that still didn't stop the bigger kids from grabbing the little kids eggs and going "oh not mine" and then just handing it to the kid whose egg it was.

I do like the idea of having the little kids get a few minutes head start. I don't think we have the space to just have the older kids hunt in their own area but if we have the little kids find stuff first that would eliminate the problem we had with the 10 year old last year.

[ellybelle]

When we did an Easter Egg hunt with my SILs teenage cousins (12 and 14, I think), we let the toddlers go first and then let the older kids go after to look for the harder-to-find ones.

Maybe you could let the 4 and unders go first, stagger the 6 year olds by a few minutes and then let the bigger kids go afterwards. As others have mentioned, make some of them harder to find or use smaller eggs for the older ones.

[jennylou]

And if you want the oldest to be interested - try putting money in plastic eggs. We'd have change in some all the way up to $5s and $10s. Easter was a pretty big deal with a pretty big egg hunt. :)

[Rose]

And if you want the oldest to be interested - try putting money in plastic eggs. We'd have change in some all the way up to $5s and $10s. Easter was a pretty big deal with a pretty big egg hunt.

Can I come to yours? :D