How To Have A Virtual Easter Egg Hunt & Keep Your Family Connected

When it comes to traditions, any little change can really throw a loop in the plans. All it takes is someone moving away, a family member's scheduling conflict, or yes, even a still-ongoing global pandemic to make you think about having a virtual Easter egg hunt this spring. Maybe your whole family isn't together again this year, but that doesn't mean you can’t still celebrate together.

After a solid year of virtual school and working from home, the last thing you probably want to do is have another event through a screen. I get it, I really, truly do. One day, I hope that Zoom birthday parties and holidays on FaceTime are a thing of the (very distant) past. But, if you’re still not able to gather with friends and loved ones, having a virtual egg hunt to celebrate the season is the next best thing.

You’ll Still Need Lots Of Candy

Your kids can still hunt for as many candy-filled plastic eggs as possible this Easter with their cousins and grandparents — it may just look a little different. Instead of hunting eggs with a big group of kids, you’ll have to play along as both the hider and co-hunter while the extended family watches via Skype, but the ultimate goal — procuring pounds of processed sugar — will still pan out.

If your kid's grandparents typically provide the bulk of your kid's Easter swag (*cough*cough* Hi, mom!) they still can, even from afar. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and anyone else who wants love on your child at Easter time can send Easter gifts or candy to fill eggs through the mail so that you can have it ready and waiting for your kids on Easter morning. They can even send pre-filled Easter eggs full of stickers and novelty toys straight from Amazon to your doorstep so that you can hide them for your kids in your yard or throughout your home.

How To Hunt Together, Apart

Are family members less than thrilled about missing out on seeing your kid's yearly Easter egg hunt again this year? There are still ways to keep them involved through the wonders of modern technology. The simplest thing to do is set up a FaceTime call or video chat through an app like Messenger Kids with grandparents and follow your kids around with your phone or tablet as they hunt for eggs.

To have a bit more of an involved hunt, you can send clues to your youngest family members about where eggs might be hidden to help make everyone feel connected. For example, tell your brother to hide some eggs in a tree for his kids, and text them clues about it. Next, hop on a FaceTime call to watch them lose their mind with excitement when they find those hidden eggs.

Cousins can also talk to each other through their respective egg hunts. Simply have them start their hunts at the same time, phones in hand. It’ll feel almost like everyone's hunting together, even from their own yards.

You can also hide a gift or two from relatives throughout your home in lieu of actual Easter eggs and have your kids search for the gifts on their hunt. While these alternatives may not sound like the ideal way to have an Easter egg hunt, your kids will still get to have fun finding Easter goodies and your loved ones will feel like they still have a small role in the action of it all.

Keep Community Connection Alive

Gathering with gaggles of kids to do a community-wide Easter egg hunt is something my family has enjoyed in past years, but unfortunately, it’s still not safe to do this year. While my elementary school-aged kids will miss hunting for pastel-colored, candy-filled plastic eggs on their school playground with their classmates, they can still interact with friends virtually this Easter.

Last year, the parents at my children's school rallied together on Facebook and encouraged one another to color paper Easter eggs to place in our front windows so that kids can "hunt" the eggs while on walks through the neighborhood or riding in the car with their parents. We plan to do the same this year with paper window eggs in all shapes and sizes. Big, small, sparkly, colorful — anything goes. Some parents have even suggested using sidewalk chalk to create Easter eggs in driveways throughout our neighborhood.

Although this is definitely a "low-tech" way to have a virtual egg hunt, it’s a great way to keep your community connected. You can utilize your local social media pages to set up something similar for kids in your neighborhood to hunt "together" from a safe distance.

Even though this year's Easter egg hunts may look different once again, you and your kids can still have a blast and stay safe while doing it. It may not be ideal and it may take a bit more planning than usual, but you've got this.