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I now know where I get my creativity from.

Since my boys couldn't be at my mom's annual Easter egg hunt, she sent it to them.  Today an Easter egg hunt arrived in a regular, priority mail box.  With instructions to "Open on this end" I found a note telling me to dump the contents out on the floor.  When I did, there was green Easter basket grass and plastic eggs filled with goodies. 

Just like a regular egg hunt, my boys dove right in.  Luckily, my mom had thought ahead and marked each egg with an initial, insuring that each boy would get their fair share.  There was even a golden egg for each boy with a whopping ten dollars inside!  The Easter Bunny sure is a big spender this year!

Mom's annual egg hunt all started when she won the use of a bunny costume at a charity auction.  Having several young grandchildren, she thought it would be fun to have a hunt in her backyard.  It went so well that she rented the costume again the next year--my step-sisters and I fighting over who would have to wear it.  ("You wear it.  No!  You wear it!") 

Around the third year or so, Mom went ahead and bought a costume.  Hiring a high school aged neighbor or family friend to be the Bunny, my step-sisters and I were freed.  The Bunny always greets the hunters in the driveway where my mom, who is a professional photographer, takes pictures of each child with the Bunny. 

The hunt grew in number as the number of grandchildren increased.  Thank goodness for a big backyard.  Mom always has two hunting areas: one designated for preschool age and below, and another for the older kids.  The area for the youngest hunters has eggs in plain sight.  The older kids' eggs are hidden.  And there are also two silver eggs, each filled with five dollars, and one gold egg worth ten dollars.  These eggs are, of course, the hardest to find. 

There are all sorts of seasonal refreshments for after the hunt.  Fresh fruit, cheese, banana pudding cake, and hard boiled eggs are always on the menu.  She decorated the tables with colored Peeps and baskets of flowers.  It's always so festive and fun.   

Held the Saturday before Easter, it is an event that no one dares to miss.  I try not to think about the fun that we will be missing since we live 1,500 miles away.  Since we still won't officially have a backyard for another week (we close on the new house next Friday), I am having to get creative myself about what kind of hunt to have.

At first I thought that we just wouldn't do one this year, but how do you look at a 6- and 3-year-old and tell them, "No egg hunt for you."  So, the Easter Bunny is hiding the eggs all over our townhouse late Saturday night.  He'll leave a note next to their Easter baskets telling them that he can't wait to hide them in their new backyard, but for now they are all over the house.  The kids might end up tearing the house apart looking for them, but I figured that's okay since we'll be moving in a few weeks anyway.

Happy Easter!