I would always have a treasure hunt at S’s birthday parties when he was little. Kids love them. But they were always arranged so that the result was communal: one prize for each kid, didn’t matter who found it, or a treasure chest of goodies to be shared.
This thread is cracking me up, especially in light of the one asking whether people are basically born good.
I used to run our subdivision egg hunt. I got tired of the gimme-gimme kids who were “egged” on by their greedy parents, so I instituted a new policy: If a parent wanted their kid to participate, they had to drop off 6 empty plastic eggs per child. Each child whose parent dropped off the 6 eggs was able to pick up 6 eggs (which I filled) at the hunt (we had an area for little kids and an area for bigger kids). Everyone got a goodie bag before they left, so it wasn’t like they didn’t get some fun loot to take home. The kids were fine with it, and it worked out great. Once kids had their 6 eggs, they actually helped other kids find eggs.
Of course, my favorite egg hunt took place in early April. I wrote on the flyer, “The egg hunt will take place no matter what the weather brings (if it snows, wear boots).” We woke up to 6 inches of snow on the ground that day!
Our religious institution did hardboiled eggs with letters on them. The kids had to get them all and it would spell a message. Only trouble was in the 15 minutes or so that the eggs were out there the squirrels made off with a number of them! We used to do treasure hunts with clues for the kids’ birthdays. They and their friends loved them. Love the idea of doing Easter that way too.
Our town did this once then discontinued it. Parents of the 3 and under were allowed to accompany their kids and they ran out and picked up all the eggs, 50-100 each. Many of the kids got none. “Like taking candy from a baby” has gone literal.
This one might be worse - when I was 12, I walked 3 miles up to a town park with a couple of friends for the 12-and-under Easter egg hunt. They had a softball sized gold egg that was for the grand prize, a 3 foot chocolate bunny. One of my friends found the gold egg (he saw about where the guy hid it), then took it and buried it. He “found” it officially after 90 minutes of everybody else looking.
By contrast, here’s an Easter egg hunt that got it right. I love the idea of beeping eggs for blind children.