What is a Cooperative Egg Hunt? This is something I created many years ago with my own family and have continued to do this year after year. I had never liked the competitive rush out to grab all you can approach, so I decided we should try something else. And we did and we still love it! I might add this can be used for all ages, including adults.  It is a bit more work, but so worth the effort.

Here are the steps to creating this new way of hunting Easter Eggs.

1. The group counts the NUMBER THAT WILL BE HUNTING and then decides HOW MANY EGGS each person will PREPARE FOR EACH of their FELLOW HUNTERS. For example: You might have 10 people hunting (hopefully all ages!) with each person putting together 1 egg for each of their fellow hunters.  The ending result is that each person ends up with the same amount of eggs.  In this example each person would come up with 10 eggs.
2. So this could be traditional real eggs or it could be candy filled eggs that many folks do OR it could be that you choose to do an alternative kind of egg, such as small healthy treats or toys in the eggs or if adults are involved some small items that they may find fun. Example a tea bag, nail clippers, hair ties, batteries, etc  . I might say JUMBO Eggs do tend to work best. Another alternative may be that the egg holds a note in it that says to go see another hunter for their prize. This works well when the prize or treat is too big to go in the egg. This opens the door for lots of fun things.  The dollar store is great place to gather gifts.
3. All the eggs prepared can be the same or individualized by the age or by the sex or by the specific person.
4. Each participant marks their eggs with all of the names of their fellow hunters.  So everyone is specifically looking for eggs that have their name on it.
5. Of course  you will need someone to hide eggs.
6. This is cooperative in that when someone can not find one of their eggs they have all of their fellow hunters who can give them clues or straight out tell them if they become desperate as to not being able to locate all of their eggs. It is so much fun and heart warming to see the young ones at times help the adults find their eggs.
7. Of course thank yous are nice at the end. Folks can mark their eggs with a to and from to help with this.

So what you have is a peaceful, exciting hunt with no pressure and no crying or upset with someone who does not get enough eggs. You have folks helping each other. And you have an opportunity to make the eggs carry whatever kind of message you like – one that stands for healthy treats or for maybe garden gloves, a box of crayons for creative expression, etc.

I hope you will give this a try. It is wonderful tradition that I love each year. And one that all can participate in and enjoy together.  Happy Easter!