ok, FIRST I am not complaining, but more so just wondering. My husband and I took our 2 year old son to the Clayton Easter egg hunt this past Friday (it was his first). Just for the experience and pleasure of seeing him discover all these "footballs" (LOL, Yes he thinks they are footballs :lol it was well worth the gas, travel, time and crowd managing. They had this area for 3 and under, which of course is where were "hunted." All the parents were great (there was no :boxing, the kids were superb there was NO :cry ....all went well and it was a great time. :hurray: We get home and open the eggs to find HARD candy, CHEWY caramels and gum. Is it just me or did they not think of putting "3 and under child friendly" candies and items in the eggs for this specific field? Like I said I AM NOT COMPLAINING....just observing. Even though ALL the candy was thrown away it was well worth it. Thanks, ~M
Yep, sounds like someone just didn't think about it. Perhaps you should send a letter (or email) to the organizers using pretty much the same language you used here, so they will think about it next year.
We did that egg hunt several years ago and never again. My children were probably 4 & 5 at the time. We were one of the first families to arrive. When the hunt started everyone was funneled through a gate entering onto the ball field. Many let their children push and shove. Those first on the field were getting all the eggs and to the far side by the time we could even get into the gate. There were NO eggs left! Some kids left with buckets overflowing and some, like my children, left with none. The thing I could not understand was the parents who allowed their children to be so greedy! I hope they have changed how they start the hunt to at least give every child the opportunity to get an egg.
I went there, too. We got a little bit of candy (and yes, it was inedible for my girls - I know just the caramel squares you are talking about. EVen my son said "Uh, Mom. You don't want me to give this to her, do you?"). Mostly we got tiny gumball machine-type toys. DD2 puts everything in her mouth, so I just threw them all in the trash esp since the fell apart on the way home. And, I don't know where you were on the field but my experience was kind of like what ncmom described. My girls got maybe 3/4 eggs each and then you notice parents holding small children and their basket which is overflowing. WTH? Come on folks, there's enough for everybody! My DD1 is pretty big forher age (read - Amazon Girl) but there were quite a few kids bigger than her. 3 and under my a__! I even overheard one parent as they approached the field say to her friend "Oh, this one says three and under" and her friend said "Well, technically". I'm not complaining either, it was nice of them to do, it was free, but people never cease to amaze me. The Easter Bunny & Firetruck were nice, but what was up with the icecream man that showed up?
When we came in the gate they made everyone line up against the fence all the way around. Once everyone was lined up I think the parents could tell there was enough for everyone so there wasn't a bunch of pushing / shoving. We never touched one egg...my 2 year old picked all his own and he left with a good amount, but I did make him share with a little girl who didn't get that much. Of course, he didn't like it, but he'll get over it. :mrgreen:
I've never taken my kids to a community egg hunt. Actually I've never been to one either when I was a kid. We procreate to get our egg hunting competitors. :mrgreen: I had 25 1st cousins.
We went to the 4-5 section and they allowed the children and adults to come in and line up on the fence so that all the children got a fair shot at collecting eggs. I thought it went over quite well. It felt like it took less than a minute to clear the field of eggs. The only thing that I would say that needs to be changed is that the parents should not be allow to enter the fence. The reason being is that when the person in charge said go all the parents ran along with the children ran in to collect eggs. I didn't see any trampling or pushing, but I think it should only be children collecting eggs. If there are slower children that would give them a better chance at collecting eggs without adults in the way. Also the age group should be higher than 5. I saw some children there that were definitely older than 5 collecting eggs, and that is ok, but I think they should extend the age limit by a couple of years. The best part was we were able to get a quick picture with the easter bunny and a picture of the fire truck. Walmart was also giving away free easter bunny pictures.
Well, we went to the one at Ken's produce. It was a cool idea. They had alot of inflatables and a helicopter flew over and dropped the eggs. The main problem was there were so many peoble and they had the 4yr olds with the 8yr olds. Then they tell everyone that there are prizes in a few like a new bike. (the older group had a nano and a helicopter ride) Everyone was pushing and shoving and being SO MEAN. My youngest got so scared after being pushed that she started crying and so many people did not get eggs. (most parents and kids were just opening the eggs and if the prize they wanted wasn't in it they just dropped the open egg on the ground. Even my oldest got pushed down and stepped on (when she came out her clothes were all grass stained and muddy.) It was just so sad. So, we went to the store and got some prizes and candy and had our own Easter egg hunt with the neighborhood kids.
If you happen to ever be in Topsail during Easter, be sure and hit up their egghunt. They drop 5000 plastic eggs filled with child-safe candies from AN AIRPLANE!! Such fun!
We never went to a community egg hunt when I was a kid either - just the family and maybe at a church if my family knew everyone involved.
Okay, we did the Ken's produce one too and the drop from the helicopter was cool and it was good that they had separate hunts for the 1-3, 4-7 and 8-12 year olds (4 was not in with 8's) but the first line of kids were the only ones that got anything. My kids did not get one egg. I wanted to cry for them because it was very disappointing. So for all you egg hunt planners, it is much better to line the kids up in a single deep square line all the way around the area that the eggs are in and let everyone head toward the middle.
DH did a treasure hunt for DS. Put the clues in each egg, had him running all over the yard then got a prize at the end. Lots of fun!
We enjoyed it. Course, the prize at the end was the danged Wii we were going to hold till his birthday in June. DH and I couldn't wait, LOL! I still haven't had time to play it, but I bought the Carnival games just for me! :jester:
DH was playing the boxing thing with a friend, they were both huffing and puffing. I was LMAO! Which is why I am going to play it when no one else is home! :lol:
