Easter Egg Hunt Information

Overview

Like many Easter traditions, Easter eggs and Easter egg hunts have their roots in Pagan traditions. Since the arrival of the tradition in the United States, Easter egg hunts have become a popular part of the Easter holiday celebration.

Origin

Easter egg hunts are believed to have been brought to America by German immigrants. The children believed the "Oschter Haws" (Easter Bunny) would lay colored eggs in the nests for them to find.

Colored Eggs

Originally, colored eggs for Easter egg hunts were chicken eggs that had been delicately painted by hand. This gave way to hard-boiled chicken eggs dyed with food coloring. Easter egg hunts now use plastic colored eggs that open to reveal small toys or candy.

Largest Easter Egg Hunt

Cypress Gardens, a theme park in Florida, is credited by Guinness World Records as having the largest Easter egg hunt in 2007. There were 510,000 plastic eggs filled with candy and prizes donated by businesses. The eggs were found by 9,700 people.

White House Hunt

The White House traditional Easter egg roll and hunt started in 1878. Each year has a theme that includes other fun activities such as music shows and face painting. The eggs used number in the thousands and are hard-boiled eggs cooked by White House cooking staff.

Fun Fact

Thirty years ago, Quest Communications employees, called the Quest Pioneers invented special plastic beeping eggs. The purpose was so blind children could participate in finding eggs. Since the original beeping egg hunt in Colorado Springs, there have been 14 states using the eggs for Easter egg hunts for the blind.

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