Creative Easter Egg Hunt Prizes for Big & Little Kids

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Ready to take your Easter Egg Hunt to the next level? Instead of filling the eggs with candy, why not fill them with reward tokens that the kids can redeem for prizes? Follow this easy tutorial to set up a different kind of Easter Egg hunt this year.

colorful plastic eggs in a jumbled mess.

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Easter egg hunts can be loads of fun. Who can collect the most? Who can find the trickiest-hidden eggs? How much candy would you get?

A traditional Easter Egg Hunt can be loads of fun. But at the end of the hunt, you’ve got candy wrappers everywhere and kids hyped up on too much sugar. 

As a mom I watching my kids’ excitement in experiencing the challenge of the hunt and other fun activities, like our Empty Tomb Cake, but I don’t love all the candy and sugar that we consume over the Easter holiday.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Easter candy. A little too much. 

A few years ago, I decided to switch the focus of our Easter egg hunt from candy to other fun treats, and it was one of my best great ideas ever! And has become one of our family Easter traditions from here on out.

This fun twist is simple and easy and is a great way to gift your kids and friends practical items as well as a chocolate Easter bunny or two.

I was inspired by my mom’s practice of, once we were grown, hiding plastic Easter eggs filled with money when she came to visit.

While I’m not ready to hide cold hard cash in plastic eggs in my yard, I decided it was a good time to move away from candy-filled eggs for our egg hunts.

Instead of candy or money, I fill the eggs with tokens, kind of like play money. Then the kids can redeem their “egg money” for easter egg hunt prizes.

girl dressed all in pink hunting for eggs, holding a teal basket.

Why Give Easter Egg Hunt Prizes

It’s can be sugar-free. While you can certainly include Easter candy in your prize store, you don’t have to. There are enough Easter treats to be had, anyway. And you don’t have to hunt high and low for non-candy Easter egg fillers!

It’s fun for older kids as well as younger kids. You can vary your Easter Egg Hunt Prizes so that the whole family will enjoy the experience.

It can be very budget-friendly. You don’t have to buy expensive prizes. In fact, you could make many of the prizes be experiences rather than things, much like you would in a DIY Coupon Book.

You don’t have to worry about finding all the eggs. In the case of plastic eggs filled with chocolate, you might not want to leave any out in the yard for the dog to find. Since it’s just a piece of paper inside, you’re not risking much.

The eggs and fillers are safe for all ages. While some candies and easter egg fillers might not be appropriate for little ones or kids with food allergies, offering a prize system eliminates issues with allergens and choking hazards.

How to Set up Easter Egg Hunt Prizes

paper tokens and plastic easter eggs in a basket and on the table.

1. Print some tokens and fill your eggs.

I made my paper tokens to look like yolks. One yolk or two? 😉 You might say they are yolkens

You can make your own kind of prize ticket on slips of paper or grab my free printable to make it easy. I’ve even seen generic prize tokens for sale at Target this year (similar to these) as well as wooden tokens on Amazon that list a prize on the token.

I like my way the best — haha! Simply print off as many sheets as you like, cut the yolks apart, and fill your plastic eggs.

Get the free printable page of yolkens when you subscribe to the Life as Mom newsletter. You’ll get instant access to the printable and the Life as Mom Free Resource Library, including guides and printables for all seasons and holidays.

an assortment of easter egg prizes on black table.

2. Choose some prizes.

Choose prizes that you know your kids will enjoy getting as an alternative to candy. I get a variety of items that I might have bought the kids in spring/summer anyway so that I’m not buying a ton of junk to pick up later. Typically, it’s stuff I know they will use and enjoy.

Egg Hunt Prize Ideas

Don’t feel like you have to get special prizes if you don’t wanna. My littles were super excited about some new toys, but they were equally thrilled with redeeming their tokens for good quality candy the year before. In other years, I’ve loaded up on stationery and fun items from the Japanese dollar store.

easter egg hunt prizes with post-it note pricetags.

3. Set up your store.

Your Easter Egg Hunt Prizes store is similar to that counter at Chuck E Cheese where kids can turn in their tickets. Same concept, but cooler because it’s at home and cheaper.

  • It’s helpful to add price tags to the prizes so it’s really clear to the kids how many tokens they need to redeem for prizes.
  • Decide ahead of time who will “man the store”. My kids love taking turns acting as store keeper, for real prizes. Kids love to play store anyway, and here’s something real to exchange. (Depending on your crowd, you might want to put an adult in charge.)
  • Be sure to explain the hunt and store concept to the kids, lest there’s disappointment at paper-filled eggs. Honestly, my kids prefer the tokens and the Easter Egg Hunt Prizes. Just be sure to build it up excitingly. 

4. Hide your eggs and get the hunt started.

Once you’ve got your store set up and your eggs filled, let the hunt begin! It’s helpful to have lots of eggs so the kids have plenty of opportunities to find tokens. 

After the hunt is over, the kids can count up their tokens. If you included “double yolks”, those are a fun surprise for kids who can count.

Show the kids how to redeem their tokens for prizes and enjoy a great Easter!

boy opening plastic eggs to redeem tokens for prizes.

Tips for Hiding Eggs

  • Adjust where you hide eggs to suit the age and capabilities of the hunters. A lot of little kids will require eggs “hidden” in plain sight, while big kids will enjoy the thrill of the hunt more if you choose more challenging hiding places. In the case of the tricky eggs, remember where you hid them!
  • Got a little too much competitive spirit with your peeps? Assign different colors of eggs to each kid so there’s a built in limit to how many they can find.
  • Communicate to the kids were you’ve hidden the eggs. You don’t want them wandering in danger zones or crossing streets.
  • If the weather is bad, simply move the hunt indoors. You can hide the eggs inside, just be clear with the kids which rooms hold the hidden eggs.
  • For teens and adults (and those who won’t choke), there are small egg-size glow sticks you can add to the egg with the tokens to have a nighttime egg hunt. If you can find them at Walmart, they’re pretty cheap!
little girl picking up eggs hidden in plain sight.

More Easter Fun

What works for you?

Leave a comment below and let us know what works for you.

This post was originally published on March 26, 2015. It has been updated for content and clarity.

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54 Comments

  1. I have done tickets in my plastic eggs for many years for my two grandsons , now 14 and 16, who would enjoy redeeming them for prizes; gum, snacks, etc. This year I changed it up a bit. I made a fun scavenger hunt with a riddle in each egg to find the next egg; such as : Look for a place to rest your rump,
    I once was a tree but now
    I’m a _________. Answer:(Stump)
    I also hide pretend money in the eggs that they can redeem for real cash.

  2. I started a nite time Easter egg hunt 2 years ago for my then 3 year old grand daughter, by placing colourful, flickering battery operated tea candles around my garden where the marshmellow eggs could be found by her. She loved the fun of running to all of the colourful lights dancing around in the pitch dark garden to find her stash, and I have done that for her every year since. Unfortunately, she was the only grand child here in Johannesburg, her other cousins living away in Nelspruit and Prague, meant the hunt was over very quuckly. But not this year. She has a brand new cousin, born only in March this year. So, all my adult children living near us will be coming to us for Easter and because Im loving the idea of the yolk tokens for swopping for trinkets for the 2 little ones, Im going to get busy with those and for my adult kids, hiding the little bottles of liquer for them, will add to the fun for them too. Im going to be starting a very special tradition for all our grandchildren and children for the years to come. And hopefully they will continue to do it when I can no longer. Thanks so much for all your great ideas ladies. ♥️

  3. What a fantastic idea!! I will share this with my daughter so she can do it next year. She also watches her kids sugar intake so she will appreciate this idea!

  4. I saw red tricycle posted your egg hunt idea on their list to try. I was like, ” I know that blog!”.

  5. One year when I was little, my mom did something different: she had a line of yarn for each of us to follow – we each got our own color of yarn – and I don’t remember exactly where it went, except that it was inside and went up the stairs. Along the path she put our treasures, whatever they were – a cookie, a piece of candy or whatever – and we had a great time following along our own path and finding what was in store to put in our baskets. It was really simple. I loved it. She never did repeat it, but I remember asking about it more than once, and I have never forgotten it.

  6. Love the idea!!! Our tradition had cute spin … we fill eggs w “bunny tail” or cotton balls … redeem in the same way … one year I even used those really cote little fluffy chicks I got at Big Lots … Great memories…

  7. I’m going to do this hunt this year! We always end up with so much candy! Great idea!

  8. Great ideas especially the swimming stuff.
    One prize could be.a.disney stuffed animal or.local gift certificate to an ice cream place, McDonald’s, bowling .i like the stampers, kite, stickers, puzzles and bubbles as prizes.

  9. I’ve done the easter hunt for my sister & my boys for years now, each has a different colour of egg to hunt for, a few have chocolate eggs in but mostly they have been filled with stickers, stamps, highlighters, toy cars, lego, bouncy balls . . . whatever I could get that fitted in an egg.. It was a lot easier when they were little – more challenging now they are teenagers but a challenge I enjoy.

  10. What a great idea! We are getting ready to go to the beach and I was going to get them beach toys anyway but now I can skip all the candy and do this instead!

  11. Growing up we didn’t get candy as my mom didn’t let us have much sugar. She would instead hide presents all over the yard (usually 3-5 each). That made Easter feel a little more like Christmas! Love your idea for my five kids as we are also trying to cut back on sugar, but the token idea may inspire my three teens to also join in with the easter egg hunt. I’m so on the same page with you about the See’s candy. If we are going to have candy, I want the good stuff! 🙂

  12. I would put candy in the eggs and hide them in the yard. t was a lot of fun until we had a late Easter and 80 degree temps….ant colored eggs. Yum. So I go smart and started putting change that I had saved up over the year. I would also put dollar bills in some. Usually a couple of $1 and maybe a $5 or a $10. I would also have a “golden” egg that contained $25 in it. That went over real well until a neighbor child came over and joined in and found the “golden”egg. Good thing she was one of my “other” children. So now I do the egg hunt but save the “golden” egg for my children. Mine now range in age from 14 to 23. And yes they still expect an Easter basket with our traditional trimmings such as bubbles and balls and paddles.

  13. We tried this on Easter Sunday and boy was it successful! We had friends over for Easter dinner and between all of us we had 6 kids from age 3 to 9. They loved shopping and they chose the prizes over any candy. I knew we also had very competitive kids and I wanted it to be fair for everyone. I chose 6 different colors and each kid got to draw a color for them to hunt for. Instead of being competitive it was collaborative. I heard things “Hey who has orange, there is an orange one here!” Once they found all their eggs they needed to help others find theirs. I also had one egg that said you get to pick first for prizes. We agreed that from there it would be youngest to oldest. I thought I would get some gripe from the oldest. But the oldest said “that is okay, I am older so I understand.” All in all, it was a huge success. The kids all liked it and can’t wait until next year. Thanks for the idea!!! 🙂

  14. We did this and my children kept saying “this is the best egg hunt ever. They loved choosing and “buying” their own stuff. I am going to hit the clearance and fill my box up for next year! Thank you so much for the idea!

  15. I like this idea so much I’m adapting it to our annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Not only does it make it easier to buy items since they don’t have to be small enough to fit inside eggs , but we can get prizes of various values that appeal to different ages, genders and interests.
    In addition, since we are Christians and love the Scriptures that talk about new life, we are adding Bible verses to the back of our tokens, so, like fortune cookies, each person can find inspirational messages inside his or her eggs.
    Our egg hunt has become a tradition among our neighbors so that they all ask me about it and look forward to it each year. Thanks for posting your ideas!

  16. We did Easter egg hunts at my mother’s for years, my 2 cousins, my sister and I would buy the candy, and I had a big basket of eggs we re-used every year. Since the age difference was quite vast and who wants to have one person have 30 eggs and someone else 3?? (and the ensuing tears!) We would count how many eggs once filled, divide by # of children, determining how many eggs per child. That way if the big teenagers got their’s faster they would then help the littles find the rest and was a fun game for all. One year the kids stole the basket of eggs off to a bedroom, lowered it out the bedroom window and hid the eggs and made us adults go chase around! Also the kids would go find something at Grandma’s to use as a bucket, not traditional baskets, the funnier the better for photos. I think the funniest was my 6 foot + nephew running around the yard with a fishing net and a dozen or so eggs, fun memories now! Then it was always the tradition for all the kids to crowd onto Grandma’s porch for an annual photo and after the photo we would ALL have a silly string fight, children and adults. Such fun to look back on!

    1. You all have such wonderful ideas! I am starting these traditions for my grown kids and my grandbabies! I’m so excited! Thank you all:)

  17. We haven’t had one tradition for Easter egg hunts. It’s varied based on where we are at the time. I have done something similar to what you mentioned. I put one of two types of papers in each egg. Each paper could be redeemed for one candy treat or one egg. We had about 10 kids doing it, and they all enjoyed it. 🙂

      1. Oops. I meant that they could redeem for one paper for one candy or one toy- things like little plastic animals.

  18. love it, I will defiantly have to do this. this year. thank you for the idea.

  19. This is a fantastic idea!! We managed Halloween with a pinata filled with individual bags for kids, but I have been trying to figure out how to navigate Easter. Thank you!!!!

  20. Our Easter hunt is a little bit different and unusual. Since there are 6 grandchildren that go from 7 months to 4 years they get the egg hunt but for toy eggs. My siblings and I are over with egg hunts so my parents one year decided to hide the small bottles of alcohol around the house (we loved this idea) and there were no babies yet in the family. It is a great idea for parents who have older kids who have outgrown egg hunts.

  21. This year each of our eggs will contain a puzzle piece to a custom puzzle. When they have all the pieces, they can assemble the puzzle to reveal a clue to where their Easter baskets are hidden.

  22. Oh my gosh!!! I live this idea and will totally be doing this THIS year! Thank you for sharing

  23. i do two types of egg hunts with my girls. The first one, I put pictures in each egg. The picture shows where the next egg is. Each egg leads to the next egg. With the second one, I write a clue as to where the next egg is. So the girls have to think in order to get all their eggs. Other years, I have just hidden themed eggs and said go find xx number of eggs. My girls have loved finding the eggs each year. I have also hidden their baskets.

  24. Thanks for this wonderful idea. Our extended family gets together for dinner and an egg hunt. There are 11 grandkids that range in ages from 12 to 1 so it gets challenging to find age appropriate things that can fit in an egg. This way everyone can get what they want and anything left over can be saved for next year.

  25. Last year my daughter was four and needed help with my new tradition. This year I think she will be able to do it on her own. In each egg I put a word. The words mad up a sentence. Ex: To find your prize go to the big white shed.
    In the hiding spot was a kite. This year it will be 2 sentences since she is older and two prizes. One sentence will be in pink eggs and another sentence will be in blue eggs.

    1. I am loving this idea, and Jessica’s as well. I have teen daughters and a 2 yo grand daughter. These ideas sound like more fun across the ages!