Creative Easter Egg Hunt Prizes for Big & Little Kids

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.

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.

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

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.

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

• inflatable beach balls
• swim goggles
• water balloons
• bubbles
• sidewalk chalk
• Easter candy – chocolate bunnies and Peeps don’t fit in plastic eggs, anyway!
• craft supplies – take a look at our Easter crafts for kids to see if you can make it an Easter activity together.
• glow sticks
• gift cards for favorite stores or restaurants
• small toys such as Hot Wheels or what you might find at discount stores
• lip balm and other beauty products
• things that go along with their hobbies, such as MTG Deck Boxes or D&D dice
• cold hard cash – dollar bills and quarters are nothing to sneeze at
• Easter books for kids

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.

Think about the ways you’ve been preparing for Easter spiritually. Are there relevant prizes you can include?

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!

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!

More Easter Fun

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