That’s Rebecca Hall, assistant coordinator at High Point Community Center, getting ready to give the starting signal to dozens of little ones (and parents) during the week’s 1st West Seattle egg hunt, part of the annual Toddler Eggstravaganza. So what did it look like when the toddlers (and parents) descended?
More egg hunts are coming up starting Friday (nighttime events for tweens/teens) and Saturday – see the list on our West Seattle Easter page.
Thanks to High Point and the Parks Dept. for putting on the egg hunt and other festive activities this morning. It was mostly fun.
I would, however, have liked to see someone in charge come out to the field a little earlier, as this may have discouraged some parents from allowing their children to fill up their baskets before the egg hunt officially began.
I would also ask parents if they think they are setting a positive example by encouraging or allowing their small children to break open the eggs during the egg hunt in search of the white papers, (which meant you won an Easter basket prize) leaving a trail of broken plastic eggs and their scattered contents in their wake.
Kelly, that’s disappointing to hear. We were going to go, but opted out, and sounds like maybe that was a good idea.
That’s a definite downside to the Morgan Junction Thriftway’s hunt every year, too. I have an almost 6-year-old and an almost 3-year-old, and it’s pretty upsetting to see the behavior some of the “adults” display while searching for the special eggs with prize tickets. By the time some of the last kids have filtered in, there’s plastic egg and candy shrapnel all over the place, and I’ve seen grown-ups completely separate from any kids, throwing eggs and shoving their way through the aisles.
I almost wish there was a way to handle it where they gave each age group x amount of time to hunt (i.e. 10 min) with a handful of trusted employees at each department/aisle, before ushering them out to their parents, and then letting the next set of kids inside the store. Or only allow one parent per child (in thinking of the safety issue with the younger hunters) inside so it’s even slightly less chaotic?
I don’t know, I suppose I can’t really complain, since it’s a wonderful (free!) event over all, and we keep going back each year because the kids seem to enjoy it. It’s still just disappointing to see some of the behavior from the greedy adults and older kids. My son walked out of there with probably 5 eggs/no big prizes last year, and couldn’t have been happier.
So sad to hear that about the Thriftway egg hunt. I completely agree; it is so nice of places like Thriftway to put on these egg hunts that is is hard to complain, but still so difficult to watch the poor behavior of a few.
And at the egg hunt today, it was one of those things where probably at least 90% of the parents/caregivers were patiently waiting with their children for the egg hunt to officially begin and there were probably only a few adults allowing their children to rifle through the eggs during the hunt, but it is disappointing nonetheless.
We went to the Alki Community Center egg hunt a few years ago and it was awesome. They have the pancake breakfast starting at (I think) 8:30 AM and then the egg hunts are at 10 (I think). It is wonderful because my son was only around 1 1/2 at the time and they had a special place on the tennis courts just for the littlest kids. They do a great job separating the kids by age so everyone has a fun time.
Maybe the bigger egg hunts should opt out any Large/Grand prizes. That would discourage the rude adults from ruining it for the little ones…….. and really that’s who the egg hunts should be for. Last year my kid was pushed by an adult at a CHURCH sponsored egg hunt……. We’re having one in the backyard this year. :)
bsmomma- I think you’re right. I don’t know what is offered as a ‘big prize’ at the Parks OR Thriftway, but it sounds like it would be more fun for everyone if the prizes were smaller. also, if Parks Dept. has budget issues, maybe they could cut some costs and only put little pieces of candy in the eggs.
I like the zoo’s system. they separate into many different age groups, and the eggs (at least the ones for the 0-3 set) are empty. you turn in your empty eggs when you leave and get a nice selection of candy.
Most of the eggs were already popped open before it started bc when the bigger kids “hid” them they just threw them out in the grass. I didn’t witness anyone looking for the papers until the end and I didn’t see the little kids pick up already popped eggs.
I don’t remember any LARGE Grand Prizes when I was little. I think maybe a golden egg got me a cheap stuffed animal or a giant chocolate Bunny. Something like that was so awesome to me (as a kid) and an adult could give a rats about that kind of stuff. Good Times.
Before the HP egg hunt started I noticed opened eggs and candy on the ground so I’ll bet some were accidentally popped open when they were scattered around on the ground by the big kids (I saw them actually kicking and throwing the eggs onto the field). The parents were being pretty good about corralling the kids going out on the field.
They were also asking at the desk if all the parents had checked their kid’s eggs for the papers – there were still prize baskets and cupcakes left so not everyone was ‘gung ho’ over getting to the prizes as fast as possible.
We had fun and hope to do it again next year!
Thanks for the info about the Easter Egg hunt. We decided not to go after reading some of the other comments on the earlier main page posting about the bigger kids. I have seen the pushing and shoving by the 4 year olds at the play time at HP(parents are indeed chatting and completely oblivious).
I asked the cashier at Thriftway about egg hunt for toddlers and she advised I stay away due to the extreme pushing and shoving by the older kids.
Just to be clear – the ‘big’ kids at HP were the helpers wearing bunny ears, they weren’t on the field picking up eggs they just helped set things up.
About the Thriftway hunt. Last year they did split the kids up into age groups and let the littler ones go in -first- so they had a chance to get something. After that it is a free-for-all but they’re asking folks to limit their basket to 30 eggs.
When I asked they suggested “get here -early-.”
MargL, when it comes to the Thriftway hunt, you’re right about them splitting the age groups up to some degree, last year. Although I saw more than a few bigger kids push their way in early or head in with younger siblings. (Which wouldn’t be an issue if they were actually escorting the little ones to help, but they ditched them and ran to get their own eggs.) But they definitely didn’t enforce the egg limit, because we saw more than a few people with, no joke, Hefty-sized garbage bags FULL of eggs. It was both disturbing and impressive. Then they’d sit down in the aisle, as the hunt was still happening around them, and start opening the eggs, chucking aside the empties/those without prize tickets.
I also really wonder how the store fares with people pocketing things, or breaking/crushing groceries in all the chaos. I’ve noticed some regular shoppers trying to go about business as usual during the hunt, and the look of horror on their faces is priceless.
Yes – I noticed the overflowing baskets and bags last year, too. And this year I think I’m going to have no trouble calling out the parents I see doing an unreasonable amount of collecting.
Thriftway’s response was “well we can only do so much with the people we have covering the hunt”, sure but if I point out a parent that has well over 30 eggs what will their response be?
We were there and I have to agree that it was really disappointing to watch the older kids run out and just rip open eggs looking for the prizes. I was also really disappointed that the center has seen this over and over again, but did nothing to discourage it, such as separating the little ones out from the big kids. I basically had to push away kids who were clearly older than the limit and doing the egg opening just so my little girl could have a couple of eggs. What’s more, it was very annoying to see kids with huge amounts of eggs walking off the field and the littler (slower) kids with only a couple. Wish I knew the answer. Perhaps it’s just more supervision and reviewing the rules before it starts. Kudos to the many parents of the youngest ones who were very thoughtful of other young ones. I did see a lot of parents looking out for the littlest egg hunters.
they should put numbered tickets in the eggs (or use a sharpie to put a little number on the outside of the egg), and then have a raffle after the hunt is over for the big prizes. that way people would know if they egg they picked is a “dud” until later.
we are doing a backyard hunt. for adults and kids….archie mcphee’s was a great place for the adult prizes.
We started in relatively quiet corner field and it wasn’t bad until the very end when the wave of kids from the otherside came the grab the last couple of eggs laying around and that only lasted a couple of seconds. Not much to really complain about, worse happens in the Play Gym every day. Also had no idea that the eggs contained papers for bigger prizes. We only opened one egg in the car afterwards. I’ll have to open the others and see if we missed out on something.
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