Fun and Sneaky Ideas for Hiding Easter Baskets

Hands down, my very favorite part of Easter is the hunt for our Easter baskets. I know I should really say it's the part where we go to church or gather with friends and family for a special meal. I really do love that part too.

I promise.

But when I was a kid, I loved searching for my Easter basket. And now that I'm a mom, I love hiding them!

Fun and Sneaky Ideas for Hiding Easter Baskets

There are several options when it comes to where (and how) to hide Easter baskets. Let's go over them - shall we?

Make it Obvious

This probably goes without saying, but when your kids are little, they might need quite a bit of help finding their baskets. You might put it somewhere that feels right out in the open - and they'll still have trouble finding it.

I've always loved this picture of Miles when he was 2 years old - hunting for his Easter basket under the couch - while it's sitting right next to him.

And, looking back, I can remember a few years in college when my mom would just leave the Easter baskets on the dining room table with a note that said, "You're far too old to still be getting an Easter basket. Please get a job and move out of my house."

Okay - kidding about that. Sort of.

But my point is that there may be years when your kids are very young or very old when hiding the baskets doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

But all those years in between? That's when you get to have some fun and be creative!

Think Obscure

There comes a point when your kids are old enough to not be frustrated by super obscure hiding spots, and I have to say that I'm really looking forward to that stage in our lives.

When I was growing up, there were years when it would take my brother and I nearly an hour to find our Easter baskets.

Thinking back, I'm sure this was extremely intentional by my parents. We would spend an hour trying to find our Easter baskets, while they enjoyed 60 kid-free minutes sipping coffee and reading the paper.

They were brilliant.

Some possible hiding spots include the shower, the washing machine, the neighbor's house, in the (cold) oven, the dishwasher, the garage, outside in the playhouse, in the deep freezer, beneath their own beds, behind the toilet, in the trunk of the car... let your imagination run wild here.

One year my brother and I found our baskets in my dad's old dump truck out by the barn.

Another year they were (wrapped in plastic) in the dumpster.

Don't even ask why I grew up in a home with a dumpster and a dump truck on the property.

Eventually, my mom created a competition out of it, and whoever found their basket first won a prize. Pretty sure I won every single year.

Use Riddles and Clues

After we spent most of the morning looking our Easter baskets at home, we'd head to my grandma and grandpa's house - where the Easter bunny usually hid a second basket for us.

Yes, we were spoiled.

My grandparents' Easter bunny liked to use riddles and clues to help us find the basket. When we walked in the door, my grandma would greet us with a piece of paper, which would say something like...

Ready to get started? Let's go! You'll find your first clue in the shoes that we wear in the snow.

Which would lead us to our first clue, which would say something like...

Nice work. Let's look for clue number 2 - which can be found in the place that you go poo.

And so on and so on until we were finally led to our baskets.

This could also take a very, very long time.

Again - time that my parents and grandparents spent eating coffee cake, drinking coffee and having adult conversation. Genius.

Whip up a Treasure Map

Our neighbors do this every year, and I think my kids are finally old enough. The "Easter bunny" whips up a quick treasure map and leaves it on the table for Easter morning.

When the kids come downstairs, they'll use the map to find candy-filled eggs along the path towards their Easter basket. The map could look something like this...

Although hopefully yours looks better than mine because when Even Steven saw this, his response was:

"So - they're going to go to the green tree, find an egg, then find some flowers and then find a giant pink bunny?"

I'll work on my map - but you get the idea. Right?