Egg “Pop”!

As my kids have grown I’ve tried to tweek our celebrations to fit their ages and current interests.  I’ve always been a big proponent of allowing my boys to be KIDS for as long as possible…you only get to do it once!  And as they grow, as kids tend to do, I will never stop the celebrations, the after school snacks, the crafting and baking…I just need to change it up and grow it up without loosing the youthful whimsy!  Even though they occasionally tease me…they certainly seem to be enjoying it!  I don’t believe I’ve ever had to FORCE them eat a special treat or to search for a clue leading them to a hidden holiday gift!  I want them to keep all those special memories…and the fact is that the older they are, the more vividly they may remember them!  So, as long as they’re in the house they’ll have those opportunities to just be kids!  Of course, there’s no stopping the growing up part…but I can certainly keep some of that childlike enthusiasm alive along the way!  This brings me to today’s post–it’s almost time to hide those Easter eggs…a tradition that we still keep at our house!  We don’t hide them outside anymore and we make the hunt much harder every year that they get older…sometimes so difficult that we find a stray egg or two several weeks later!  So this year I was trying to come up with something a bit different…and I think they’ll have a blast with this one!  I’d like to share with you a cute idea that would really be fun for kids of ALL ages…

put some “kaboom” in your egg hunt!

i get fixated on certain things from time to time…sometimes it’s pom poms or tissue paper, currently it’s balloons!  the inspiration for this idea came when i was using all those green balloons in our St. Patrick’s day celebrations…i wondered if i could get a piece of candy inside?  so i gathered some inexpensive supplies:  balloons…

and Easter candy…

guess what?  it was actually pretty easy to get a treat inside!  so i thought, how much fun would it be to fill several balloons with candy and coins to add to the hunt?  so this year we’re having an egg “pop” in addition to the search!  i don’t know about you, but i think it would be SO fun to pop open a balloon and see what’s hiding inside!  so to get the goodies in there you first need to roll the neck of the balloon down to the rounded part…

then use both hands and stick your fingers inside to stretch the short neck open.  have your candies close by so that you can grab a piece or two with extra fingers and tuck it inside!  i’m sorry i couldn’t document this better without an extra set of hands–i had to let go with one hand to take the pic…but you REALLY can do this with one person!  if you happen to have an extra set of hands available it will be even easier…i just didn’t have that luxury this time!  snack-size candy fits perfectly…i got up to 4 pieces in some balloons depending on the balloon and candy size!

once you get all the goodies inside…just blow it up!

…and when the candy pieces are hidden inside, the balloon will almost “stand” on it’s own!  the candy weighs it down enough that they stay in the position you put them in!  for a little extra fun to embellish the balloon “eggs” i added some colorful bows!

of course, bows & ribbons aren’t necessary…they just look cute!

now, what to pop them with?

some simple supplies make a great “popper”!

skewers, craft poms, and paper banner flags right from the computer make a festive “sword” to pierce those oversized “eggs”

all you need is a little hot glue!

i filled a few already, and they’ll be perfectly fine until Sunday!  i’ll fill some more each day when a get a second to myself and can store them in some garbage bags, tucking them in the basement or attic until Easter morning arrives!  and after we hide the smaller versions…we can scatter the balloons all over the floor and wait for the hunting AND popping to begin!

a fun, new twist on the traditional egg hunt!

try an egg “pop” this year!