Among the latest casualties of the coronavirus pandemic is one of America’s most cherished rites of spring: the Easter egg hunt. At a time when gathering in groups is a strict no-no, getting together to watch kids search for colorful eggs in public spaces has been all but outlawed this year.
Even the annual Easter egg roll at the White House — which hosts thousands of kids every year and had only previously been nixed during wars and food shortages — will not take place in 2020. But, as with all disruptions caused by the outbreak, people are finding creative ways to restore some degree of normalcy.
One unique solution some have come up with to encourage families to enjoy the warm weather and stay active is to turn the traditional Easter egg hunt into a neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt that can be enjoyed from a distance.
On March 21, the Iowa Egg Council announced a “virtual Easter egg hunt” that is actually much less low-tech than it sounds. In an Instagram post about the new initiative, the group urges people to print off some coloring sheets of an Easter egg from its website, spend time coloring them and stick them to their houses in various ways that will be visible to others, like taping them to windows or doors facing the street.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B99n_5KlnE_/
Then, the council urges people to try to spot eggs while they are out for walks around their neighborhood. They even came up with a prize for people who color their own version of the printable egg. You can find the printable coloring sheet right here.
Anyone who shares their colorful egg to the Iowa Egg Council on social media using the hashtags #IowaEggHunt or #IowEggColoring by April 12 will be entered to win a prize pack that includes an Amazon gift card, a shirt, a tote bag, a coloring book and more.
But it’s not just Iowans who are getting in on this new twist on the Easter egg hunt, as a group in Georgia came up with a similar idea and is encouraging people from all over to take part in its own paper egg hunt starting on March 28. The group showed how some of its eggs are decorated and stuck to a window on Instagram, making for a cheerful springtime display.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-IpieJlPuU/
Meanwhile, in Nebraska, the Hastings Parks and Recreation Department is promoting a similar program and is asking people to snap photos of the eggs they spot around town and share them on its Facebook page. In a video, Hastings Recreation Superintendent Ryan Martin announced the new program as a “social distancing Easter egg hunt.”
“We hope to spread positivity and enjoyment with this contest and continue the tradition of Easter despite the current state of the world right now,” the Iowa Egg Council said in a press release about its contest.
Who can argue with that sentiment right now?