Easter Community Event FAQs

It all started with an Easter Egg Hunt. That's the way TCC made its first contact with our community when the whole church was just a handful of people. I remember putting all of our eggs into one basket, so to speak. We made a major investment of our resources into this first bridge event. I couldn't have been more discouraged that morning when I woke up to a dark, drizzly day. Definitely not a day to go on a family picnic. But, we had no choice except to press on. Then, as if God were saying to us, "This is My event, I've got it all under control," at around 10am, the clouds rolled back and the sunshine came breaking through. At least we took it as a major confirmation of God's plan for our new church.

Just before 11am, parents came pouring into the park with their kids. Over 800 people showed up for our first community event. I remember several people saying, "This seems like a really great church, how can I come to it?" My meek reply, "We meet in living room on Tuesday nights. You oughtta come and check it out." "Yeah, right, we'll do that." But some did.

So how do you make a mark on your community with an Easter Egg Hunt? Let me answer a few common questions about making it happen:

1) Do you provide baskets or bags for the kids? That's a great idea. We don't normally do this, other than having extra t-shirt bags on hand just in case. We've found that most kids bring their own baskets. In the past, we've had plastic bags imprinted with our vital information. Another option is to ask a local business to donate bags for the event. They get free publicity out of the deal. 2) Do you do any giveaways if so what are they? Yes. This is an area that has evolved as we have learned the hard way. We ask everyone to sign a registration card with follow up info. We used to use these cards to draw for door prizes. Now, we've found that it causes less confusion to place prize slips in the plastic eggs and let people claim their prizes at the prize tent. 3) How many eggs do you put out? Year 1, we had around 6000 eggs. We asked missions groups from other churches to donate candy filled eggs. Now, we provide the eggs through our own church. Our groups have a friendly competition to see which group can bring the most eggs. Last year, we had around 25,000 eggs. 4) Do you section off parts for different age groups? We hold hunts at 11:30, 12:30, and 1:30. At each time, we have 3 separate hunts divided by age groups. This allows people to hunt at whatever time they arrive. Of course some people hunt more than once, but everyone gets plenty of eggs. One final thought, be sure to promote your event as heavily as you can. We've found that you can have the greatest event and it will be a total flop if no one knows about it. And be sure to post your best ideas on the hunt in the comments section.