Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt FAQs

So you’re thinking about hosting a Glow in the Dark Easter Egg Hunt, but you’re not really sure what that really entails? Here’s a closer look at how our Jesus is Light Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt event went + answers to some of the questions you’ve been asking about hosting your own glow in the dark egg hunt!

We offered the event for free, but we did ask families to register ahead of time so we could know how many to expect. With the way we did our egg hunts using specific letters and numbers, we needed a general head count. We of course made extras for those who showed up the day-of, but it really helped to at least have an idea of our total numbers.

As families arrived, they received details about all of our available stations!

The stations time included around 10 stations set up in our outdoor space where kids and families could make Easter crafts, play Easter games, do some fun glowing activities, and even eat a special Easter snack! This time was intentionally focused on fellowhsip and encouraging kids and families to interact and build relationships by bonding over the activities.

After about an hour of open station/play time, we gathered everyone in our teaching space for worship and a short lesson. This lesson varied from year to year depending on our theme, but always included some sort of tie-in to light, glowing, shining, and Easter. This Friday, I’ll share the glowing tonic water object lesson we used during our Jesus is Light Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt event!

We closed out this teaching time with prayer, then shared the instructions for our glowing egg hunt and released the kids to find their glowing eggs! As families prepared to leave, we passed out goody bags with Easter candy and a note from our ministry, giving some discussion question and activity ideas for home and inviting the family to our church’s Easter services. It was a blast!

Glow in the Dark egg hunt details & FAQ's

Now for those questions…

How do you make your eggs glow?

There are lots of ways you can make your eggs glow, but the route we ended up taking was Plastic Eggs + Finger Lights. The finger lights last several hours, meaning you can stuff them before the event and they’ll still be glowing when it’s time to hunt/after the event. They also glowed brighter than some of the other options we tried, so we really got the glowing effect we wanted. Plus, the kids loved taking them home! One finger light per plastic egg worked perfectly.

How many volunteers does it take to host an event like this?

The event guide provided in this downloadable resource lists the following recommended roles for volunteers (though it really depends on your number in attendance and how many of the 10 available stations you choose to offer):

Prep team (to help with making the egg carton holders, writing on Easter eggs, making goody bags, etc. before the event)
Egg stuffers (to turn on finger lights & put in eggs immediately before the event starts)
1-2 volunteers for each station/activity you set up (to help you plan & prepare and/or to run the station during the event)
Registration table (during the event)
Leading worship (during the event)
Egg hiders (to “hide” the eggs in the field/space during the lesson time – can be the same as your egg stuffers)
2-3 “Floaters” to check on station volunteers (during the event)
Clean up team (after the event – usually the same as your station leaders, but just make sure to communicate the expectation of them staying to help clean up!)

What about littles (ages 3-5)? Won't this be past their bedtime?

Several of the stations are toddler-friendly (with assistance). Unless you’re hosting your glow in the dark egg hunt indoors where you can control the light, you’ll want to wait until after the sun goes down before hunting your glowing eggs, which might mean it’s past bedtime for some of your kids. Check your local area for the time, but our sundown happened around 8 PM, and we planned on starting the hunts around 8:15 PM. Because this was a family event, that meant families with babies and toddlers either chose not to join us, not to stay for the entire event, or be OK with one night around Easter to stay up a little bit later. Our 3-5 year olds LOVED the stations and the glow in the dark egg hunt, and most of the families we talked with said it was worth pushing bedtime back by an hour or two.

How much planning and preparation did this take?

A lot, honestly, but because it was one of our biggest outreach events of the year, we wanted to go all-out! If you want to host your own glow in the dark egg hunt, I recommend starting at least 3 months early if you’re starting from scratch. Our Jesus is Light Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt resource does all of the planning for you, but I still wouldn’t recommend trying to pull it off with less than a month’s time in advance.