Did you do Easter hunts growing up?

[Stomachfullofchocolate]

I was a child of the 80’s, teen of the 90’s…I remember going to one Easter hunt as a child at a neighbours across the road, I had no idea what to do.
My parents would get me an egg for Easter for the morning and my grandparents would get me one…I was happy with that as I knew no different. We don’t go over the top in our house but I do plan a lovely egg hunt for Dd, get her some bunny ears/t-shirt etc and we do Easter activities -paint eggs, make Easter nests etc.
I’m not trying to sound like I’m perfect, I just enjoy doing it and it isn’t a massive hassle…I didn’t do any of it..we painted eggs at school and did nests so I suppose my mum didn’t think we needed to do anything else. But when I think about it, it’s like that with so many things…I do so much more with Dd and I work, whereas my mum was a Sahm for years. She wasn’t an awful mum, I’m not saying that at all, but things seem so different these days…even dinners were easy and things you just bunged in the oven (fishfingers, Findus crispy pancakes, chips etc) then she’d maybe cook from scratch on a Sunday. Breakfast was cereal in a bowl, no fruits, avocado on toast, eggs etc really like a lot of people nowadays. I think of all the things I bust my ass over and wondered why it wasn’t like that then or why just she wasn’t (not sure if that was the case or all motherhood was similar back then)
The thing she did do differently to me was a lot more daily cleaning…I’m rubbish and hire a cleaner as a treat as I prefer to put effort into spending time with Dd when I’m home and make better meals in general than in the 80’s.
Why didn’t my mum or maybe it was lots of other mums? Do these things?

I’m a 90’s child, 00’s teen and I never did anything like that. My parents didn’t do anything with me and I struggle now thinking of things to do with mine. I try and do a lot with them but I feel a lot of guilt for it not just being a natural thing for me.

We did do egg hunts in the garden but not big ones, my mum would just hide a few Creme eggs in the garden and take the Cadbury one out of its box.

I think a lot of the things we do as modern parents come from social media, and we really can't compare our parenting experience to those who did not have access to the Internet.

If you didn't have access to the Internet then you would probably repeat whatever upbringing you had had or what your friends did with their children and lots of the little things like Easter egg hunts would probably not be discussed that much. If we parented as the 90s, with no online shopping so relying totally on what the nearest Woolies had in stock to get themed decorations and craft kits, with no Pinterest/Facebook/ YouTube to see what friends were doing or getting ideas from all over the World and just relying on word of mouth for events then we would do a lot less with our children too.

80s child and we never did egg hunts- parents and family used to buy eggs for all of the children / grandchildren and I used to have about 8-10 eggs, also a new outfit to wear to church on easter sunday until I got to about age 11.
I only ever did an egg hunt once for my two kids (now young adults) and it was around the house- with written clues that they knew I had written, no faffing about pretending to be a bunny. when my eldest got to about 8/9 they figured that they would rather have chocolate bars than an egg so that became our tradition

We got one smallish egg, early 80s
No Halloween either
Did celebrate bonfire night though, perhaps more so than now

I was a child in the 80s and had never heard of the concept of Easter egg hunts until quite recently ie this millennium. Nobody I knew did them, I don't remember seeing anything on TV or films about them, it wasn't a thing to me.

We did Easter crafts at school but not at home.

There were soft play centres when I grew up as we lived in London (I'm also sure there was a curly slide into a ball pit at IKEA) but I only went for birthday parties. I think it was probably expensive and difficult to get to.

However when we moved to where I live now there wasn't one so I guess it depends on where you lived.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I didn’t know that egg hunts were a thing. I did used to get quite a few eggs though from various family members and family friends and I had this strange thing about not eating them, I kept them lined up on a shelf in the understairs cupboard for months.

Halloween was just a day on the calendar, nothing special happened.

I was also an 80s child and we always did an indoor egg hunt on Easter Sunday before having my grandparents round for lunch.

But I agree with you about standards. I do think women are under more pressure these days to do more things well/better and social media doesn’t help. I also think there wasn’t the same level of agonising - more information equals better choices for some, but for others it can lead to huge levels of anxiety about doing things right.

My DM stayed at home for much of my childhood and many of our meals were quite processed, though she also cooked from scratch. I also don’t really remember her playing with us - I remember her reading to us and sometimes baking but otherwise just being there in the background doing housework while we played. And she was a very child-focused, hands-on parent. She thinks our generation have it harder as parents in many ways, especially as there’s often more geographical distance between families and the cost of childcare is astronomical.

I am also from London, although now you mention it I did go to the IKEA ball pit. That was awesome!

Nope, we didn't!

But this was the parents who this year bought an Easter egg for the teenager of the Ukrainian family who is living with them, but nothing for their grandchildren, so it doesn't really surprise me..

Like you I was a child of the 80s, teen of the 90s.

We did not Dian Easter hunt. I always had an Easter egg or sometimes a few, but they were just left downstairs for me. I didn't know any different. There were a lot of things that we didn't do that seem like simple things. My mum wasn't a horrible mum but she really didn't have her shit together. I am much more organised.

I was a child in the 90s, I don't remember doing egg hunts as a child, but did as a teenager, but that was more "follow the clues to your one egg". It was fun. I remember doing crafts at school but not particularly at home. I don't feel I missed out, I had a great childhood.

Tbh I don't think it's better now. Purely anecdotal, but I feel we have a lot of kids with really high expectations (and easily disappointed by not getting all that) and a lot of parents carrying a lot of guilt anyway.

We always had them. Brilliant and increasingly more complicated as we got older clues round the garden. Everyone had to dress up. It was a lot of fun

I don't do this for my children but they are all teens and just want the chocolate.

I think 70's & 80's parenting was different. We had a lot more freedom to roam the streets (London) and did far fewer structured activities. By 12 we were travelling up to the west end on the buses (for 5p!).

Not better or worse. Just different.

Yes, I remember there were more small organised bonfires. The church near us always had one as did the local fire station. Local pubs seemed to have them on their land too. I also remember going to one at a school once too.

Now it just seems that there’s one large organised one in town with a fair, burger stalls etc.

I was a child in the 90s, teen in the 00s. I think it was a different era of parenting. I did go to brownies/guides and I went to play schemes. My sibling did a competitive sport which took a lot of time/effort/money. Potentially that had an impact? But then again none of my friends had widely different home life's. So maybe it's more that we were just much more independent as kids? We didn't do anything much for Halloween either (never took us trick or treating) Christmas was a visit to a free shopping centre father Christmas and that was about it really.

Tbh I don't think it's better now. Purely anecdotal, but I feel we have a lot of kids with really high expectations (and easily disappointed by not getting all that) and a lot of parents carrying a lot of guilt anyway.

Me neither. I think everything is just so OTT and another stick to beat parents with. Every occasions is just another excuse to extract money from parents.

Nope - grew up in 80s and it was eggs from relatives handed to us. I remember decorating a boiled egg and rolling it down a hill. That was the entertainment for the day. The amount of crap (imo) sold in the shops for easter is crazy. No wonder people don't have money

70s/80s child here, no Easter egg hunts for us, in fact I missed the memo and never started doing them for my own DCs apart from a game of hiding plastic eggs in the garden to see who could find the most, I didn’t realise you were supposed to do clues and stuff. We did some crafty stuff, but my mum wasn’t into it AT ALL, I guess they bought some things but I was the one doing it, and we made Easter bonnets for school. Both my parents worked full time. As for the food, yes we occasionally had crispy pancakes etc but it was mostly cooked from scratch and that was harder than now with no microwave, air fryers, all the gadgets we have now plus fairly limited supermarket opening hours.

No trick or treat either, only dressed up for Hallowe’en if you got invited to a party.

I genuinely don't remember going to a local one as a small child or there even being one. There was one in my teens that did a sort of teen evening, but I didn't even go there then. I did go to one on holiday somewhere else in the UK as tween.

Child of the 70s and 80s and didn't do them at all. Got an egg, went to mass, came home and had roast lamb. I always associate Easter with being really bored and lots of dreary masses and it still makes me feel like that. My partner must have known about egg hunts though as he put thought into the clues and planning them when the kids were young. Thank god as it wouldn't have crossed my mind.

Also child of 80s and nope never did easter hunt or heard of the Easter bunny. I grew up in Ireland to very catholic parents so spent most of the week before Easter at various church services 🙄
My mum did make an Easter garden with jesus's tomb which she used to open Easter Sunday and it had lots of mini eggs inside. We got Easter eggs from parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles so did end up with quite a lot.
My mum was also sahm and an amazing cook so we had great dinners made from scratch and a homemade dessert every day. She used to be a seamstress so lots of handmade clothes and she did a lot of crafts with us. There were 4 kids I look back and have no idea where she got the time and energy.

My mum was excellent at lots of things- taught me to sew by hand and with a machine, taught me to cook, took us to educational outings, theatre. But we lived rurally and there were no clubs or activities unless you wanted to play cricket. My parents would never have got involved in Easter egg hunts or done any kind of organised activity apart from maybe the village fete in the summer. As far as I was aware no one round our way did. We got one chocolate egg and a pound from our nan. I remember my mum telling her we "didn't need any more chocolate". I was born late 70s. I certainly don't feel deprived or that she somehow let me down by not hiding mini eggs around the garden.

No. Effing nightmare to do for my daughter when she was little.

There's certainly a lot of internalised guilt for the idea of not doing "enough" for and with your children now imo. But I also think my children will have a lot more memories of happy times spent with me than I have with mine

Never. (Pre 80's.) But I did get LOTS of eggs. :-)