Highlights from Our Annual Easter Egg Hunt

This isn't our exact invitation but it is the design that we used from the amazing LoraLee Lewis.  She has the most charming invitations for all occasions and this is the third event we have used her designs for.  

The entrance to White Oaks Ranch, the site of our annual Easter Egg Hunt!

I found these huge Bunny Topiaries in the window display at Pottery Barn and begged the store manager to sell them to me!  They are "faux" but look very real!  It was a great spot for a family photo opp! 

The tables were set with  orange and pink cloths and covered with an embroidered bunny and chicken overlay that inspired our color scheme.  I chose to use potted azaleas in baskets for the centerpieces because we had two dates for the event - the first try and the rain date! I needed flowers that would stay nice until the second round!

"Rabbit Food" (baby carrots) and "Bunny Tails" (white cheddar puffs) were put out in small galvanized buckets on the children's tables.  The winds were strong so we had to line the bottom of the buckets with rocks to weigh the tablecloths down.  Calligraphy by Halo Calligraphy.

My little Millie Stuart in her Easter bubble from Southern Living's collection for Smocked Auctions and her bonnet from The Beaufort Bonnet Company.

My son, JR, in his Southern Living for Smocked Auctions shirt.

My son and nephew enjoying the piglets in the petting zoo!

It was set up under an oak tree and was obviously a big hit!

My darling nephew, Tobin, enjoying the set up at the Children's Table!

My father, sister, and mother were still smiling even though I put them to work on the set up!

There were lots of monograms and bonnets from The Beaufort Bonnet Co. around! 

When the time was right, the Easter Bunny gathered the children up on the steps so that we could be the hunt started after prayer and our annual tradition of asking someone special to our children to read the Easter Story to our guests.

My friend Kimberly Chandler led our guests in a beautiful prayer....

and our son's teacher read the Easter Story to a captivated audience.

Then it was time to hunt!  The Easter Bunny led the eager children to the front of the house to start the hunt!  

It was a blast and I can't wait to do it again next year!  

For images, tips and inspiration from our previous hunts, click here!

I hope you and your family have a blessed Easter!

Photography by John Cain Sargent

Easter Egg Hunt!

It is that time of year again! Time to start planning your Easter Egg Hunt! We had so much fun at our event last year so I can't wait to do it again! Here are a few photos from last year: We served simple rice crispy treats and added little egg themed candies to the top.









My God Mother, Sheri Staten, read the Easter Story to all of the children before the egg hunt began. Drinks were served in these adorable little lamb and duck sippy cups and the tots and adults alike dined on finger sandwiches and sweets. We placed jelly beans on the tray under the sandwiches for a festive look! We had a real live bunny there that each of the guests got to have a photo with and we also stocked up on extra baskets so that the forgetful guests would still have a hunting basket! Putting out Bunnies crackers in a bowl was the easy part but getting a friend to dress as the Easter Bunny proved to be a challenge!!! This year we plan to do much of the same but we will add jelly bean pizza's to the menu and we purchased pre-filled eggs to hide instead of spending hours and hours filling empty ones like we did last year!

Happy Easter!

 Whew!  I finally have a minute to sit and sort through some of the highlights of our egg hunt and make a proper post!  I had such a great time this year and we doubled our guest count!  It was so much fun as I absolutely subscribe to the "More the Merrier" party mantra.  Here are a few of our event highlights:

 The tables were covered in Lilac ticking stripe from La Tavola linen rentals.  It was a great base for our centerpieces made up of large round (23") trays covered in sheet moss.  On top of the moss we placed faux chocolate bunnies made from old bunny molds.  I found them on Etsy and the talented Darlene Hinrichsen made them in ceramic!  There were three different styles and we placed one of each on every table.  Between the bunnies we placed mason jars filled with various purple flowers.  Jars were filled with Tulips, sweet peas, and hyacinths and randomly placed around each tray.

We added a face painter at my four year old son's request this year!  I requested that the kids choose Easter motifs but little guy talked the face painters into turning his entire face into Spiderman!

The children's tables were covered in brown ticking stripe and doodle paper.  Little birch boxes filled with birch crayons were placed around the tables.

One of the hits at every party are the vanilla cupcakes topped with peeps!  So easy! 

Our Easter Bunny Mascot was a hit!  He entertained the children and then led them to the start of the egg hunt!

My very helpful husband and mischievous little son were great sports and dressed the part to match our color-scheme!

Here are a few quick picks from yesterday's Easter Egg Hunt!  I hope you are having a wonderful Easter with your family and friends.
God Bless!

All Photography by Susan R. Hudson

Egg Hunt Extravaganza

I must admit that my son's Egg Hunt got a bit larger than I expected it to this year. I got a little carried away! We had so much fun and enjoyed having so many families at our hunt! I made a little video about it that you can watch by clicking here. The trick to keeping little kids entertained at an event is keeping them busy! We had real live little chicks for them to hold, little bracelets that they could fill with Crayola Play Sand in bright colors, sand boxes with tons of tools, an entertaining Easter Bunny walking around, even coloring pages at their seats! Of course, I like to make sure that the parents have fun too! I want everything to be a feast for the eyes, even the buffet table! Instead of simply putting sandwiches out on trays, we first covered the trays with a layer of jelly beans! It was such a simple and fun way to add some color to our buffet table. We also had to beat the wind as our event was outside so we placed the paper plates and napkins in a basket that was just deep enough to protect them. I hope you enjoy the photos and the video! I would love to hear about your ideas for making an Easter Egg Hunt memorable!

Our Easter Egg Hunt Traditions in Southern Living

I love being Editor-at-Large at Southern Living for many reasons but mainly because I get to share family traditions with you!  Here are a few of my favorite shots from the Easter Egg Hunt I hosted in our April Issue.  Please comment and let me know what your favorite Easter Traditions are!

Click here to read the whole story. 

Click here to watch our video. 

Easter Egg Hunt Tip!

My clever mother-in-law, Caroline Whitman, gave me a genius idea for our Easter Egg Hunt last week. We had a variety of ages on the guest list and I was planning on making some of the eggs very easy for the 18 month olds to find. I was worried that the eager 4 year old guests would snatch up the easy eggs before the little ones got a chance at them. Caroline's solution was to hide the green and blue eggs in more difficult spots. We instructed the older hunters to look only for blue and green! It was great! Happy Hunting!