An Easter Egg Hunt Party: 1912

From Dame Curtsey’s Book of Party Pastimes For the Up-to-date Hostess by Ellye Howell Glover, 1912, A.C. McClurg & Co. of Chicago:

No Easter-tide is complete for the children without an egg hunt. If the weather permits this should be out of doors. Hide eggs of all sizes and colors, hard-boiled, and candy ones, in every conceivable place. If the party is a large one there should be four prizes, one to the child getting the golden egg (gilded), one for finding the silver egg, one for finding the most and one for the child who finds the egg marked “third prize.” The prizes should be some of the many Easter novelties, or candy boxes filled with candy eggs. A pot of jonquils or hyacinths is a suitable price if the winner is about eight or ten years old. Serve ice cream, rabbit-shaped cookies and bonbons. There is a very old game called “egg pick” that the children should play after the hunt. Use only hard-boiled eggs. A child who strikes out with his egg at one held by another child and whose egg breaks or cracks first wins the other egg. If there is a hill conveniently placed, or even a slight slant to the ground, there may be an egg-rolling on a small scale such as the children had in Washington at the White House for many years.

Photograph by Bob Franks