Easter Egg Hunt at The Alaska Zoo

The zoo tried a new thing this year that turned out to be a great success. I have a feeling they’re going to be making it an annual event now!

We had an Easter Egg Hunt!

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts we had to have it several weeks early. But I don’t think people minded much – the parking lot was crammed full of cars. Even the overflow parking lot was full.

It wasn’t your typical Easter Egg Hunt in that the kids didn’t pick up any eggs they found and place them in their baskets.

Instead, the zookeepers “hid” about 25 large plastic eggs around the zoothat had numbers on them. The kids would walk through the zoo just like normal, and whenever they “found” one they would wright down where it was next to the corresponding number on their game sheet.

We even had a “golden egg” that was hidden in a very special place.

We had prizes for the kids as they finished their game, with extra ones for the children who found the golden egg. I was lucky enough to work at the finish table, so I got to hand out the prizes and see the happy faces on all the people. It was just what I needed after a very bad week!

We had a raffle as well: the cutest stuffed bunny with a big pink bow and long curly whiskers. Tickets went for a dollar a piece or six for five dollars. I don’t have the final numbers yet (either for the raffle or for attendance) but I know that in just the two hours my fellow volunteer and I worked at it, we sold enough tickets to at least pay for the bunny. That means that all the rest of the tickets sold went right into our volunteer fund.

Typically we buy some sort of enrichment for the animals with our fund – or maybe even an animal for the petting zoo! Either way, people who buy raffle tickets are supporting the zoo.

And it’s fun!