Friday, we hosted our annual Egg Hunt After Dark Party. It was an absolute blast, but man was it dark.  As the kids get older, night-time egg hunting is a great way to kick it up a notch. I usually have one of my friends set up his bright outdoor lights on my front balcony to provide a little light, but this time around I completely forgot, so we were truly in the dark.

The original plan was to have the hunt right after dusk, so it would be just dark enough without being pitch black. I think the grown-ups were having too much fun, or maybe the hostess was having too much fun, which caused us to run a bit behind schedule. We had a great Italian dinner ~ lasagna, pasta, garlic bread, and salad. Bring on the carbs! And I ordered cheese pizza for the kids.

After dinner, I had the kids (around twenty of them) come inside to decorate Easter bags for the hunt. I bought spring-themed foam stickers and gift bags in bulk at WalMart. This kept the kids busy while the adults hid the eggs. I always fill a ton of eggs, but also ask families to bring a dozen or so eggs per child in their family. After the bags were decorated, the kids lined up with their bags and flashlights in hand and were set free, according to age, to find their loot. I’m fortunate to live at the very end of a cul de sac. There is a green common area next to my house and a large grass circle  out in the middle of the street. It provides ample space to hide eggs.  Eggs were also hidden in front of nearby houses. The adults either made it a little easy, or the kids are just more savy. The next morning we went on a search for left-overs in the daylight and only found one (and there were hundreds of eggs hidden the night before).  

While the kids opened up their eggs, the grown-ups made their way to the dessert table.  I served the Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecakes Nests that I posted yesterday. These were my favorite and were gone within seconds. I also made brownie bites in the form of chicks. I saw this idea at Cake on the Brain and loved it. Mine didn’t turn out as fabulous as I had hoped. But what I learned is that not all brownie mixes are created equal. Go for a high-quality brand when you make these. Instead of cupcakes, I wanted to do something different and found the perfect idea at WhiskThis. I used my egg muffin pan from Williams Sonoma and baked up mini yellow cakes. I covered them in chocolate ganache and piped on decorations with royal icing. They ended up fitting well in the jumbo muffin cups, and got great reviews. Finally, I served Cadbury Caramel Dessert Martinis in mini martini glasses to the adults, which are really a dessert in themselves.

After dessert, people lingered and the kids ran around, clearly on sugar highs. You know the sign of a great party, it’s when no one wants to go home. This was a great party! I’m so blessed to have such great neighbors.  I hope one day the boy will look back and realize what a great place this was to grow up in.