An Easter Egg Hunt Designed For Tweens

We're constantly looking for new ways to update holiday traditions with our tweens, and this Easter we're trying a new twist on the traditional egg hunt: a flashlight egg hunt. We're planning ours for the Friday night before Easter (so as not to conflict with the Passover Seder) and ending with a screening at home of the big Easter movie from last year, Hop (the DVD went on sale March 23.)


How does one do a flashlight egg hunt? With a bit of planning. Here's ours:
 
We round up all the flashlights in the house: one for each tween (if your neighborhood or church group were super organized, it looks like you can also get these personalized).

Then the Easter Bunny hides the eggs (during daylight). He choses glittered eggs that are easier to spot when a light shines on them and stuffs others with a glow-in-the-dark bracelet so that they glow. (These you'll have to hide strategically to make them harder a spot.)

Since the hunts on Sunday mornings are primarily for the younger set (and in our family, the tweens must help the littles, not hunt themselves), we're having fun stuffing these eggs especially for tweens with LipSmackers, sticker sheets, hair ties, Cadbury eggs, and Peeps. We're even making a few braces-themed eggs that contain cherry flavored braces wax, those mini Wisp toothbrushes, and mini M-and-;Ms (which melts and doesn't stick so is safe for those sporting orthodontia).

We will end the festivities with the Hop movie screening and serve (what else?) Peeps fondue. After the sugar rush, the girls will have fun giving each other colorful Easter egg manicures - perfect for sporting with her dress on Sunday.

Hoppy Easter!


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A Braces Care Package

Our eldest tween got braces on yesterday - oh the drama! MsTwixt recalls being excited to get her braces when she was a tween because it was a rite of passage into teenager-hood. Alas, our tween was/is traumatized by the event.

To help ease the pain, both literally and figuratively, we ducked into our local supermarket and put together a quick care package (for whatever reason, it hadn't occurred to me to anticipate this drama). Her orthodontist warned us that the first few days would be quite sore, so soft foods would help. Here's what we included:

• Ibuprofen (for the pain)
• A magazine (to hopefully distract her a bit)
• Foods her orthodonist said she could eat:
• Smooth ice creams with no nuts or candy (her favorite are the Starbucks flavors) - we covered their tops with freezer tape labeled "For braces ONLY" to ward off her siblings (and her dad)
• Applesauce
• Pudding cups
• Yogurt cups
• Lip balm (to help soothe some very chafed lips)
• Disposable toothbrushes like Wisp (to ensure she can still make it to class on time after lunch)
• Balloons in her favorite color sporting big smiles with braces

Other items that would be great to include: straws, a stuffed animal with braces embroidered on, dental wax, special orthodontic toothbrushes, orthodontic dental floss, and a travel mirror.

The care package brought a smile back to her face - mission accomplished! 

The list of foods she should avoid was long, so we're researching options for substitutes that she can enjoy (e.g. Pirate's Booty instead of popcorn at the movies) - PLEASE share your tips for braces-safe food swaps!

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