Mothers Write Letters

We took Daphne to an Easter Egg hunt today sponsored by the Aviation Museum in Mcminnville. We had a lovely time at the event last year and really was looking forward to having a good time.

It turned out that it was not as much fun this year. The egg hunt areas were small and crowded by a MUCH bigger crowd than there was last year. Daphne only got a few eggs in a hunt that lasted less than a minute and a half.

I decided that I was going to write a letter, since that's what mothers do right? I wrote the following letter hoping to call attention to some areas that could be improved. I guess I am that kind of person.

Hi,

I wanted to write about the Easter Celebration that we attended today.

I must say that I was very disappointed with the event. We took our 1 year old girl last year and had an incredible time despite the fact that the weather was very cold and she was only 1 year 1 month old, so had little understanding of what the egg hunt thing was all about. We were in an appropriate age group, and we spent a good 5-10 minutes collecting eggs with other kids her age. It really was a good time.

It seems that there was poor planning for the event this year. Many people showed up, many more people than attended last year, and the egg areas were much smaller this time. Our now 2 year old daughter was in a 3 and under crowd. When the line was cut the adults formed a circle and the kids in the middle of the circle collected all the eggs with the kids on the outside trailing behind with nothing. Our daughter was able to collect 4 eggs during the entire hunt while many of the older kids or the kids in the middle got many. I had two friends with other kids that were unable to collect any eggs at all. I was disappointed that an event that cost $6 was so poorly planned that my daughter was only able to collect 4 eggs, which she then had to share with the friends around her.

I think that more consideration should have been given to the age groups for the egg hunt. There should have been a 1-2 group a 3-4 group a 5-6 group and a 7 and up group. There were many kids that were 2 and under (some even under 1) that would have had a good time taking their time getting to the eggs without having to rush with older kids or crowding parents. They should be a bigger area for the egg collection that if you have a large turnout again that all the kids would be able to participate equally and walk away with a satisfying prize.

Additionally, I'm not sure why the event started at 9:30 in the morning on a day early in April. The weather was eventually nice today (after a cold start), but an 11:00 start time would have done well to make it a more pleasant experience for everyone involved.

These are just a few suggestions from a parent that you might consider. I enjoy the Evergreen works to put on community events such as this one. I looked forward to this event for months after the pleasant experience that we had last time, but I can't say that I would be as excited to attend it in the future.

Best,

Christine