Life

What To Do If You Lose An Easter Egg In Your House... *Shudder*

Hiding Easter eggs is the best. You know what's not the best? Forgetting where you hid the damn things in the first place. It's so easy to get caught up in the moment, tucking eggs into every nook and cranny of the house. Yet when the hunt ends, I always find myself wondering, "Did they find them all?" If you wake up in a cold sweat come morning asking yourself that very question, here's what to do if you lose an Easter egg in your house.

Before we get into answering that question, let me first just touch on the biggest question of all: Why does the "Easter Bunny" hide eggs in the first place? Wouldn't it make sense for an Easter Hen to be doing that? Or if we're stuck on having an Easter Bunny, shouldn't he be hiding something more rabbit-y, like say more rabbits?

It turns out we can thank the Germans for the idea of a bunny bringing eggs, according to History Channel. In Germany, the tradition of the Osterhase, or Easter hare, originated from a legend in which a woman hid decorated eggs in her garden for children to find, but when the eggs were found, a hare was seen hopping away, and the children assumed it was the rabbit who hid them, reported the Herald-Zeitung.

The Germans might be the reason why we hide Easter eggs — they even have a museum dedicated to them — but I don't think they foresaw the pure havoc a stray egg could cause. Spoiled egg alert: It smells rotten. Really, really rotten! So, if you have a few Easter eggs floating around your house post-hunt, you'll want to brush up on these tips to deal with them.

1

Cancel on Company

Sure you might have been excited to host that playdate with your mommy group (you even cleaned already), but if you have foul-smelling eggs on the loose, you're not going to want anyone inside your home.

Unless you want to garner the reputation of having a weird-smelling house, you're going to need to get creative on the excuse-making front, stat. Hmmmmm, is that a stomach bug coming on?

2

Hire a Rabbit... Task Rabbit that is!

There's nothing worse than having to turn your house upside down looking for a soon-to-be rotten egg, especially when your belly is full of leftover Easter candy (someone had to eat those Peeps, right?).

Enter: Task Rabbit, a service that connects people willing to do a task, with those seeking help with said task. You can see a list of "taskers" along with their asking price for the work. It's a win-win situation. They get the gig they want, you get a good deal.

So, if you were going to have someone deep clean your house anyway, now you can just add in "find eggs" to the "task details" section, and you'll be all set.

3

Start Bribing Your Kids

Your kids may be fired up for the initial Easter egg hunt, but as soon as they find their baskets, it's safe to say you've lost them to the sugar high. And any parent knows what happens when that sugar high comes to a crashing end.

When your kid is in this perilous state, you're going to need a truly exceptional "carrot" to dangle in front of them to get them to do your bidding — in this case, looking for leftover eggs without any inherent value.

So tap into their most "favorite-est" thing (for my daughter, it's Peppa Pig or chocolate ice cream; for older kids it might just be cold hard cash) and tell them that's what they'll earn for every egg they turn up!

4

Guilt-trip your Partner

In general, I've gotta give my husband credit. He takes on a decent amount of our household duties. But when it comes to shopping for presents, whether for Christmas, Birthdays, or Easter, I'm the one doing it all.

If you're in the same boat, it's time to turn the tables a little. You bought the baskets, the toys and and treats — he (or she) finds the missing eggs.

5

Make a Map (for next year)

If you question your ability to remember the egg hiding spots, it might be a good idea to make a map or at least a detailed list of where you're putting them all. That way you can rest assured that you won't need to use any of the aforementioned strategies!

For all the sleep-deprived, over-loaded mamas out there, at the very least make a list of total eggs hidden and total eggs found so that you don't have an epically horrible smell emanating from your closet in about two weeks!

Check out Romper's new video series, Bearing The Motherload, where disagreeing parents from different sides of an issue sit down with a mediator and talk about how to support (and not judge) each other’s parenting perspectives. New episodes air Mondays on Facebook.