A candy cane hunt is just like an Easter egg hunt, except it's done with candy canes, in the winter, in the forest, where little ones needs to be on the lookout for reindeer, elves and Sasquatch. In the Northwest it's best to hold the hunt on a day when it's not raining, but since candy canes come individually wrapped in plastic, the rain won't hurt them...but the hunters might not have as much fun. We scheduled our hunt on what turned out to be the 5th rainiest day in Seattle, ever. So we rescheduled, because rain is one thing, a monsoon is another.
Elsa made our signs last year (we saved them by covering in plastic wrap so the rain didn't ruin them) and we had 350 candy canes, plus some large plastic ones to mark the trail. All of the candy cane hunters were given a Santa hat to wear - so as not to be mistaken for a baby Squatch - and a bucket to hold their candy canes.
Max decided he was too old to do the actual hunting so he opted to help hide the candy canes. It was great having a helper and just so you know, it takes a bit longer to hide candy canes than you would expect. You can't just toss them into plants or on the ground like you do Easter eggs...oh I suppose you could...but it's much more interesting to hang them from branches and trees so the kids have to really look for them. And if you happen to have a fence in your forest, candy canes look great on them!
Oh how I love this boy! He took his job very seriously as we stapled signs and red and white striped bows on trees, so our hunters would know where to go - plus it made the forest look very festive! Max may have a future in the candy cane hanging industry, he was that good!
Our group of hunters - the cutest I've ever seen! They were excited even though I'm not sure they really knew what they were going to do. But they were ready to go and came prepared to walk into the deep, dark woods...
You can see how deep into the forest we went...the neighborhood trail was perfect for candy cane hunting. Our hunt lasted a good 20 minutes or so - it was a long walk for the kids, stopping and grabbing canes along the way took time. The older kids ran ahead, which is why I have no pictures of them, and bless their hearts, they actually left candy canes for the little ones to find!
After the hunt, we went back to the house for treats - the hunters had worked up an appetite! Hot cocoa and cookies were waiting for them, thanks to the boy who stayed behind to get everything ready.
Those snowmen cupcakes kill me! I did try, really hard, but they all kind of look creepy...oh well, the kids liked them! (I also tried really hard to get each kid a melting snowman from Trader Joe's. They were all the rage this year and Trader Joe's ended up rationing them, so each person could only buy 3 at a time! Every time I went in they were sold out...so next year I'll be on the lookout for them the day after Halloween!!)
Each candy cane hunter had a peppermint spoon, to stir their cocoa, and a small knife which was needed for them to spread their own frosting on their own cookies. They also had sprinkles to go on top. Of course, there were already decorated cookies for them to eat while they decorated their cookies!
Cookies and cocoa would have been just fine and dandy but the kids really liked decorating their own cookies - and eating them. We had prizes for the kids, too. I bought 3 packages of "indoor snowballs" at Target (they are great fun and the kids loved them!) and we wrapped those up (pictured behind Elsa on the right, with the red ribbon) and gave them to the kid with the most candy canes, the least candy canes, and I can't remember what the other one was for. (Max, Elsa and I had a snowball fight in their house a few weeks back and it was hilarious! Being pelted with fluffy, soft balls was so fun, of course, doing the pelting was even more fun...and their dog Roxy got in on the act, too. She grabbed every ball she could and proceeded to shred them! Not one lamp, window, bric-a-brac was broken and not one tear was shed...indoor snowballs are a good thing.)
There is something wonderful about seeing little kids faces when they walk into a room filled with sweets...their eyes just light up and smiles go from ear to ear! That's my reward for doing parties like this...that and seeing my own grandkids have fun. If you have a candy cane hunt, and I hope you do, make it as simple or as extravagant you want. Serving hot cocoa out of a thermos in the forest would have been a perfect ending, kids don't care really, they just love the fun of it and as long as there is a little bit of Christmas magic involved, everyone wins!
Happy 11th day of Christmas!
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