What child doesn’t love an Easter egg hunt? There’s the anticipation and excitement of the hunt, the joy in a successful search, and then the sweet reward of cracking open the treasure.
For the past six years, Applause! Toy Store has been using the power of social media to put a new twist on the traditional Easter egg hunt. The store’s Muskoka-wide hunt gets entire families in on the action, following clues laid on Applause’s Facebook page and Twitter feed to find eggs stuffed with vouchers redeemable for $20 gift certificates. And it’s all for a good cause.
Owner Jenny Thomas started the Easter egg hunt for fun, but also to raise funds for Camp Oochigeas, a summer camp for children with cancer. “I am a cancer survivor myself and know the effect it can have on families. I wanted to be able to do something to support children who have cancer – it gives them opportunity to be kids and be at camp for a week or two. I think it’s something we all wish no child would have to go through and hopefully we can bring a little bit of joy by offering them the chance to go to camp. I think it’s a really worthwhile cause.”
Every year, Thomas stuffs 100 plastic Easter eggs with a voucher for a $20 gift certificate at the store and then, on Easter weekend, she drives around Muskoka to deposit the eggs in secret locations. She shares clues about each location on Facebook and Twitter.
“I really try to cover every corner of Muskoka,” said Thomas. “It is a tremendous amount of work but the feedback I get is really positive. People look forward to it. The funny part year to year is trying to stay one pace ahead of people finding the eggs. Sometimes I am out hiding eggs and posting clues and people have already found the eggs I’ve just put out. I have to try to get them out before people catch up with me.”
Now that the hunt is into its sixth year, it’s becoming more challenging for Thomas to come up with new locations in which to hide the eggs. She’s always open to suggestions, particularly if it’s a unique location or one with historical significance.
“What’s fun is that people get to discover and learn about different parts of Muskoka that maybe they didn’t know about. That’s something I’ve enjoyed too. They may discover a historical site, or a new business they didn’t know about. Even if they aren’t finding eggs, they are still learning about it on social media. After the eggs are found, I encourage people to visit those unique places. And because it’s Muskoka-wide, people are learning about spots in their neighbouring communities that they might not have known about, too.”
Thomas intended to start this year’s hunt today (March 24) but with freezing rain in the forecast she’ll hold off until tomorrow. The hunt will continue into Saturday, and usually spills over into Easter Sunday for any eggs that are trickier to find. People who find an egg are encouraged to make a donation to Camp Ooch, as are those who follow along on the digital sidelines.
![Elyse and Raquel Kerzel-Jarvis show off the egg they found outside the Algonquin Theatre in the 2014 egg hunt (Photo: Eva Kerzel)](https://media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2016/03/Elyse-and-Raquel-Kerzel-Jarvis-2014.jpg)
“Some people follow along like an armchair traveler – they enjoy playing along and trying to guess the clues to see if they can figure out where these places are in Muskoka. It’s fun game overall, whether or not you’re out looking for eggs,” said Thomas. “If you’re having fun and like what we are doing, please consider even just a small donation. If everyone donated even five dollars, it goes a long way to helping us reach our goal and we are certainly grateful when people are able to contribute more than that.”
Each year, Applause aims to raise at least enough to send one child to Camp Ooch – an $1800 sum. If that goal is reached, the Applause staff set their sights on sending a second child to camp, or raising enough to send one child for two weeks ($3500).
“A lot of families look forward to the hunt year after year,” said Thomas. “The whole thing is to have fun and make people aware of Camp Ooch. Hopefully they will choose to donate if they want to help us with that goal.”
Follow along on Applause’s Facebook page or Twitter feed (@ApplauseTOYS) and if you find an egg, be sure to share it online and tag your posts and tweets with #applause4ooch. Donations to Camp Oochigeas can be made on a special page set up for the hunt: www.campooch.org/muskokawideegghunt2016.
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