Scavenger Hunts, Party Plans and Gift Ideas

How to do an egg hunt with a five year old and a 14 month old (yup that's what I said; the Bean turned into a 14 month old yesterday). Colour coordinate the eggs for each kid of course. The Peanut will become the proud owner of any warm coloured eggs that are hidden around the house (pink, orange and yellow) The Bean will get the cool ones (blue, green and purple) of course this is a bit untrue because at the tender age of 14 months she will not be any position to even look indignant when I commandeer her jelly beans and devour them on the couch while watching the UK version of Being Human on Netflix...

But I digress. I don't even know if we'll be going with jelly beans or mini eggs in our eggs this year. The Bunny refuses to fill me in when ever I email him.

In the meantime I'm mulling over birthday party ideas for the Peanut. Last year we did Peep and Quack b=and the husband did a mini dry ice demonstration with bubbles and soda geysers.  This year we've decided to pull out all the old moving boxes we've been holding on to and let the kids go wild with them. They can build their own forts, make towers, cut (with a little adult help) and paint, stack them climb into them, hide behind them...ooh ooh can you imagine the hide and seek game that could come from that? Anyway, I think you get the idea.

I'm at the moment toying with party favour ideas, paper robots and dolls are at the top of the idea list, along with cookies stickers and crayons.

And then there's the whole end of the year teacher gift. I'm busy drafting a letter to my fellow parents asking for whatever they would like to contribute towards the gift. I'd like to do something that the Peanut's Teacher can use in her classroom next year (alphabet flash cards) as well as something just for her, a gift card to a shoe store or a packed coffee card. What types of gifts would you consider getting for your child's teacher at the end of the year?