Appropriate age groups for this Easter celebration or activity:
Preschool and Younger
Elementary School
Middle School
High School & Beyond

Description of Easter celebration or activity:
& College & Retirement & Beyond...Way Beyond...EVERYONE loves this one.

CELEBRATING JESUS'S RETURN WITH A NEW YEAR'S-LIKE TICKER TAPE COLORFUL CONFETTI EGGSHELL BLIZZARD.

My huge family of soooo many cousins did this every year, since I can remember.

Setting up and preparing for this celebration or activity:
You will need:
1) Lots of eggshells
2) Egg dye
3) Confetti
4) Tape or stickers (optional)
A sense of humor, a sense of adventure, and a BIG broom!

START SAVING your eggshells in the weeks leading up to Easter (we usually started after Ash Wednesday and there was always someone who gave up red meat for lent to remember); hollow them out whenever you use eggs in your cooking (kids are good little reminders of this and suddenly get big appetites for eggs?).

POKE very small holes in each end of the eggs by tapping with a fork and blow out the contents into a bowl. (You can shake the whites out to separate them from the yolk, if you make the hole big enough like the size of a pea, my mom and grandma separate their eggs for chiles rellenos like this.)

RINSE the eggshells with soapy water and store back in the egg containers in the fridge. As kids, our anticipation would mount as the eggs collected and it was always so much fun gathering all the families together, bringing cartons upon cartons of eggshells to color.

DECORATE them in the traditional way with store bought egg dyes or however you wish.

FILL with confetti by punching colored papers or just buy some confetti and fill the eggshells with it. Set them with the big hole up when you hide them so it doesn't spill out or you can...

TAPE or cover the holes with stickers.

HIDE and have a normal easter egg hunt. Once all the eggshells have been found....

SMASH them on each other's heads, arms, knees, ankles or whatever the little kids can reach (they look so cute jumping to reach or climbing on parents shoulders for this). It's so much fun, the eggshells don't hurt and little kids love the release of chasing each other around and making such a big mess.

It's totally worth the colorful eggshell confetti mess to see family and friends having such a raucous good time together, and it's fun to catch our breath afterwards and eat amidst all that mess too.

Other suggestions or comments:
As kids, it was fun celebrating Christ's resurrection after his burial in this way; there is something cathartic about this breaking of eggs and release after the practice of giving something up for lent and finally partaking again.

WARNING: If you've got enough kids, there is always one who sneaks a real raw egg into the mix.....so be forewarned and keep an eye out for this....(my son was the culprit one year).