If you are looking for ways to raise money for your adoption in the spring, an Egg Your Yard fundraiser is perfect for Easter! The basic premise is that you fill plastic Easter eggs with candy or treats and distribute them over the lawns of your customers in time for their egg hunts. Parents are thrilled to have this work done for them, and you can capitalize on the mass appeal of this fundraiser. A win/win in my book!

But how do you plan and execute a successful Egg Your Yard fundraiser? I asked several families who have done one to share their expert advice. Read on for tips and tricks to make your Egg Your Yard a success!

For more adoption funding ideas, check my Adoption Fundraising and Grants page.  

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Egg My Yard Supplies

The nice thing about an Egg Your Yard adoption fundraiser is that you don’t need a lot of expensive supplies. The basics are just plastic eggs and candy or trinkets as fillers. You want to keep your costs as low as possible without sacrificing the quality. Don’t use candy that no one wants to eat!

Reagan Weaver, who raised over $2,900, said she found a good deal on eggs at a dollar store. She also found small toys, stickers, and candy there. You can order plastic eggs and more online at Dollar Tree. Or you can buy plastic eggs in bulk from Amazon or get eggs and fillers from Oriental Trading. A lot of people in the South have luck with cheap eggs at Dirt Cheap stores, though there isn’t one near me to verify.

“I asked for donations of eggs on Facebook garage sale sites. People have been happy to donate their extras,” said Sarah Donatelle, who is working on her first Egg Your Yard event. I think that is a genius idea to cut down on costs!

If you plan on doing this fundraiser for more than one year, Coriell Haughton Weeks gave me great advice. “Offer to come pick up the eggs after the event and you can use them again the next year. People loved that we recycle the eggs and they don’t have to store them.” Her family has raised $3,000+ each of the past two years they’ve done it, so she knows what she’s talking about!

Check out these other Easter egg filler ideas!

Set Your Parameters

Before you can promote your Egg My Yard fundraiser, you need to know your parameters. Make sure you know the answers to these questions first. How many nights are you going to offer? How far are you willing to travel? Will other people help you? How many houses can you do? These answers will vary from person to person, but I asked a few experts how they handled different aspects of this.

Krista Stanwix Young made around $2,300 a couple of years ago. This Texas mom did more than 50 houses with three groups of people making deliveries. She kept the distance within 20 minutes of her house, and most were in the neighborhoods near her.

“Some people wanted deliveries in days and weeks before Easter. For this we were able to reach more people,” said Reagan. The busiest nights were the Friday and Saturday before Easter, so she had help with deliveries those days.

Stephanie Smidt offered her Egg My Yard event two weeks before Easter and went a maximum of 20 miles for delivery. Despite the timeframe limiting their reach a little, they still made $1,500 and had fun doing it!

Danielle Marie raised almost $800 with just her and her husband delivering the eggs. They decided to limit their fundraiser to 15 houses to make sure they got it all done.

Looking for another easy adoption fundraiser? Sign up here for a Bonfire t-shirt fundraiser and make an extra dollar per shirt sold!

Advertise Your Egg My Yard Fundraiser

After you know your parameters, it’s time to advertise your Egg My Yard fundraiser! Make a flyer with pertinent information such as what you are doing, that it is a fundraiser, purchase options, and how to contact you. You may consider having people email you, then sending them a link with signup and payment information.

Share your event on social media and encourage friends and family to do the same. Krista said, “Share in mom groups, have friends share in their community groups, and mention how excited they are to help.” She said the personal testimony of friends helped them gain more sales than a post in random yard sale groups.

However, Stephanie said that she advertised on social media and internet garage sale sites and Egg My Yard was a huge hit! This is an opportunity to share a popular adoption fundraiser with people outside of your traditional circles.

Neighborhood associations and groups, churches, schools, and daycares are all great places to advertise your Egg My Yard fundraiser. Cassie Pattillo said they started advertising about a month before Easter and cut off signups about a week before. She raised about $2,000 and some people donated above the amount charged.

A lot of people use a free scheduling or forms site like Signup Genius, Google forms, or Survey Monkey. I recommend getting all payment up front using PayPal, Venmo, or something similar. Common questions to ask customers are:

• Address and contact information
• Number of eggs requested
• Night of delivery
• Do they want to hide eggs in the front or back yard?
• Would they rather hide the eggs themselves?
• In the event of rain, do they want the eggs hidden or left on the front door?
• Are there any allergies to consider for egg fillers?
• Will there be dogs or security systems to contend with?

These guys may be cute now, but you don’t want to be surprised by them on delivery night!

Stay Organized for a Successful Egg My Yard Fundraiser

The most common piece of advice I received from the families who have done this adoption fundraiser before was to stay organized.

Greta Boyd suggested having a stuffing party and encouraging participants to each bring a bag of candy. This helps keep the costs low. She said, “Don’t undervalue your service. The first year we did this super cheap. In our second year, we charged $1 per egg and no one questioned the value at all. They were happy to have it done for them!” They raised around $2,500-3,000 each year.

Reagan and Krista both stuffed the eggs as they went to keep on top of orders. Stephanie’s kids helped fill her eggs. You can fill and separate the orders in advance so they are ready the night you deliver.

Logistics of Delivering the Eggs

If you have communicated well and stayed organized, it will make the actual egg hiding much easier. Many people suggested having a team of people to help with egg deliveries.

Danielle used Google Maps to figure out the most cost-efficient route. Stephanie said, “My other tip is to pre-organize routes and send people out in teams of two.” It only took them a few hours that way.

Krista said they started around sunset and were finished by 10:30 pm. “Each group had at least two adults and our older daughters went with me to help. They loved it!” she recalled.

Some even leave a note from the Easter Bunny. Just for my readers, I made a free printable of the Egg My Yard note that you can use for your adoption fundraiser. Click here to get it.

Egg My Yard Fundraiser Final Words

This adoption fundraiser is great for Easter. Not only can you raise a lot of money in a short amount of time, but it appeals to people who have no connection to you and your adoption. Constantly asking the same people to give can result in donor fatigue. I love that this fills a need for busy parents and helps bring kids home to their forever families.

Egg My Yard is so popular that people may beg you do repeat this fundraiser. Cassie said, “We’ve already had people asking if we are doing it again. It’s a lot of work, but worth it!”

Do you have tips for an Egg My Yard fundraiser? I’d love to hear them in the comments below! Don’t forget to download your free printable Easter Bunny note!

You may also like:

Best Cheap Egg Fillers for Your Fundraiser or Hunt

8 Ways We Raised $35,123.51 for our Adoption Without Debt

6 Expert Tips for a Successful Adoption Yard Sale Fundraiser

How to Make Money with an Adoption T-Shirt Fundraiser

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