More on the Egg Drop
Posted by Michael | Posted in Oak Leaf Church | Posted on 25-03-2008
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I wanted to share a few thoughts about the Egg Drop, in the form of a quick list.
- We planned for about 2-3,000, and the Parks & Rec estimated a crowd of 5-6,000 people. It was crazy. There were hundreds more that couldn’t even get in the parking lot.
- There were more than 200 volunteers from Oak Leaf. Mitch had them organized, stationed, and ready to roll. Tons of hours of prep and execution. They did an AMAZING job.
- We had about 20,000 eggs, but some kids didn’t get any. Mostly due to greedy parents who didn’t really follow directions. It was kind of sad to see parents sucking up eggs from other kids. Kids didn’t trample other kids, but parents did.
- In addition to the egg drop, we had our band playing live music, a bounce house, a few egg games, face painting stations, and helium balloons.
- As far as I know, only one person was actually arrested. The two police officers we hired did a great job.
- The craziest thing was the mob broke through after the helicopter dropped just a few eggs. They rushed the field and the helicopter kept dropping eggs on kids. It was a scene straight out of WKRP.
- Parents were freaking out, one child made a visit to the ER, but I bet the kids thought it was cool. All lost kids eventually got hooked up with their parents.
- If we do it again, we’d use a separate field for little kids, have a giant sound system, get about 100,000 eggs, have a lost parent/kid tent and not let parents on the field at all.
Just thought I’d give you a quick egg drop comment. I’m on staff at a church in the Buffalo, NY and I led a helicopter egg drop here…. but Easter in NY means wind/snow. On the day of the egg drop it was 20 degrees and 25 MPH winds, on the helicopters first release off eggs, the eggs drifted with the wind and landed on some of the kids! I can identify with the feeling of watching kids get pelted with plastic eggs from hundreds of feet in the air. Hey, reaching people means taking risks! – mark rouse
I just wanted to let you know that we had similar problems. We are in Yuma, AZ and dropped 40,000 and had close to 7,000 attend. The Radio station said it was the largest event put on by one single organization in Yuma History. Parents didn’t obey the rules, and tried to get eggs. The kids also rushed the line and went before we said go; however, no eggs dropping on kids. We were only expecting around 2,000. It was amazing. Everyone was safe and all lost parents and kids were reunited. We had the same thoughts for next year, no parents on field, separate fields and lost tent.
It was chaos, and the most fun chaos I ever participated in! Loved every second of it!!!!!!
My husband and I attended the Egg Drop event with 5 of our children (3 were egg-hunt age). I don’t know that I’d go so far as to say that the kids loved it. My younger children were frightened and crying, and upset even after we left, feeling the need to talk it out over and over. My older children were frantic, with us, trying to locate their siblings. I’m not slamming your church or your event…I just don’t think you should minimize some of what went on because then it doesn’t seem important to address what needs to change.
We didn’t jump on the field with our kids. We did come out on it after it became apparent that you couldn’t stop the helicopter and that the adults that HAD stormed the field weren’t going to back off so we could feel that our children were safe. I stopped at some point and found a volunteer and asked her if she could notify someone that the gates should be watched for anyone trying to leave with a child that didn’t belong to them. I don’t know if she did or not.
This all said, our family is active in our own church family and it’s ministries. Our oldest works as a youth pastor and we prayed ahead of the egg drop that you would have strong attendance (lol, sorry!) and after it…throughout the weekend…that your volunteers wouldn’t be discouraged by the things that went wrong and would be ready and enthusiastic to dive in again for the next servant outreach event you plan. As we left the 2-5 year hunt, I scooped 2 eggs out of my son’s basket and dropped them in the basket of a smaller boy who was crying because he didn’t get any. I saw others do the same. I prayed then, too, that my kids wouldn’t kill me if I’d just given away the Wii
I was part of a witness team that has done a large Egg Hunt event for many years and I wanted to share a few ideas that we learned the hard way.
1. Parents will not stay out of it unless you design it so they must. A fenced area, where the kids can troop in (after any helicopter drops, if you plan to have that again)and circle the field works really well. The parents can see the kids and can stand at the exit when they troop back out but can’t interfere. We told parents who insisted, with love, that we were sorry they didn’t feel that they could take part in our free event, but that our rules were for the safety of all the kids and we hoped they would find something better suited to them. We, like you, allowed the parents to go with the smaller kids. This also lets you make sure the right ages are in the right hunts via the armbands.
2. If you announce and advertise that the “grand prizes” will be pulled randomly from the registered names after the egg hunt, you win in many ways. The parents and kids will be less likely to go crazy trying to get as many eggs as possible. They will stay til the end, having a chance to learn more about your church, enjoy the praise band, etc. And you will insure that everyone registers, giving you good contact information for follow-up.
3. Speakers were on our list, but you already mentioned those
The people on the other side of the field couldn’t hear over the helicopter noise.
4. Parking help for leaving the event as well as entering would be great, and much appreciated. I understand why there wasn’t any this year, as things probably got pretty confused.
5. We switched from face painting because it took so long and the kids got hot and sunburned and cranky in line, and bought Christian themed temporary tattoos from (I think) oriental trading company…this worked great as they could pick from a table full of designs as they waited, then the youth group who was doing the tattooing could put each one on in about 30 seconds.
6. Finally, we noticed that the kids didn’t get really scared until the police officer started yelling over the mike about “shutting this park down”. I know you don’t control them, but honestly, how ridiculous. Did he actually think that threatening to throw people out without first finding their children was going to improve things?
I’m so pleased that you took on such an ambitious project, and every single person we met in (the really well designed and attractive!) pale yellow event shirts was genuinely friendly and helpful and happy to be there. You have every right to be extremely proud of your church. And I hope we get to attend the 2nd Annual Oakleaf Church Egg Drop
Lisa Conant
Rydal, GA
I just want to thank you for your efforts. While it was a trying time for all, I for one thought you did the best you could for such a large crowd. I do feel some things could be done differently in coming events. I agree with the previous post about the grand prizes being drawn randomly from the registered “egg hunters”. I also agree with keeping the parents out of the “hunting” area. I reluctantly let my child go out AFTER the mob wouldn’t turn back. I just think it would be more enjoyable for the children if these 2 things were fixed.
I, again, want to thank you for putting on such an event. My child did enjoy it. We’re looking forward to next year’s event.
Robin Bebout
Marietta, GA
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