Rogue Parents Ruin Free Pez Easter Egg Hunt, Scoop Up 10,000 Eggs Before It Started

Sure, you expect things to be competitive at an Easter egg hunt. When candy-maker Pez was planning their third annual free Easter egg hunt for people who live near their headquarters in Connecticut, they expected the event to grow, and planned to give out more candy. What they did not expect was parents who would swarm the fields before the official start time like a swarm of candy-crazed locusts.

Yep. The bad behavior of the parents got the event on Saturday canceled. Grown-ups ruin everything, right? The event was supposed to have staggered start times for different kids’ age groups according to age, and three different fields.

Maybe the crowd was too big, or maybe the instructions weren’t clear. The event was supposed to begin at 10:30 with staggered start times all morning, but instead, a group of early birds made their way through all three fields before the youngest kids were even supposed to start.

“The crowd moved to the 2nd field, waited for only a couple of minutes, and proceeded to rush the field without being directed to do so and before the posted start time,” the company explained in a statement. “The crowd then immediately moved to the 3rd field and took over, and removed everything well before the activity was to even start.”

“You could see the crowd of people almost like a swarm covering the field,” one mother told the Hartford Courant. “Just everywhere with no disregard that there were other people, children, and cars around them.”

While hunting for eggs was fun, the most important thing at an event like this is not sending any kids home empty-handed. Fortunately, the event was being held outside the Pez factory, where they have a visitors center and a gift shop, so running out of candy wasn’t really a possibility.

Many families weren’t told that there were more goodies waiting for people who hadn’t acted like a swarm of locusts, though, and did go home disappointed.

The company said that it had put 10,000 eggs out in the fields for visitors, which were all scooped up before the event was supposed to begin.

PEZ Easter Egg Hunt Canceled After Parents Cause Chaos [Hartford Courant]