Decorating Easter Eggs

How Do You Like Your Eggs?

Decorating Easter eggs is a traditional Easter activity in many homes with a wide variety of options to suit whatever age your kids are. Eggs can be decorated using dyes, paints, wax, or even glueing on ribbon, sequins, glitter or small beads.

There are essentially two ways to use (real) eggs for Easter decorating- either hard-boiled or blown out. Hard-boiled eggs are recommended to use with younger children as they are easier both to handle and to clean up in case of any accidents. School aged children will enjoy the challenge of blowing out eggs as well as painting and decorating their delicate shells.

Blowing Out Eggs

You'll Need
Eggs
Sharp and thick needle
Bowl for egg contents

Using the needle, poke a small hole in the top end of the egg, and a slightly larger hole in the other end. Holding the egg over the bowl, blow gently through the small hole and watch the egg emerge from the shell. Once it is all out you need to thoroughly wash the egg shell and dry it ready for painting.
Put your egg aside to make your favorite eggy food- scrambled eggs, pancakes, a cake, quiche.....

**TIP- When piercing the egg shell, be sure that you have broken the membrane around the egg or it won't blow out of the shell.

Perfectly Boiled Eggs (Without Cracks!)

You'll Need
Eggs
Timer
Saucepan with lid

The secret to perfectly boiled eggs is to start them in warm tap water and to slow cook them at a simmer instead of a boil. Cover the eggs completely with warm tap water in your saucepan. Cover the pan and put it over medium heat and set a timer for 15 minutes. Once the water gets to a strong bubble, adjust the heat down so it bubbles a little slower. When the timer goes off, you've got perfect hard-boiled eggs ready for Easter decorating.

Decorating Easter Eggs with Food Coloring

You'll Need
Food Dyes
White vinegar
Boiled Eggs
Cooking Oil

For each colour measure 5-6 drops of food colouring into a small bowl. Add 3/4 cup hot water and 1 tbsp. white vinegar to each color. Add eggs and allow them to sit until they are the desired colour. Remove with slotted spoon. Polish dry eggs with small amount of cooking oil and soft cloth.

**TIP- To get a wider variety of colours you can mix your made up primary colours to give a secondary colour. By slightly varying the amounts of colour in the mix you can achieve a nice range of complemetary colours that will look great in an Easter egg display on your table.
Mix- red and blue- purple (add more blue- violet, add more red-burgundy)
Mix- blue and yellow- green (add more blue- aqua, add more yellow- pale green)
Mix- red and yellow- orange (add more red- dark orange, add more yellow- yellow/orange)

Natural Dyes for Easter Eggs

Natural dyes can be found in many foods in our cupboards, so if you're feeling adventurous give them a try this Easter. Part of the fun is trying to figure out how much of the material to add to get different results. Let the kids get involved, and have fun!

Red/Pink- Fresh beets or cranberries, frozen raspberries, canned cherries or the juice from pickled beets
Gold/Orange- Yellow onion skins
Light yellow- Orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, ground cumin
Yellow- Ground turmeric
Pale green- Spinach leaves
Blue- Canned blueberries or red cabbage leaves
Purple- Grape Juice
Beige to brown- Strong brewed coffee

You'll Need

Eggs
Saucepan
Dyeing Material
Vinegar

Place the eggs in a single layer in a pan and pour enough water until they are covered and add about a teaspoon of vinegar.
Add the natural dye appropriate to the colour you want your eggs to be. ( You will need to experiment with amounts- we used 2 tablespoons of tumeric, 1 cup of cherries...)
Bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the eggs to check the colour. If you want them to be a darker shade then place them in a container covered by the dye and leave them in the fridge overnight.

**TIP- After dyeing any eggs for Easter, polish them up to a nice shiny finish with a soft cloth and a couple of drops of cooking oil.