Decorating Easter eggs is a fun ritual that heralds the arrival of spring. While you can certainly enjoy decorating your Easter eggs using a store bought kit, there are numerous other ways to take your egg decorating up a level. You can gather your kids around for an afternoon of fun or make decorating your Easter eggs the center of a party with family and friends. Best of all using these creative techniques gives you a chance to decorate your eggs with real style. Here are some tips on fun ways to decorate your Easter eggs-
Make an Easter Bunny-This delightful bunny can make a great place card holder for Easter dinner. Start by cutting two egg cups from a paper egg carton and paint them white. Cut pieces of craft foam for bunny feet, ears, and teeth. Glue the foam feet to one cup, and the ears, teeth and some googly eyes to the other cup. When the glue is completely dry put the egg in the bottom and cover with the top cup.
Just use stickers-If you do not want the mess that dyeing eggs can bring then just use markers and stickers to make your own patterns and swirls. Just lay out a couple sets of markers and pages of stickers (both can be bought affordable at your local craft store) and let the kids go to work.
Make a collage Easter egg-This is definitely an Easter egg you will want to keep. Using a blown Easter egg simply attach anything small that delights you. This can be small photographs, jewels, pictures that are cut out of a magazine basically anything small enough to fit onto the egg and contribute to the collage effect.
Make your own natural dyes-You can have a lot of fun dyeing your eggs using natural materials. Simply wrap the egg in the selected materials and boil them with a little vinegar. The following color chart can help you decide what to use:
- Brown-the outer layers of onions, tea or coffee
- Yellow-turmeric or saffron
- Red-cranberries
- Purple-beets or purple onion skin
- Green-spinach
- Blue-blueberries
Painted eggs-You can use undiluted paint and a cotton swab to paint on eggs that have been hard boiled. Sitting them upright in the egg carton can be helpful to steady them. A word of caution however is that eggs that have been painted should not be eaten!
Make your eggs shine-For the easiest decorating method ever just use high gloss spray paint. This is a messy technique so it is best done outdoors but can give you glossy eggs that look like jewels. This is another technique where the egg should not be eaten afterwards.
Keep in mind that any of these ideas can be used on either blown or hard-boiled eggs. Instructions for both methods are as follows:
Blown Eggs-To blow out an egg, begin by using the tip of a sharp utility knife to carefully pierce both ends of the egg; turn the knife in one of the holes to widen it slightly. Then, gently poke a straightened paper clip through the larger hole to pierce and “stir” the yolk. Hold the egg with the larger hole down, over a bowl, and then blow the contents out with a rubber ear syringe (available at drugstores).
Hard-boiled Eggs-There are many ways to hard-boil eggs but this is usually successful. Put the eggs in a large pot, in a single layer and cover with cold water. Turn on the heat under the eggs and as soon as they come to a full boil, quickly remove them from the heat and let them sit in the hot water for about 15-20 minutes.
