How Not To Decorate Easter Eggs

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 By Lolli 40 Comments

I’ve been dying Easter eggs with my kids for, what?, 12 years, I think. We’ve colored hundreds of hard boiled eggs. And over the years, we have collected quite an assortment of egg decorating accessories. So each Spring, we pull out the bag of egg dye equipment and set to work.

This year, though, seems to have been more of an egg fail than anything else.

TIP: Boil the eggs the same day that you plan to decorate.

Last Friday, I hard boiled 27 eggs, but didn’t find time to decorate with the kids until Sunday. By the time I pulled out the egg carton, 13 eggs were left. I ended up having to buy another dozen eggs to cook.

TIP: Don’t leave 4 kids alone in the kitchen with eight cups of dye. Things could get messy. Even in the time that it takes to run one load of laundry.

TIP: Encourage kids to dye the “old-fashioned” way–by dropping eggs in a cup full of colored water and stinky vinegar. It works.

My kids are determined to have “tie-dyed” eggs. Kinda cool, but very messy. And most of our eggs look brown or green now.

TIP: Don’t dye eggs if you want your kids hands to look clean anytime in the next week.

TIP: Don’t dye peeled eggs. They DO hold onto the color really well….however, they feel really disgusting when you pick them up out of the cup, and they don’t smell very pleasant, either.

TIP: Don’t use dye of a questionable age.

Tip: Don’t worry about what the eggs look like. Just have fun.

Despite the mess (my counter is still green and red), the fact is that the kids had fun. Our eggs might not be the most beautiful but they still make a pretty good Deviled Egg.