Dying Easter eggs has always been a tradition at my house for as long as I can remember. Much like Thanksgiving and Christmas, Easter is a time for all of the family to visit one another. It is one of the few times of year for us to all spend some quality time together. Each year we come up with new ideas for how to decorate the eggs that we take to our church for the annual Easter egg hunt. Here are a few of my favorite:

Tye-Dye Eggs:

This is slightly messy, so be sure to wear old clothes and supervise young children. You'll need aluminum foil, paper towels, hard boiled eggs, and food coloring of different colors. Take a a square of aluminum foil big enough to wrap completely around the egg. Lay 2-3 paper towels on top of the aluminum foil, and drop a couple drops of different colored food coloring onto the paper towels. Make sure not to run the colors together too much, but get enough to cover most of the paper towels. Also make sure the aluminum foil is underneath the paper towels before you use the food coloring! Then place the egg in the center, and wrap the aluminum foil, with the paper towels inside, are it. Make sure to wrap it snuggly around the egg to make sure the food coloring comes in contact with the shell. Wait a few minutes and unwrap. You should have a nice tye-dye pattern on the egg. If not you can add more food coloring and try again.

Dye Kits

These are the basics for dying easter eggs. Buy an egg dying kit from your local grocery store for the simple version of Easter egg dying. There are many different kinds, and they come in a variety of colors. Normally you'll need your own cups to mix the dye and vinegar in, as well as something to put the eggs on while they're drying. I use the egg cartons that they came out of, but sometimes this can cause the dye to smear.

Glitter Eggs

This is by far my favorite, as well as one of the messiest, kits available for dying eggs. While there may be different types now, the kind I use involves dying the easter egg and then rubbing thick glitter paste all over it. I'll warn you again, this can get very messy! Make sure to put down newspaper before you start. I have never tried it, but I believe that using very fine powder glitter, that can be bought at your local store, would work just as well. You could sprinkle it on the egg while the dye is still wet and let it dry. Both of these ideas create sparkling eggs that are great for egg hunts out in the sun!

Crayons

I discovered this method of designing Easter eggs a few years ago on accident. I noticed that the Easter egg dying kits always come with a white wax crayon to draw designs on the Easter eggs, and after they are dyed that part is still white. As a joke I got a box of crayons and colored little rainbows and stars all over the eggs before putting them into the dye. I assumed the crayon would wash off, but to my surprise, when I pulled them out they had radiant designs still colored on them. Ever since then we've used crayons to draw on the eggs before dying. This is a fun and inexpensive way to add a personal touch to your eggs. It's also good for younger children and isn't very messy.

There are many other ideas out there. There are also several different types of Easter egg kits such as tye-dye, glitter, puff paints, and new ones every year. Feel free to experiment, and above all, have fun!

Learn more about this author, Nicki Marks.
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