We went ALL out with dying Easter eggs this year and it made me think that I'd create a post of the four methods we used. They were all winners! From start to finish, this was about a two-hour project and I was shocked that my kids were super into it for most of that time AND that my kitchen wasn't a messy disaster at the end.
To begin, we researched all kinds of ideas on Pinterest, and selected our favorite four methods for dying. We used the InstantPot to hard boil ALL 24 EGGS AT ONE TIME.
To do this, place 1 cup of water in the bottom of your pot. Place the trivet inside so that no eggs are touching the water and then just stack them in there. Set to manual for 10 minutes and then quick release. Remove the lid and fill the pot with cool water and ice to cool the eggs and then set them out on a paper towel to dry before dying.
SO EASY.
And no clean up at all.
Ok, so below are the four ways we dyed and I seriously love them all.
Ombre dyed eggs
See photo above for how we did this. Depending on the size of your cups, you may use more or less liquid, but I started by filling the cups with food coloring and 1/4 cup of white vinegar. Then we TAPED the eggs to stand up straight. This is my genius 7-year old's brain. (see above)
Set a timer for 20 minutes. Then fill with another 1/4 cup of water.
Set a timer for 20 minutes. Fill with another 1/4 cup of water.
Then just remove the tape and let it fall completely into the colored water for 1-2 minutes. Spoon them out and let them dry.
I set this station up first and we worked on the other eggs during the 20 minute time increments.
Shaving cream Swirl Eggs
Use a muffin tin and fill each section with shaving cream and a few drops of food coloring. (Ugh. I hate calling it food coloring...we absolutely never use them in food because of side effects and neurotoxicity. We literally keep them in the house for this project only.)
Roll your egg in the mixture. We used toothpicks to swirl the color into the shaving cream and to reduce messy fingers when egg rolling.
Tip...don't over swirl. If you do, add more shaving cream and reswirl.
Finished product. These are much less "colorful" in person. They're subtle and at first I didn't feel like they were colorful enough, but I've since decided they're probably the most "classy" looking.
Glitter Eggs
Ok...I'm a big fan of NEVER using glitter on projects. But I felt brave yesterday and I saw a video on these and it seemed so easy, so we had to try it.
Guess what...it WAS super easy and clean.
Get a small Ziplock baggie and put about 3 drops of food coloring inside. Roll the egg around the bag and use your fingers to rub the dye onto the egg surface. Then just pour a small amount of glitter in the bag and repeat rubbing to get the glitter to stick to the (still wet) dye.
Tip...the glitter does stick on the eggs, but it will come off on your fingers if you pick up the eggs. I sprayed an adhesive on and it does make the glitter more secure, but it removed some of the shine.
Coffee-filter eggs
To make these, you need coffee filters and washable markers. The kids and I had so much fun doing these...and honestly, theirs came out better then mine.
Color the coffee filters with markers and then tightly wrap the filters around the eggs, secure with a rubber band and spray with water. I think we let them sit for about 10 minutes before unwrapping them.
This was my favorite one to do with the kids as far as them getting to participate and use their own creativity. Plus, watching them unwrap their eggs was so fun.
When it was all said and done, we only cracked one egg. And it was ME that did it.
What are your favorite ways to dye eggs?