Easter Eggs with Homemade Dyes | Family Economics

By Renee

This year my son is ready to be helpful in the kitchen. Together we've cooked pancakes and cookies. He really enjoys being mommy's little helper and surprisingly has been able to keep the mess to the minimum.

Since he has proven himself in the kitchen, I think this year he is ready to color Easter eggs. Coloring Easter eggs was always something I looked forward to doing with my mother and of course searching for the eggs on Easter morning was the best! Last year my mother made sure we made an Easter basket for my son but he wasn't ready to prepare the eggs. This year, let the fun begin!

When I was growing up we'd use dyes that we'd find in the grocery store. I can remember using food coloring to dye our eggs, but with my son I am going to try something different. We are going to use natural materials for coloring our eggs.
Finding and using the natural ingredients will also add to the fun. For most of the ingredients we will head to the grocery store again but this time we will spend the majority of our time in the produce aisle!

What’s on our grocery list?
• Spinach
• Beets
• Blueberries (canned or frozen work too and are generally not as expensive as fresh)
• Coffee (we actually have some in our pantry, no need to purchase!)
• Red cabbage

We will also shop outside our door and do some weeding in the process. Did you know that dandelions can be used to color eggs? My son and I will search the neighborhood for these errant weeds and do our yard and/or our neighbor’s yard a favor!

The process:
• Boil your eggs until hard.
• For each "dye" boil ingredient in a pot and let cool.
• Once eggs have cooled, dunk them in white vinegar (this helps to set the color).
• Place eggs in each color for a couple of hours until you have your desired color. The longer the eggs sit in the "dye" the deeper the coloring.
• For interesting patterns and designs you can wrap rubber-bands around the eggs before coloring them.

I know that my son and I are going to have a wonderful time coloring the eggs and on Easter morning he will experience the thrill of finding the hidden eggs in our home. I just have to be sure to remember all of the hiding spots. I wouldn't want to happen upon an old Easter egg on Christmas!