Easter is one of my favourite holidays. Around the world it is one of the most significant religious occasions, celebrated in so many amazing colourful ways. Landing each year in late March or early April, it’s no wonder we’ve also come to associate the time with Spring, a time of new life and new beginnings. There’s a long and detailed history behind the bunny and the eggs and how they became associated with Easter, but what we are going to get into is how to make this holiday a little less wasteful (if you’re still curious, check out wikipedia to learn more about this holiday’s history 😉 ).

How to do the blow-out method:

You will need a needle, a bowl, a carton of eggs – preferable white if you want to dye them.

• Wash the eggs as you will be putting your mouth on them!
• Taking the needle, poke a hole in the bottom of the egg and wiggle it around to make it bigger than the pin prick (the bigger this hole, the easier the egg will come out). I made mine about 5mm in diametre
• Turn the egg over and pin prick a smaller hole in the top of the egg
• Now, overtop of the bowl, blow into the top hole to make the egg come out the bottom. This can take a bit of effort, but once it starts it will all come out. If it feels just too hard, make the holes a tiny bit bigger.
• Rinse the shell and place into the carton for safe keeping
• Make your favourite egg dish with your eggs – quiche, scramble eggs, french toast…
• For a little extra fun, roll up a tiny little note and push it through the bottom hole. As pictured.

Now for decorating them.

When I first did this, I had pulled out my acrylic paints and brushes to hand paint my eggs (as pictured above). This took a lot of time and was more of a long-term hobby project than a doable weekend-only, hanging-with-the-kids type project. But if you have paint and brushes, it’s a very unique canvas to work on. For the sake of this blog, we are going to look at dye options.

There are so many great things in your kitchen right now that can be used to create beautiful colours to dye the eggs: yellow or purple onion peels, beets, berries, purple cabbage, tea, turmeric, carrots, coffee, spinach, grape juice and even avocado pit. We are going to focus on three dye options: beets, turmeric, and onion peels.

If you are looking to experiment further with other food, here’s a great instructional blog (lots out there!) but Irene’s eggs are beautiful: Easter Egg Tutorial by Irene Rasetti

Creating the dye:

You will need:
A pot, white vinegar, some jars or bowls to store your dyes, and of course your food items to boil!

1 cup yellow onion skins = orange/rusty red
In a pot, pour enough water to cover the peels. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 to 30 mins. Remove from heat and strain out the peels. Once the liquid has cooled off to room temperature, add 1 tbsp of vinegar

1 cup chopped beets = pink/violet
In a pot, pour enough water to cover your beets. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 to 30 mins. Remove from heat. Pull out your beets, and eat them of course!
Once the liquid has cooled off to room temperature, add 1 tbsp of vinegar

2 tablespoons ground turmeric = yellow/orange
Bring 1-2 cups of water to a boil and stir in the turmeric. Once the liquid has cooled off to room temperature, add 1 tbsp of vinegar

1 cup shredded purple cabbage = blue
In a pot, pour enough water to cover the cabbage. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 – 30 mins. Remove from heat and strain out the cabbage.
Once the liquid has cooled off to room temperature, add 1 tbsp of vinegar

Dying the eggs

Once your dyes are cool enough, dip and soak your egg shells in the desired colours.
The key to creating colourful eggs with these dyes it TIME. The longer you soak your egg shells, the deeper the colour.
You can get creative with half-dipping the shells in different colours or dipping eggs in more than one colour. Remember to play around with your primary colours to create more (blue and yellow = green!)
Once done these eggs are a beautiful decoration and when you no longer want them, completely compostable!

Have fun and Happy Easter

~ Briana