By now you probably have an idea of what kind of Easter Basket you are going to have to give or use: something kinder to the environment either now or later, I hope. Remember, with being green we are looking at the long-term picture.

Your mind now shifts to EGGS: Oh, those beautiful, colorful eggs. How do we make Easter Eggs ‘green’ (no pun intended)? 

Here are some ways that may just take back the earthy joy of coloring eggs.

Food Coloring 

In order to help reduce waste I suggest dyeing REAL eggs with food coloring and vinegar; Instead of that package with tablets you dissolve in vinegar and water. There is probably the same amount of cardboard in that package as there is in a cereal box. Also, I have been using the same box of food coloring for 3 years now. Besides, with the food coloring found in your cake isle, you have a greater variety of colors you can make.

Now coloring eggs with food coloring instead of those tablets or other concoctions in the Easter aisle is a little bit science and a little bit art, but nothing to fear.

• First, decide how many eggs you want to color. You will need to hard-boil these eggs. Place eggs in a large pot and cove with water. Bring the water to a boil, then remove from heat for 17-20 minutes. At the end of this time, place the eggs in ice water until they are cool to the touch. They are now ready to be colored
• Next, decide how many colors you want to make. You will need to have this many containers/cups to mix your color in.
• You will boil enough water about 1/2 cup for each color you want.
• Pour 1 Tbsp of white vinegar into each cup. Most packages say 1/2 to 1 tsp of vinegar. I find the color isn’t as vibrant and does not stick well to the eggs. Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water into the cups.
• On the back of most food coloring packages there is a formula for several colors that can be mixed using the four basic pigments supplied. Each brand may differ. According to McCormick brand food-coloring at least 20 drops of a color for each 1/2 cup of water are needed.
  • So for the Red, blue, green and yellow drop 20 drops
    Orange Sunset     17 yellow   +    3 red
    Raspberry              14 red        +    6 blue
    Purple                     15 blue      +    5 red   
    Jungle Green        14 green    +    6 yellow   
    Watermelon Red  25 red         +    2 blue
    Teal                         15 green    +    5 blue
    *Don’t be afraid to create your own

   

• Place your hard-boiled eggs into the color for about 5 minutes.
• Take out eggs using tongs or tablespoons being careful not to drop them.
• Place them into an empty egg carton to dry. Or you can cut up a paper towel roll into 2-inch circles, stand them on end, and place your eggs on them to

Place them into an empty egg carton to dry. Or you can cut up a paper towel roll into 2-inch circles, stand them on end, and place your eggs on them to dry.

You may also use any crayon in the crayon box to do wax-resist dying on your eggs. Drawing on a hard-boiled egg with a crayon before placing it into the coloring dye does wax-resist. The wax will not accept color and the eggshell will. This will then leave a visible design on the egg with the food dye providing the background color. For younger children it is even easier to use a colored crayon than the white one that usually comes in one of the kits. 

A Natural Dye

A traditional method from my childhood home was the coloring of eggs using onion peels. Onion peels create a natural brown dye for the eggs. However, it is not the brown color that was the ultimate goal. More on that in a bit.

• Get as many peels as possible. The more peels the better the dye.
• The eggs are then brought to a boil and boiled for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
• The longer the egg sits in the ‘onion water’ the darker the egg. You must take the onion peels out of the water if you want a solid color. One the other hand, if you leave the peels in, wherever the peels adhere to the egg the dye may come off when you remove the peel from the egg after it cools. This can create a surprise ‘design’.
• Take the eggs out of the dye bath and let cool.
• Once the egg cools and dries the real decorating starts.
• Using a sharp blade (please be careful), coin edge, spoon-edge for those little hands; you scrape a design into the shell. (You are removing the dyed shell with this scraping.) Easy designs would be straight lines and vines around the egg. With more practice these designs can get really elaborate using stars and flowers.
• HINTS: Patience and practice is the key with this method. Hold your eggs gently.

Other methods for coloring eggs can be found at http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/holiday_eastereggs.htm. You can also find other natural dyes there as well. For other egg coloring ideas and instructions including videos have a look at http://www.mahalo.com/Coloring_Easter_Eggs. This is a great resource page.

Those Plastic Eggs:

If you already have plastic eggs by all means keep using them. We have some that have been around for 10 years. They have been filled with candies and change for piggy banks.  Saving some green does double time here. Kids should only have so much candy (in my opinion) and the change you save by not buying candy can then be halved and teach the kids to save some change for the future. Though we have absolutely no problem hunting for real eggs outside, if we lose one or two some animal would have a special treat, indoor Easter egg hunts don’t have the luxury of losing a real egg for a later surprise. Make sure you count them before you start hiding them. This in itself can become an Easter egg hunt for adults towards the end as adults try to find those remaining eggs.

Paper Eggs?

From plastic eggs to paper. Yes, I said paper. Origami Paper eggs that is. Why not give it a try? Something different, unique, and best yet home made. Here’s one I found at
http://www.angelfire.com/hi3/PamsPlace4/1origamiegg.html
Or give this one   a try   at http://dev.origami.com/diagram.cfm. Now these are the easy one’s.

Here is an origami Easter egg made of 270 triangles of folded paper. This egg is completely 3D. 
The directions can be found at http://www.papercraftcentral.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/img_01731.jpg I can see making this kind of egg using old magazines and colorful junk mail.

Other Easter Origami that can help fill that basket can be found here as attachments and yet other’s can be found at http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/easter_origami.htm/.

The Sweets of Life

Homemade cookies and colorfully decorated cupcakes for the Easter basket will be a nice surprise for the kids. Also, if you want to give it a try, homemade candies and chocolates might be a nice switch as well. If you do not already have candy-making equipment, getting all the materials for this endeavor may have a steeper upfront cost than you may be ready for. If you are unsure if you will continue this practice in the future, it may not be worth the cost and time. Either way, you can check out your local party supply store for baking and candy supplies or support local retailers of cake and baking supplies. Oh what goodies can be found in these locally owned stores!

A Gift?

If you choose to go this route and give a gift to a child, why not consider a book. Books can stay and be read all year round, even if they are Easter themed. A personal favorite for Easter giving is a series of books by Beatrix Potter. Here we have the starts of Peter Rabbit and Cottontail. Yes, they started out life as two different rabbits. You can continue gifting these books for many years. Ms. Potter was a conservationist and upon her death she left a major portion of her estate, which was funded by the royalties from her books in the National Trust (UK). This was to ensure the land from which she drew her inspiration was left unspoiled by “progress”.

Easter: The environmentally consciously way

Pass up that plastic grass, think to your own family’s traditions (ask grandma, look it up on the internet), start your own ‘green’ Easter traditions, look around your home for what you already have, and most of all look to your own abilities to make that Easter basket and those colorful eggs a special symbol of the season. Spring is the season of renewal that happens every year and in the northern hemisphere coincides with Easter. Let’s help the earth renew as we celebrate this natural and spiritual renewal.

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