When I was a little girl growing up we didn't do much for Easter. More like nothing, actually. Not that we didn't want to. Us kids wanted to, it was just that my 媽媽 and 爸爸 didn't really know how to celebrate a lot of these western holidays. But I remember so clearly that one year when my parents somehow miraculously brought home these beautiful boxes of decorated chocolate Easter eggs, one for each of us girls.
That Easter egg, in my memory, has got to be one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life up to that point (and probably well beyond.) I stared and stared at that amazing, delicate, beautiful Easter egg for probably a month, not even daring to open the box and eat it. I can't remember what eventually happened to that egg. I only remember being in love...
Nowadays I plan Easter activities for my own little girl while we stuff ourselves silly on chocolate Easter eggs. And while we're priming our teeth for our upcoming toothaches, we have fun with painting some Easter Eggs. I had actually never painted Easter Eggs before doing it with my little girl. So we experiment and enjoy it together.
As my little girl's only 4 years old, we don't do anything too complicated, just some fun with some dye and a paintbrush. If you look up 'painted Easter Egg' on the Internet you will be overwhelmed with masterful plans for Easter Egg domination, eggs so perfect and so beautiful that you will gasp in admiration. Beautiful I agree, but no fun for a kid, that's for sure. Kids just want to putter about and create.
Another thing that confuses me is all the strange material that gets used in the quest for the most amazing decorated Easter Egg: electrical tape, chalkboard paint, glitter, permanent marker? I must be missing something, but aren't Easter Eggs supposed to be eaten? By children? Surely people don't make all these fancy Easter Eggs and then throw them away?!
This year we tried two methods of making Easter eggs. The first one is the most traditional one, where you use food dye, water and vinegar to dip and paint Easter Eggs. These painted Easter Eggs are easy and fun. Save up an egg carton to use to hold the eggs as they are drying.
Our second method was to use natural dyes. We experimented with different colors and materials and decided that we liked the our turmeric stained lace wrapped patterns the best (see egg above). I like working with natural dyes, it feels good that kids will be eating less artificial dye, etc. however natural dyes take a bit more work and perseverance. You have to make the color yourself, after all.
To see more detail on our experiments see our post about Natural Dyes for Easter Eggs.
Here are the simple recipes we used for our Easter Egg painting. Hope you have a Hippy, Hoppy Easter!
Hand Painted Easter Egg Recipe
Egg Dip Dye
(Prep time: 5 mins Soak time: 5 mins)
Ingredients
- 1 dozen white eggs, hardboiled
Egg Dip Dye
- 1 bowl for each color
- Food coloring
- 1/2 cup boiling water for each color
- 1 tsp white vinegar for each color
Directions:
In each bowl pour in 1/2 cup boiling water, 1 tsp vinegar and 10 drops of food coloring. Carefully place hardboiled eggs in the dye. Roll egg around so that dye reaches all sides. Let eggs soak in dye until the color is right for you, approx 2 to 5 mins. Remove and place in empty egg carton to dry.
In each bowl pour in 1/2 cup boiling water, 1 tsp vinegar and 10 drops of food coloring. Carefully place hardboiled eggs in the dye. Roll egg around so that dye reaches all sides. Let eggs soak in dye until the color is right for you, approx 2 to 5 mins. Remove and place in empty egg carton to dry.
Egg Paint
(Prep time: 1 min Paint time: 10 mins)
Ingredients:
- 1 small saucer for each color
- Food coloring
- 1/8 tsp white vinegar for each color
Directions:
In each bowl put 4 drops of food coloring and 1/8 tsp vinegar. Mix and use as paint to paint on your colored Easter Eggs. Use a nylon paintbrush for ease of painting and no stray hairs in finished egg.
In each bowl put 4 drops of food coloring and 1/8 tsp vinegar. Mix and use as paint to paint on your colored Easter Eggs. Use a nylon paintbrush for ease of painting and no stray hairs in finished egg.
Natural Easter Egg Dye
(Prep time: 2 min Soak time: 1 hr)
Ingredients:
- 1 bowl
- Lace scraps
- 2 tbsp tumeric
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 tsp white vinegar
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Wrap eggs in lace scrap so that completely covered. Use a twisty or a rubber band to bind the lace around the egg as tightly as possible. Carefully place egg in dye and let soak for one hour or until you think color is right. Remove and let air dry before removing the lace.
Egg-liciousness at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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