How to Prepare and Dye Easter Eggs

Buy as many eggs as you wish. [Fresh eggs often don't peel as well, so if you already have eggs in your refrigerator, these will work great.] I'd go for a couple dozen so you can have fun with the process of dying your eggs. If several people are working on this project, you'll want enough eggs so everyone has a chance to use as many colors as they wish.

Purchase your egg dye. I'd suggest just the simplest Paas egg dye box. It was 99 cents at our Target. If you have several people working together, maybe buy a couple boxes of egg dye.

Place eggs in large pan being careful not to crack them. Cover with cold water. Add about two tablespoons of salt to aid in peeling the hard boiled eggs. Bring to a boil. [This means be sure the steam is coming out of the pan.] Turn off heat. Leave eggs in pan for at least 20 minutes. Then run cold water over the eggs.

Set out eggs to dry. While they are drying, prepare the area you will be using to dye the eggs. Place several sheets of newspaper on the table. Punch holes out of dye box to place dyed eggs for drying. [Save egg cartons to return eggs back to refrigerator after they're colored.]

Put paper towels on cookie sheet to let eggs thoroughly dry. Get 6 [or number of dye tablets you have] cups and place tablet in each cup. Add three tablespoons of vinegar to each tablet. Stir to dissolve. Then add 1/2 cup cold water to each cup.

[For a more pastel color, add three tablespoons of lemon juice rather than vinegar to each cup. I preferred the vinegar for a prettier color.]

You may decorate eggs with a crayon - white or light color works best - prior to dipping egg in dye. Suggestions would include writing names, making a cross, writing Easter greetings, flowers, geometric shapes or whatever you wish. Another fun thing is to place a thick rubber band around egg prior to dipping it into the dye.

Tumble egg very gently with spoon for best color. Leave egg in dye until the color turns as bright as you wish. I added some of the green to yellow dye for eggs that turned out a beautiful lime green.

Be sure hands are clean as you remove eggs from cup or they will leave marks or colors on the freshly dyed egg. Place in box circle to dry. As the circles fill, remove eggs to paper towel lined cookie sheet and let dry completely.

When eggs are finished, place them in the refrigerator until you are ready for the egg hunt. After the hunt you may wish to leave some out for your meal or as decor for your meal. Refrigerate left overs as quickly as possible.

I'll share a fun family tradition at our house.
Grip chosen egg firmly in your hand. [Someone else chooses his or her favorite egg and does the same.] One person is the "hitter" who hits his egg into the other person's egg. You want to use same ends of the egg at the time of the hit, until that is cracked.

The person who wins the game and has the champion egg is the one who can "hit" the others' eggs but succeeds without his or her egg cracking. It seems everyone in our family has a certain technique for "holding" , "hitting" and trying to win!

Try it! You'll have lots of fun trying to have the champion egg!

May your Easter be special and may you have fun preparing pretty eggs for your day.