Easter Egg Dyeing: Easy How-To's for Perfectly Dyed Eggs

Once you’ve mastered the art of hard-cooking eggs, it’s time to color them for the Easter egg hunt. According to PAAS, the egg dyeing experts, Americans purchase more than 10 million Easter Egg Color Kits during the Easter season to decorate as many as 180 million eggs. Whether you plan to use an egg coloring kit or dye eggs naturally, get creative this Easter season with these fun and easy decorating tips.

Ready, Set? Start with clean, cool, hard-cooked eggs. Make sure everyone washes their hands in hot, soapy water before and after handling eggs. This protects everyone from transferring any bacteria on the egg, and protects the eggshell from any oils on hands that may make the dye not adhere.

Get a Grip. Enlist the help of accessories like the PAAS Grip ‘n’ Dip to hold on to those eggs while coloring them. This “eggcential” accessory automatically adjusts for the perfect fit around the egg every time, letting little hands dip it into the dye securely.

Color Me Happy. You can vary the color of egg dye based on the ingredient you add to the color table. For all colors, use one PAAS color tablet. For ultra vibrant colored eggs add vinegar. Looking for more traditional colored eggs? Use lemon juice. If you want to embrace the pastel colors of spring, just use water.

Ready for your Close Up. Let the kids “eggspress” themselves by creating an egg with a face. To do so, create a flesh color by dipping the egg in a dye that’s made of a little bit of red, yellow and green coloring. Then give it a personal touch by painting a smile or other features on the egg.

Do-It-Yourself Decorating. Dress up eggs using materials you have in and around the house. To make your own dyes, try using turmeric to make yellow, frozen blueberries to make blue, and coffee for shades of brown. Once you’ve colored your eggs, you can add finishing touches using items like ribbon (use non-toxic glue), stickers or glitter. Check out Chef Jeffrey Saad, "Next Food Network Star" runner-up and father of two, demonstrate egg decorating in this video.

Virtual Easter Eggs. Design Easter eggs online with the Incredible Easter Egg Designer. Moms and kids can color virtual Easter eggs and send them with a personal greeting to family and friends.

Visit IncredibleEgg.org for more hard-cooked egg recipes, tips, egg nutrition information and more.