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I have a big day ahead of me. I have to whip this house into shape in order to feel like a proper hostess for a playdate tomorrow. Since staying at home, we have been to a few playdates and now it is time to reciprocate one. As a bonus, I am kicking my butt to get the house cleaned. (Here is a tip: invite someone that you aren’t as familiar with. I thought I would clean my house for a playdate with my bestfriend and I guess I am too comfortable with her because my house was wrecked when she came over.)

This past Sunday our church had a pancake dinner and dying eggs was part of the program for the little ones. Fuller got to dye his first egg and he seemed to have a pretty good time, so why not do it again? I called a mom from our church and asked her and her daughter to come over for egg dying, lunch, and a possible playground trip. So, in addition to cleaning the house, I am needing to prepare for two two and half year olds to dye hardboiled eggs.

I know how to hardboil and egg, but if you use this recipe, apparently they will come out perfect every time. I had no idea that the fresher an egg, the harder it will be to peel. That explains a lot of previous peeling problems.

When it comes to dying eggs, there seem to be two schools of thought: use natural materials or a box of Paas dye.

The idea of dying eggs naturally intrigues me and I love that I can look to Under Construction to see how her egg-speriment went. She gives great instructions on how she completed the project and I think the results are beautiful.

And I can’t overlook the queen of crafts, Martha Stewart, and her natural methods for egg dying. Her tips include a color glossary, which is helpful if you have a specific color palette in mind. (I need to remember to check out Martha’s ideas for other Easter stuff for my Sunday School class.)

Have you heard of silk dying eggs? I saw Martha on the Today show a few days ago. She was trying to teach Matt and Meredith how to use silk to dye eggs.

While all these methods produce amazing and beautiful results, this will not be the year that I attempt this with Fuller and his friend. No, this year it will be about the box of Paas, vinegar, and food coloring.

Amazing Moms shows you how to make your own vinegar and food coloring solutions and some variations that include rubber bands, crayons, and other craft supplies.

Since I have recently seen Fuller participate in egg dying, I am fairly confident that creativity will not be at the top of our list. Our experience will probably fall under “how little of a mess can we make” and take some fun pictures. But I look forward to the day we can use these other methods to yolk the creativity from my children.

Do you dye eggs with your kids at Easter? What methods do you use?

Easter eggs, egg dying, natural dyes, paas, playdate, Easter, food coloring, kids crafts