Spring is in the air, and it could not come at a better time! I am so ready for sunshine, warmer days, and the smell of blossoms! And nothing brings the feeling of spring better than Easter!
I have so many fond memories of Easter -- Easter dresses, Easter candy, and let’s not forget Easter eggs! Decorating and dying Easter eggs was always a family tradition that I looked forward to all year! Watching my kids enjoy the same tradition now sparks a joy in me that is hard to beat! In the last few years we’ve tried to get creative with dying eggs, especially since my kids are little, and it can get a bit messy!
Tie-dye is all the rage this year, and marbled shaving cream eggs are a perfect fit for the trend. Lucky for you, I’ve found a way to make the activity a little more kid friendly -- but don’t worry they’ll turn out just as beautiful and are so much fun!
To make these beautiful, kid-friendly tie-dye eggs you’ll only need a few items:
- Hard boiled eggs
- Cool Whip
- Food coloring (We used Cake Mate gel food coloring.)
- A container to roll your eggs around in (We used cookie sheets.)
Getting Started
We opted to use Cool Whip instead of shaving cream. We love eating the eggs after, and I wouldn’t feel as safe eating them after using shaving cream. Plus with little kids, it’s always better to use something edible -- their hands always end up in their mouths!
The method is pretty simple, though! Spread your cool whip out on your cookie sheet, then add your food coloring. It’s best to be very generous on this step. The more color you add, the brighter your eggs will be. That is also why we loved using the gel food coloring -- it is much more concentrated!
Then swirl around the colors. This will help give you that marbled or tie-dye look. Older children might like being included on this step, but for my younger children I took care of it.
Now then let your kids go wild. I gave my kids one egg at a time, and they swirled and rolled them all around in the Cool Whip. Then they placed them back in the egg container after they were done. The activity went pretty quick, but they thought it was so fun and kept asking for more eggs! We could have done several dozen easily with the amount of Cool Whip we had, but then we would have to eat them all!
Finishing Up
I let the eggs sit in the container, covered in the Cool Whip, for about an hour before I washed them off. Letting them sit for a long time helps the dye really soak in!
The finished product was beautiful!!
The eggs were bright and had the perfect tie-dye marbled look to them! Cleaning up was a cinch as well! After my girls licked their fingers clean (and maybe ate an additional few handfuls of Cool Whip), we washed up their hands, cleaned off the cookie sheets, and threw the towels we laid down into the wash!
We’ve used this method for dying Easter eggs for a few years now, and it hasn’t disappointed yet. I love how easy it is, and the kids love how tasty and fun it is as well! So here are a few tips if you are considering trying it out!
Tips
Boiling eggs can be tricky, but I have mastered the perfect hard boiled egg! Start with boiling water that is just deep enough to cover your eggs. Once boiling, add your eggs and let them boil for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, put them straight into an ice bath until they are completely cool. From there you can put them in your fridge until you need them, or dry them off and use them right away! They will peel perfectly, and will be cooked all the way through!
As I mentioned before, we opt to use whip cream to make the eggs and activity more food-safe and kid-friendly; however, using shaving cream will produce much more vibrant colors. So if you have older kids and aren’t worried about them eating the project, shaving cream is a great option!
In the past I have added a bit of vinegar to the boiling water. This supposedly helps them absorb the food coloring better and creates more vibrant colors. I found that doing this made the shells very weak, and since kids were involved, almost every egg cracked during the coloring process.
Instead of using vinegar to get vibrant colors, I’ve started using gel food coloring. I just grab the Cake Mate gel food coloring at the grocery store, it is very similar in price to regular food coloring, but it works so much better! Add a generous amount when mixing up your Cool Whip and you won’t be disappointed with the final results!