

Eggs are often decorated for Easter, but you can decorate eggs any time of year, with any kind of
design you like. Consider decorating eggs for other special occasions such as Fourth of July,
Christmas, birthday parties, or anniversaries.
Easter is a happy time, a time to celebrate the coming of spring and the new life that's all around us in the flowers, trees, animals, and birds. It has been a custom to color, decorate and exchange eggs for hundreds of years. Along with the deep religious meaning, it's also an occasion for gifts and games, and many of these involve Easter eggs. The egg has always been a symbol of new life, and people have believed that eggs given at this season would bring good luck.
At Easter time, eggs are handled a great deal more than usual especially when decorating or
hiding the eggs in an Easter egg hunt. So, before you begin to decorate your eggs, remember to
follow some important safety methods when handling eggs for cooking, decorating or for the
Easter egg hunt:
Many Easter eggs are decorated using hard-cooked eggs. For the perfect hard-cooked egg, follow
these directions. Try to buy your eggs a week or two in advance. Eggs that have been stored in
the refrigerator for a week or two will usually peel easily. The fresher the egg, the harder it is to
peel.
Whether hard- or soft-cooked, this method is incorrectly called boiled eggs. Although the
cooking water must come to a boil, eggs should not be boiled because high temperatures make
them tough and rubbery. Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan. Add enough water to come at
least one inch above the eggs. Cover and quickly bring just to a boil. Remove pan from heat and
let eggs stand 15 minutes. (Adjust the time up or down by about three minutes for each size
larger or smaller). Immediately run cold water over the eggs until cool.
A greenish-gray ring may appear around a hard-cooked egg yolk. It's unsightly, but harmless.
The ring is caused by a chemical reaction involving sulfur (from the egg white) and iron (from
the egg yolk), which naturally react to form ferrous sulfide at the surface of the yolk. The
reaction is usually caused by overcooking, but can also be caused by a high amount of iron in the
cooking water.
Eliminate the ring by avoiding overcooking and by cooling the eggs quickly after cooking. Run
cold water over the just-cooked eggs or place them in ice water (not standing water) until they
have completely cooled. Then refrigerate the eggs in their shells until you're ready to use them.
Hard-cooked eggs in the shell can be refrigerated up to one week.
When eggs are cool, tap the egg on a hard surface. Thoroughly crackle the shell and roll the egg
between your hands to loosen the shell. Start at the large end and peel.
Easy Steps to Hard-Cooked Eggs (Printable
Brochure)
Eggs can be decorated in a variety of ways. For a personal touch on decorating, use wax crayons,
magic markers, or paints on your eggshell to create your own design; then coat it with clear nail
polish to prevent smearing. To make the shell glisten, use pearl-colored nail polish. For a
porcelain finish, apply several coats of diluted school glue.
There is literally no end to the creative possibilities for individual expression on an eggshell.
Eggs can be painted or colored with crayons or felt-tipped pens, turned into funny faces, topped
with fantastic hats, trimmed with feathers or sequins, or simply dyed in an endless variety of
hues. However, you decide to do it, decorating eggs is fun for grown-ups as well as for kids.
You can also decorate your eggs by using natural dyes made from items you may already have in
your refrigerator such as beets, spinach leaves, cranberries, blueberries, red cabbage, just to name
a few of the possibilities.
Ever See a Plaid Egg?
You can decorate eggs any time of year, with any kind of design you like. Professional artists
have used eggs to represent the states. If you don't want to make an egg for your state, you could
decorate one in red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July. Or, how about making an egg person
into a pilgrim for Thanksgiving? To make a decorated egg to hang on a mobile, Easter tree or
Christmas tree, use a lightweight emptied eggshell.
You can also use decorated eggs as a craft project, as a table favor, or "name card" at a
birthday party. Or, maybe you might like to start a family tradition by making a special egg for
Mom or Dad for Mother's or Father's Day. As you grow up and your talents grow, too, the eggs
will probably get better and better every year!
Before you start creating your own egg, check out other Egg Decorating
Tips or Kids and
Families by the American Egg Board.
How about a plaid egg, or a striped one? Just wrap eggs with rubber bands or strips of narrow
masking tape before placing them in the dye. Be sure the egg is completely dry before removing
the bands.