Around here we can't really go wrong with coloring eggs. We could just scribble on them with markers and my kids would be happy. But for me, natural dyes take it over the top. A few veggies, herbs, and teas, some eggs from the farm, and vinegar and we were ready to go. We can actually eat the dye. I think that's awesome.

If you are a parent and you are daunted by the idea of natural dyes, tell me this: how easy is it for your kids to accidentally dye (IE: stain) their clothes? Well, there you go. It's that easy to dye eggs without those little bottles of synthetic dye, too. Easy peasy. All it takes is a bit more time and a tiny bit more patience. (30 minutes of simmering, a bit of a longer soak in the dye bath, and you'll be rocking the natural egg scene.)

Tonight half of our eggs are sleeping in the dye bath. We'll see what super-colors come of the overnight. We grated beets, peeled onions, chopped cabbage, and brewed tea for this holiday craft, among other things. Such fun. Lulu first smelled, then tasted each and every dye lot. (Only the hibiscus tea was sampled without a hilarious face.)

All told we used:

• Hibiscus tea
• Red onion skins
• Yellow onion skins
• Red beets
• Purple cabbage
• Turmeric

I so prefer this to the technicolor ones we used to make! (I worried that my kids wouldn't make the switch from neon to subtle. But they did. Easily. One year of helping make their own dyes and they were hooked.)

If you are looking for some simple natural dye instructions, I recommend this tutorial. It's the simplist one I've seen that will actually work as described. I'll add more pictures tomorrow of the overnight eggs. Until then, wishing you a happy holiday weekend, whatever you celebrate.

From our home to yours, happy spring!

Love,
Rachel