Easter Colors...What Would Mary Do?

As a mom, who also wears the hat of a Holistic Nutritionist, I put my foot down on man-made colors. There’s nothing about them that I feel good with and I don’t feed them to my kids, even on celebratory days. So what’s a mom like me to do about Easter eggs??

I love the tradition of egg dyeing and grew up using the PAAS Kits. That smell of vinegar and the fizzy colors were magical and I loved finding the eggs – so bright and bold – hiding in the green grass on Easter morning. I wanted my kids to have these memories too.

But, how those super bright eggs from my childhood got their color is something I can’t ignore. As a kid I didn’t understand enough to care about all that bright color staining my hands. As a mom, I care a lot. Artificial dyes, many of which are banned in parts of the world, are toxic and potentially carcinogenic, especially orange #1 and red #2.

As a family, we dye our eggs with homemade, real food dye that is definitely not as quick ‘n easy as fizzy tablets, or nearly as colorful, but they are earthy and beautiful in their own way ? Here’s the recipe I use to dye eggs naturally. This one is good too.

I feel good about my kids eating eggs that have been colored with a natural stain. When Easter rolls around my kids don’t blink an eye at the onion skins and paprika marinating for orange dye. Or, the coffee brewing with dill seeds for brown dye. Or, the beets for purple eggs. Their favorite is to draw pictures on the eggs with a grey crayon before dipping them in these dyes.

Who knows, maybe they’ll think up some new colors when they one day have kids of their own ….

Want a quicker and easier option? You can make naturally-dyed eggs without spending time boiling fruits and veggies with this kit. The dyes are made from fruits, herbs and veggies; all you need to add is hot water.

Easter Egg 2006