Coloring Ostara or Easter eggs is still possible when you are vegan if you buy craft eggs! I found these at my local Meijer and Walmart stores:
The ones from Meijer were $3.99 and did not come with any coloring. The ones from Walmart were only $1.98 and came with four coloring packets. I wasn’t sure they would work, so I got this kit at the dollar store:
I followed the directions on the package to mix the colors:
My mom and I held the eggs in the color for about eight minutes, but they never took up the colors:
We gave up on that method and tried the color packets that came with the Wal-Mart eggs:
We added a bit of color to a Ziploc baggie, then added an egg and rubbed the color onto the egg. (Don’t bother with the bags they come with as they split down the side right away.)
This worked pretty well!
We colored three blue, green, pink, and yellow eggs. Then we mixed colors to get orange, aqua, lavender, and purple as well.
We let the eggs dry on a rack, and then put them back in the cartons:
We are really pleased with how they turned out! (I don’t know how other coloring kits would work, so if you try any, please comment below with which one you used and how well it worked.)
Thank you for sharing your experience with coloring craft eggs. I have not done it yet. I think you just saved me. I was told I could use any coloring for any craft egg. I may give these a try. I am going to have plastic eggs to fill with stuff and paper egg crafts. I had wanted to also offer a vegan alternative to dyeing eggs, for the kids. It is such a quintessential element of most Easter celebrations. We’ll see how it goes.
Let me know how your craft eggs turn out. I still like coloring eggs as a grown up!
Ha ha, yes I think coloring eggs as an adult is simply art, or a craft project. No age limit.
I’m still planning out my holiday.
I have run into an ethical dilemma, though. A new friend of mine, who I invited to come over, is an ovo-vegetarian. They eat eggs. This person keeps rescue hens in the backyard of their country home and those hens are laying eggs. They feel this is as close to ethical as possible. The hens are laying eggs regardless of whether the eggs are taken to eat or left behind to rot. The eggs are not fertilized, so no chicks. I bring this up because she offered to give (through me) real eggs to my family to dye for Easter. My family is not vegan. I told her I was vegan. She assured me she only eats the eggs from her hens, never from the supermarket. She encouraged me to take her chicken eggs, so my family would not be contributing to the factory farming of eggs this Easter season. This is a food blog, I know, but I thought I would ask for advice from someone who has been vegan longer than me.
I have no interest in becoming an egg eating vegetarian, myself.
This is a tough question in regards to your non-vegan family, Gus. If you can get them to use craft eggs instead, that would be best. If they would otherwise use eggs from a factory farm, the eggs you have been offered are better. Here are some video links to help explain why there are still issues with eating eggs, even from chickens who are loved and treated well: https://youtu.be/aTww0XfEbbY
https://youtu.be/yR9BwiukoII
WOW.
Thank you so very much for sharing the links to all 3 of these videos.
An education. Excellent information.
Thank you.
I feel like begging my acquaintance to reconsider taking the eggs from the chickens she keeps.
I really feel it is best that I use only vegan crafts at my Easter celebration.
My original intention was to showcase an alternative way to celebrate.
It is likely that my family will dye real eggs when they are on their own time.
These backyard eggs are a better alternative, among the real egg options.
I would not want to cause confusion by giving the impression that there is such a thing as ethical eggs, though.
I believe there are several members of my family that are only a step or two away from choosing veganism.
I have some thinking to do.
Thank you for taking the time to share this information.
Appreciated.
You’re welcome, Gus! Maybe you could show the videos to your family that is close to veganism? That might help to push them in the right direction and would help them to understand your choice to decorate craft eggs. Whatever you decide to do, I am impressed with your thoughtful consideration of the options.
https://youtu.be/GxO2-WREo50
Thank you for sharing this post with us. This is what I want to do this year. Those eggs look like they turned out nicely. They look so pretty sitting in the basket! If anyone has tried the eggnots brand, I would appreciate knowing what your experience with them was like. I would love to be able to find a vegan egg I could color with natural dye, like the kind you would make in your own kitchen using onion peels, etc.
This year I will also be making hollow paper eggs, out of pretty pastel colored tissue paper. The Not Martha site has the instructions for them. I did them last year and they were a hit with my guests. Especially the girls and little kids.
I also found some nice wooden eggs at a second-hand shop. I am going to paint a few (I think) and leave the rest for my guests to decorate however they please.
Yes, even if there are no kiddos or teenagers, I (and my adult guests) will still decorate (vegan) eggs!
That’s what’s up.
I haven’t tried the eggnots brand, but would love to hear how they turn out if you try them! I am going to check out the tissue paper eggs. I have a box full of tissue paper and they sound really pretty. I love decorating vegan eggs, so I totally agree that grownups should get to do so!
I contacted the Eggnots company. They claim homemade dye will work with their ceramic eggs. If anyone has tried this, I am curious to know if it is true.
Howdy! Great blog & love how your eggs turned out!! I know I’m a little late for Easter, haha, but do you happen to still have the packaging for the Walmart eggs? If so, could you post the SKU? I’ve tried searching for them & am not having any luck. Thanks!!
Thank you! I’m sorry, but I didn’t save the packaging once we opened the eggs. Walmart has them on their shelves every year for Easter but I’ve never seen them any other time of the year.