How to Make Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Rather than using pre-made coloring dyes, why not learn how to make your own natural Easter egg dyes?

Natural egg dyes may not be as vivid as artificial dyes but they’re every bit as beautiful. After all, who doesn’t love Easter Crafts and activities this time of year!

Rather than using pre-made coloring dyes, why not learn how to make your own natural Easter egg dyes?

Children love creating and searching for colored Easter eggs. They’re as much a part of celebrating Easter as chocolate bunnies and baskets. 

Fun Easter Activities and Crafts and Easter Sensory Activities gives you more fun ideas for the holiday!

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When you’re done playing, enjoy these Easter Books that are perfect for your kids!

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Or enjoy these Easter Board Books and Delightful Easter Bunny Books with your child. It’s the perfect way to tie in the holiday to your Easter activities!

Are Easter Eggs Religious

Easter eggs have both religious and secular meanings.

Easter eggs have pre-Christian origins linked to spring festivals celebrating renewal and fertility.

In Christianity, they symbolize Jesus’ resurrection and new life, aligning with the themes of Easter.

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The tradition of decorating eggs dates back centuries, with early Christians using them to represent the empty tomb of Jesus.

natural Easter egg dyes with yellow turmeric

Today, they are widely associated with Easter in both religious and cultural celebrations.

When Did Easter Eggs Start

Many historians believe they originated from ancient pagan spring festivals, where eggs symbolized fertility and new life.

Early Christians in Mesopotamia are believed to have dyed eggs red to symbolize the blood of Christ.

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By the Middle Ages, eggs became associated with Easter because they were forbidden during Lent, making them a special treat when the fasting period ended.

natural Easter egg dyes with cabbage

The practice of decorating and exchanging Easter eggs spread throughout Europe and evolved into modern customs, including egg hunts and chocolate eggs.

How to Make Your Own Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Natural egg dyes can be made from a variety of foods, flowers and plants.

The dye is transferred to the egg either while boiling the eggs or, as with normal dyes, after the eggs have been hard-boiled.

When boiling the dye with eggs, be aware you’ll be limited to the number of colors you can do at once by the number of eyes your stove has.

When dyeing the eggs while boiling, you place the coloring ingredients into the pan of water which covers the eggs.

Include a teaspoon of vinegar for deeper colors.

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If you’d rather dye the eggs after they’ve been boiled, cover the eggs with water and a teaspoon of vinegar, and then add the dyeing ingredients.

natural Easter egg dyes with yellow onions

TIP! Allow the eggs to sit in the dye in the refrigerator overnight for the richest colors!

Natural Easter Egg Dyes Recipes

Here are various ingredients you can use to create the colors you want for your naturally dyed eggs:

Lavender

Violet blossoms plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice, Red Zinger tea or a small amount of purple grape juice

Violet blue

Small amount of red onion skins placed in the water while boiling, violet blossoms, hibiscus tea or red wine

Blue

Purple grape juice or canned blueberries added to the water and placed in the refrigerator, red cabbage leaves placed in the water while boiling.

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Green

Spinach leaves boiled with the eggs

Rather than using pre-made coloring dyes, why not learn how to make your own natural Easter egg dyes?

Yellow

Any of these can be boiled with the eggs: orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seed, ground cumin, or ground turmeric.

To get the same color with the cold method, add green or chamomile tea to the water.

Orange

Boiled yellow onion skins; cooked carrots, chili powder, and paprika will result in the desired color in the cold method.

Brown

Black walnut shells boiled with the eggs, or you can add strong coffee, instant coffee, or black tea to water in the refrigerator.

Red

A large amount of red onion skins boiled with the eggs.

Using the cold method, add canned cherries in their juice, pomegranate juice, or raspberries.

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Pink

Use any of the following, added to water and placed in the refrigerator overnight: beets, cranberries or cranberry juice, raspberries, red grape juice, or the juice from pickled beets.

Easter Eggs FB

Remove the eggs from the water, place them in an egg carton, and let them dry.

If you’d like your eggs made with natural Easter egg dye to look shiny, you can rub vegetable oil into the egg shells to give them a terrific gloss.

Perhaps, after learning how to make your own natural egg dyes, you won’t even bother with the prepared dyes you can buy at the store!

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    18 Comments

    1. How fun & just in time for Easter! Stopped by to do some sharing, thanks for linking up with us at #FoodieFriDIY!

    2. You got some very nice coloring on these! Beautiful idea! Thanks for sharing this with us on Throwback Thursday last week!

      Mollie

    3. Wow these are some wonderful ideas, pinning this to my Easter board, thank you for sharing!

    4. I LOVE these ideas for natural egg dying! Definitely going to have to try some. Visiting from Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.

    5. Maybe not as simple as just buying the store bought dye, but this would make for a great science experiment with kids to show them how the colors transfer. Thanks for the list of how to make the different colors.

    6. Such a nice idea to use natural dyes for coloring eggs. Thank you for linking up with us @ #HomeMattersParty. We would love to see you again.

    7. How pretty are those? It would be fun to dye our eggs with natural dyes this year! thanks for sharing at Throwback Thursday!

      1. We’re always up for trying something new…. going natural just seemed like a fun thing to do and good for the kids.

    8. I love the colours. Thanks for sharing with us at #OvertheMoon. Pinning and sharing. Have a great day!

    9. makinghermama says:

      Exactly what I’ve been looking for!!! Thanks for making it easy and compiling it all in one place for me. Pinned!

    10. Love dying eggs with my kids and doing it naturally is way more fun. Yours turned out beautifully! Thanks for the ideas!

    11. Thanks for linking up at the Pretty Pintastic Party! I love the idea of dying eggs naturally, so I will definitely be trying this out! We loved your idea, so it will be featured at the party this weekend. I hope you’ll stop by, grab a featured badge, and link up some more fabulous posts!

    12. Beautiful! Thank you for sharing this with us at Funtastic Friday link party.

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