Wednesday, March 31, 2010

CELEBRATING EASTER

WOW!! Been along time since I've been on here. Since MONEY has become a problem I thought I'd share some old timers ideas that got us through the REAL Depression. When we were happy just to have something to eat. Forget about toys. We didn't need them we used our (as Walt Disney would say) IMAGINATION!!!!!! As I am writing this it is 4 days before Easter April 4, 2010. Almost time to get those hard boiled eggs colored for the little kids basket.
THE PERFECT EGG - Place eggs in single layer in saucepan. Cover with at least 1 inch water over tops of shells. Cover pot with lid and bring to a boil. As soon as it begins to boil, remove from heat and let stand in hot water 18-20 minutes. Drain off hot water and immediately cover with cold water and add a few ice cubes. Let stand in cold water until completely cooled.
THE PERFECT COLOR - Why spend money on packaged egg coloring kits when you probably already have everything you need right in your kitchen? To make a rainbow of egg hues, you can use either liquid or paste food coloring. Paste seems to make extra bright and depending on how much paste, more intense color. BUT if you already have that little cheap box of red, green, yellow & blue bottles that you've used to color other things you make USE IT. Paste wasn't even around in my kids day. Now - you need a separate cup for each color, large enough to hold an egg and the liquid. Use 1 cup HOT water, 6 or 8 drops of food coloring, 1/4th cup vinegar and your egg dye is ready to go. We would put one end of the egg in one color and let it dry & dip the other end in another color for a little variation from all the solid color eggs we did. It can also teach the kids about color. When done using the 4 colors. Let the kids pour 2 or 3 together and find out what color they get by putting red/blue, blue/green, red/yellow, etc. together and dying the rest of the hard boiled eggs in the mixed colors. I think I and my kids had the most fun finding out what colors we would get mixing the colors. We did get some pretty black looking eggs once in awhile.
Oh, if you have been doing the coloring for the Easter Bunny, just tell the kids this year that you all are going to help the Easter bunny out (he's so busy) and let them do it. Just set them out for him on Saturday night and let HIM hide them.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Grandma! Great ideas. When I was a kid, we always died a few solid color egg, then added a teaspoon or so vegetable oil to each cup of dye. This makes a cool marbled effect, like tie-dying eggs. We also put scraps of tape or rubber bands on eggs to keep the dye from those covered areas.

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