Allergy Friendly "Egg" Decorating

Inevitably when people think of Easter, they think of decorating eggs.  When we first discovered our angels egg allergy, this left me at a loss.  What else can we do?  How will she decorate eggs?

Until this year, we have avoided decorating eggs. However, this year seemed to be the year for questioning.  "Why are the eggs colored?  How do they color them?" After a few trips down the Easter aisle, I realized that I would have to find an alternative.  With a sever allergy to eggs, we would have to find a safe way to enjoy this Easter tradition. 

So, off to Michael's we went, armed with coupons, time, and an open mind.  It was kind of like a scavenger hunt - who can find the best feaux eggs for decorating?  We began scouring the aisle of "eggs".  Our hunt ended when we found a bag of 6 paper mache eggs.  Oh, the things we could do with these!  Armed with our "eggs" and goodies from our craft closet, we were ready to decorate.


Supplies: 6 paper mache eggs, stickers (paper not plastic), pastel paint, glue, paint brushes, pastel colored tissue paper, rhinestone stickers, colors, sequins, glitter, scissors, patience, imagination


Ideas for decorating:

Tissue Paper Mache  For these eggs, we cut up pieces of pastel colored tissue paper.  Then, we mixed glue and water in a 1:1 ratio and painted it on the eggs.  One piece at a time, we began covering the egg with the tissue paper, painting over the pieces with glue when necessary to help them stick.  We did this in several layers, allowing each layer to dry in between, until the egg was covered. (ages 3-12 years old) 

Coloring  Using crayons (markers didn't do very well) color the eggs.  These will probably not be your prettiest eggs but they were perfect for the littlest angels to do by themselves.  (ages 18 mos - 5 years old)

Painting We painted the eggs using acrylic paints.  We added glitter to some to make it shiney but the glitter could also be used to sprinkle over after painting.  The youngest ones will need help holding their eggs for this but the painting is fairly simple.  (ages 2 1/2 - 10 years old)

Stickers  Before painting or after painting, cover the eggs with stickers.  We found that small, paper stickers worked best.  The plastic stickers didn't want to stick on the paper mache and the large stickers puckered.  (ages 1 - 6 years old)

Rhineston-ing (can we say that?) This was a simple thing to do but it required incredible patience.  We covered the egg with rhinestone stickers.  Although we didn't paint our egg first, that would probably make it a little more attractive.  For the little ones they can place the stickers on the egg without trying to cover it entirely.  But, for your older children, they may cover the eggs using stickers of varying sizes placed closely together.  These eggs were especially pretty.  (ages 7 - 18 years old)

I would really love to hear how you are safely decorating "eggs" this year.  I hope that you will share how you are including your angel in this holiday tradition.