Have you seen this trick before? Did you know that you can use Kool-Aid packets to dye Easter Eggs?
You might be wondering why we’re dying real eggs when our son has an egg allergy. Well, as I’ve stated before, we’ve never completely eliminated allergens from the house, and with proper precautions I don’t feel like it’s necessary–as long as everyone is comfortable. Of course, there are plenty of egg-free ways to enjoy the egg decorating tradition, like Egg Nots–but we’ve continued to make them because we feel we can safely do so. The egg shell itself isn’t allergenic, and after bathing in boiling water for 20+ minutes, they’ve been pretty thoroughly washed. Zax wears gloves as an added protection, too. He enjoys coloring these for the rest of us. If you have someone with an egg allergy in your house, this is a personal choice you’ll need to make.
Zax can handle egg in it’s baked form now too, and has declared that he wants to dye some raw eggs so we can use those to bake the egg doses for his Egg Study!
So anyway, if you’re dying real eggs for Easter, Kool-Aid works really well! This is because it’s essentially the same thing as the egg decoration kits–food dye. You won’t need to add any vinegar or lemon juice either, as the citric acid in the Kool-Aide provides the acid.
Choose your packet colors based on what color you want your eggs to be:
- Red = Strawberry or Cherry
- Orange = Orange
- Yellow = Lemonade
- Blue = Blue Raspberry or Mixed Berry
- Purple (it comes out closer to gray) = Grape
- Green = Well, I don’t know of a green Kool-Aid. I used a packet of lemonade and a few drops of green food coloring. You could try mixing a yellow packet with a blue packet too.
We used the light-green cup for purple
Mix your colors by emptying the packet into a cup and adding 1/2 cup water. One advantage to this method is that your kitchen will smell nice, instead of like vinegar. Without adding sugar though, your little ones will get a shock if they try drinking the mix!
Once mixed, dye your eggs as usual!
At $0.25 per packet (or cheaper if you can find a store brand), this is a cheaper (and nicer-smelling) way of decorating your Easter Eggs. Why not give it a try this year?
When do you dye your Easter Eggs? Have a Happy Holiday!
What an interesting idea. I would have never thought of it!
Thanks! We’ve done it this way ever since first discovering it. I like it better than the dye kits.
That’s so lovely that you have found a way for your son to be able to join in the fun of colouring eggs despite his allergy. Thank you for sharing this interesting technique with us at Hearth and Soul. Your Easter Eggs look lovely! Hope you will join us at the party again this week!
Thank you so much April! I’m very happy that he feels comfortable doing this, and that we have this fun time together.