Plastic Easter Eggs for Your Eco-Friendly Easter Egg Hunt?

Next year, I'm going to make eggs (to hide chocolates, etc) from egg cartons and tissue paper. http://belladia.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341cc08553ef01156f3d81bb970c-pi

I'd like to object to the above poster who said it's a pain to keep chickens. It may be a pain if there are ordnance problems - but you can get those changed! Check out backyardchickens.com for more information on changing local laws. Keeping a few chickens is almost NO work, IMO, once you have a little coop built for them. Feed them in the a.m., lock them up in the p.m. and collect eggs sometime during the day. We have about 40 on our farm plus more in the incubator. It probably takes me 20 minutes a day, plus we have a guy who comes once a week to sweep out all the animal stalls and coops and put down fresh straw. Add another 20 minutes a week if you have to do it yourself. We built our own coops, too. Check out backyardchickens.com for design ideas. Really all they need is a good sized wooden box with a perch.

We have a bunch of plastic easter eggs that we bought several years ago, so we could re-use those. Or we could have, if it had occurred to us. But they're in a basket in the pantry.... This year, we blew some of our own chickens' eggs and painted them. If you want chicken eggs (or duck or goose) then get to know local sources. There are a lot of people raising chickens in their backyards these days, or I would think a farmers' market would be a good source of eggs that you know are not mass produced. Ditto on the wool. Please support your local farmers!! :-D

You know...I think that this is one of the reasons that people "give up". The problem is that it's very hard to be truly green and cruelty-free. There's always a "yeah, but..." looming around each corner. I love that you maintain a positive attitude and keep looking for alternatives. It's inspirational! Our family (parents, siblings, nieces) have been using the same plastic eggs for 8 years now. But I'm thinking that when I have little ones, I might make some of those felt ones! So. Cute.

I want to start buying these every year, have the kids paint them, and then we can fill and hide them on Easter! http://www.goldencockerel.com/en-us/easter-eggs/blanks-and-craft-ideas/blank-hollow-wooden-egg-275-inches.html

Just in case anyone checks back--I asked on Freecycle for used plastic eggs, and am about to inherit what sounds like the perfect amount today! Freecycle ROCKS! And I so appreciate the other suggestions people have been making about such things--LOVE the crochet eggs idea! would work like the felted wool, but might wash up easier after use. Guess I will have to learn how to crochet. . . And someone mentioned this above, but I forgot about decorating little egg-shaped cookies to put inside--cute! And pennies (heck, throw in a nickel ever so many eggs) make the kids feel like they really did find treasure, but would cost less in the long run than buying candy. And my cousins make little notes to put in their kids' eggs, for things like a half-hour longer playtime on a favorite computer game, or one "get out of chores free" coupon. The kids loved those, and saved and used them! And all these things are ego-friendly and non-sugar-crap ideas for egg hunts.

Aracona chickens lay naturally colored eggs. The eggs can be light tan, to olive, to robin's egg blue. Free range is a marketing ploy when the eggs are from a large coroporation, but it is also the language farmers use to describe their birds because the broader public understands what it is suposed to mean. Aracona's are a farmsted breed. Factory farms don't use this breed because they are less efficient. If you want to eat well, you have to seek out farmers that share your ideals about food production (milk, meat, or vegis). Whole paycheck is not small farm friendly because small farms don't offer the scale of production that you need to operate a large multistate grocery chain. Community gardens and local farmers markets can be places where people gather, talk, learn, and have fun.

When I was a kid, my family didn't believe in buying those plastic eggs. My grandma made us crocheted easter eggs. She had a huge batch and we reused them every year. She still owns them(she's 97) and puts them out every single year, and has even used them for her great grandchildren. Some of them even had our names crocheted into them. We would go out and hunt them, and then we'd come inside and put them in the large decorated wicker basket that she still displays them in. Then she'd give us the homemade treats she made for us to eat. We never did all the nasty marshmellow peeps, gross Cadbury eggs, or other nastiness they have for Easter now. We got all natural, homegrown treats like strawberry rhubarb pies. My grandpa was a farmer. I feel sorry for kids, today. Such mass produced garbage for the holidays. I try to recreate my grandma's holiday traditions, sadly, I never learned to crochet, though.:(

We celebrate Passover over here and there's not a lot of plastic associated with the holiday. I have to admit my kids love a good Easter egg hunt-plastic eggs and candy! I do know that the family who hosts always recycles from year to year. Hopefully the eggs aren't laden with lead. Guess I'll have to borrow that gun from Jennifer!

One of my friends keep chickens for the eggs ... well, actually her son does. We live in a suburb of Boston. She needed to go to the zoning board to get a varience to keep the chickens in her neighborhood. It seems that any kind of farm animal in my town is not allowed. It's too bad it's such a pain to have a few chickens. It's the best possible way to make sure that the chickens are cared for properly and that they are eating things that you want to end up in your Easter eggs.

These are some good ideas! I am not a religious person so Easter, like other religious holidays, is mostly about a scheduled time to see my family all in one place. Ugh, but the plastic is pretty despicable at these over-marketed times. Last year, I was flirting with veganism (and, for that matter, a new romantic interest who was vegan! Surprisingly, these weren't connected). So while my family did easter egg decorating, I painted small smooth rocks for myself and to give to this person. While I got my share of jokes from my family, they generally just thought it was amusing. As now veganism and I are "going steady" (and the vegan person from last year is now my ex, but still a dear friend), I plan on painting rocks again. Just like altering the holiday itself, it's another venue to spend time with family while also doing art. That said, my family does do the easter-egg hunt for the "Kids" (which at this point, refers to all adult people under 30). My mom has plastic easter eggs from years and years back - hopefully not dangerous - which she puts wrapped candy inside.

I remember having a few metal eggs as a kid. They were painted and always seemed more special than the other eggs. I don't know where they went or where we got them from.

People who hang plastic eggs on their trees and bushes used to just make me laugh because its tacky but now I see it as being sad, another useless plastic thing. On another subject has anyone seen the diaper companies now have disposable one time use swim suits for kids, what a waste and more plastic pollution. Let's hope the high oil prices will at least cut down on manufacturing of plastic. g

I found some hideous camouflage plastic eggs which I labelled "April's Stupid Plastic Crap". Added by Beth: Here's the link to Linda's post. It is really stupid and really crappy. The eggs, not the post. http://tippecanoegreen.blogspot.com/2011/04/aprils-stupid-plastic-crap.html

I am currently reprinting some of the articles I wrote last year about misleading labels on eggs, animal cruelty and natural Easter egg dyes because I think it’s such an important issue right now. I just can’t say enough how much it bugs me to have all those darn plastic eggs in the stores, or to have egg sales spike so much at this time of year – most of them from inhumanely treated chickens. :( I love Easter but wish (as with all holidays) that it didn’t come with all the consumerist crap. I am lucky, I have to admit – I have access to eggs from my mother’s farm. So I know I can eat (and dye) eggs from chickens who are treated like queens. As for the egg hunts, we don’t really do that in our family at this time, but in the future, if we get into it again, I will definitely be looking into your ideas re: felted eggs, wooden eggs, etc. I LOVE it!

Sometimes I feel like eggs are the ONE THING i can feel 100% good about in my life. (I have three pet hens.) The eggs won't dye, though - too dark in color! Oh well, you can't have everything!

I also preferred the plastic eggs with prizes (& sometimes money) inside. You could make the knitted eggs, but instead of stuffing & sewing them closed create a cinch-tie at the top (maybe with a pretty ribbon from a thrift store?) & stuff with eco-friendly goodies. May look a little lumpy, but I doubt kids would care.

My mom got our son plastic Easter eggs a few years ago, so I've been re-using them. We put money inside and we're also trying to get some egg shaped river stones to paint like eggs.

OK... now I finally understand what those plastic eggs are all about. I never heard of putting treats inside of them, I always thought they were just for decoration, which seemed pretty stupid to me. You learn something new every day. My only kids are of the feline variety, and to be honest it never occurred to me that I should hide something for them. But now that you mention it... when I was a kid we always did the traditional Easter egg hunt with real eggs. But one year, we couldn't find them all. After what seemed like hours of hunting, my Mom finally decided to help us out. But lo and behold, the eggs were just plain not there. It was quite the mystery... did they grow legs and walk away or what? A few days later the mystery was solved when we discovered that the dog's poop was nicely decorated with little bits of colored egg shells! I have to echo the sentiments of Mary K above regarding the eggs. I realize that "free range" and "humanely produced" are marketing gimicks, but there are ethical eggs out there. Mine generally come from a fellow down the street who raises chickens in his backyard, and when his supplies are low I get them from a local family farm which really does pasture raise their chickens - with actual space and grass and a decent life. They cost about 4-5 times more than regular eggs, but totally worth it in my opinion.

Our family puts together a treasure hunt with clues that leads to the easter basket at the end. We've also hunted for real dyed eggs some years. I'll be containing candy in paper boxes to go in the basket along with gifts. I'm not sure paper boxes would work with egg hunts though since they are fragile and not egg shaped.

I had a similar crisis a few years ago. I wish I could have found some second hand eggs, but instead I bought a batch of new plastic eggs. However, I plan to use them over and over and over... I also love Easter egg hunts, so last year I hid eggs and invited some neighborhood kids to join my son. At the end of the hunt we counted everyone's eggs (for fun) and then they took their prizes out of the eggs and put the eggs back in a bag for me to use again the next year. No reason they can't be saved and re-used. If I had a lot of extra dough to spend, I think I'd custom order a hundred or so wood eggs, paint them and use those!

Our family never had the plastic eggs or gifts for Easter. We did the tradional easter egg hunt with real eggs along with the easter egg basket with no gifts. The whole family took an evening to cook and dye the eggs, these are some very fond memories. Simple and a fun family activity.

I reuse the plastic eggs every year as well. A couple candies touching it for an hour doesn't bother me.

I bought plastic Easter Eggs 23 years ago. I have reused the same ones for all of these years. Granted there have been a couple of casualties and a few lost but they are holding up well. My new thing is crepe paper carrots with surprises wrapped in the layers of crepe paper. The paper can be reused too, if not too damaged by over anxious children to get into them.

I'm going to hide a few eggs for my granddaughter this year; I still have the ones that were my kids' from years and years ago but bought just a few bigger ones to put small gifts in. I got a tiny metal purse (plastic handle only) and some foil wrapped bath salts balls. the smaller eggs will have loose change in them. Another idea from years gone by is making and decorating egg shaped cookies..

My kids are almost past the egg hunt stage now; if their friends are around, then it's not cool. But if the younger cousins are around, then they're happy to help out! My solution: Mini Chocolate eggs wrapped in foil. You can buy cheap ones or quality ones based on your budget & preference. The foil is better then plastic in the long run, and if you buy them from a bulk bin then you don't have the extra plastic packaging. The main drawback I had one year was making sure they didn't get hidden too close to a heat vent in the house! Another tip I learned was to use the paper shreddings from the office to pad the easter baskets if we wanted too; it was on its way to recycling anyhow. We reused the plastic eggs for several years also, then passed them on to another family (not knowing about lead at the time), but I also agree with Blessed's post above, that in the grand scheme of toxins, plastic eggs used once a year to hold small treats that are often also wrapped (like the foiled chocolate eggs) just isn't a big worry to me, and I have become very anti plastic over the years. Sunny

We'll be participating in a community Easter egg hunt this year. They have "eggcycling" centers. After the hunt is complete, the kids empty candy from the eggs into their baskets and then return the plastic eggs to the center for use next year. As for home, we have metal mesh Easter baskets (shaped like bunnies) that my MIL gave us last year. I use the shredder to shred some green paper for the grass, and put it in the compost pile after the kids are done with their baskets. I've also just washed out the pails the kids use at the beach and use those for their baskets. They could really care less if they're brand new. They just want the candy anyway!

Oh, and Betsy--I appreciate the desire to not fill your plastic eggs with candy (and artificial colors and preservatves, yadda yadda) but stickers? In other words, you filled your plastic eggs with more plastic? I have become staunchly anti-sticker. Not only are they plastic, and usually single-use (fie on you, Trader Joe's handouts to the kids in the groccery line, stickers which might live for 10 seconds in my toddlers' hands before they are in the trash--stop giving them to my child before I can politely decline!) but they have dumbed them down so much that they don't even stick. Seriously--gone are the everlasting stickers of our day, which adorned our bedroom furniture and the undersides of our school desk lids, which were almost impossible to peel off. Nowadays the stickers have been made "wall friendly" and as a result don't even stick to paper. I am not joking. For Christmas two years ago bought the most adorable big books of colorful stickers, appropriate for preschool learning (ABC's and so on). They will not even stick to paper, so have been completely worthless for our home education. Can you think of something other than candy or stickers or other plastic disposable toys you can put in those eggs? (i'm wracking my brain. . . if they were kids you knew, there could be a coupon inside for a home-made cookie or other such prize, redeemable from a basket you had with you. . . erasers? (although are those made of plastic these days?) rubber balls?

I have been wondering what to do as well. I'm pretty staunchly anti-plastic, but never minded the plastic easter eggs because a) they were what my parents used when i was a kid, so they are nostalgic, b) they had been around for who knows how long, so I figured it was being plastic-wise to keep them in use--you know, respect the plastic if you have it and make the most of its miserable life, c) we never bought them, just inherited them when at family Easter events, so it was not like I was supporting the plastic industry with my dollars. But this year, we took our eggs to a friend's hunt, and it just so happened a lot of the other kids have not been taught manners, so there was a lot of inequality in the egg gathering, and my kids ended up coming home with only a fraction of the old plastic egg supply. Now I have a dilemna--not enough plastic eggs to use for a hunt for my own kids this upcoming weekend, do NOT want to go out and buy any. I was thinking of asking on my local Freecycle for some, but I am so glad you mentioned you can get them second-hand, as a last resort. Beth, this may sound like a really funny comment from a pretty environmentally protective mother, but the lead in old eggs is a bummer, but would not harm my children in a few hours of plastic egg handling, and does not bother me at all. (Most families have toxins all around them that they never think twice about--the sealant on their picnic table or decking, the leaching plastic in baby toys and sippie cups, the outgassing carpet--we try to be aware of such dangers and allieviate them, and the lead in plastic eggs just does not seem like a danger at all, in such perspective) I do love some of the ideas for alternative "eggs" and had been trying to brainstorm alternatives--I had not thought of felted wool, but that would be so cute! And those you could wash and save year after year, I assume. (We live on Monterey Bay, in the fog, and it is just too damp to store paper or cardboard things year after year) The effort to make the braided fabric eggs just does not seem worth it, and the end result would not be as sturdy for kids to use as felted wool. But, as Betsy said, moms only have so much time, which I don't have this week. So unless I borrow plastic eggs this year, we won't be hunting. . . Like you said, Beth, that was the best part of the Easter tradition--the treasure hunting. So I will make a goal of coming up with a better long-term solution--for this year, I'll just vow not to buy any new plastic. Might be the best I can do on short notice.

We celebrate Ostara, the spring equinox, so our celebration was last month. We haven't dyed eggs since going vegan, but I'd consider it if the eggs came from rescued chickens who get to live out their natural lives in non-profit sanctuaries or private homes. Sorry, but "humane" and "free-range" are terms with no legal definition or enforceability. They are marketing terms. Because we don't have human children, our main event in recent years has been the Ostara treat hunt for our dogs. We hide a variety of goodies in the backyard for them to find. It's like Christmas for them, and we have so much fun watching them use their instincts to sniff, root, and explore. I've considered trying to dye almonds, as they are imbued with meaning much as eggs are, but I haven't tried it yet.

Well I sure am glad we don't celebrate Easter because it is such a plastic filled holiday! I know the hobby and craft store here carries cardboard eggs to decorate for whatever purposes. I picked up a couple for my daughter a while back for her to play cook with. We left ours plain brown, but they would look cute decorated too I'm sure, for those who want an eco-friendly alternative. Since we stopped celebrating Easter I actually sold all my old plastic eggs and the bright colored baskets because I hated wasting all that plastic like so many others do. Thanks for sharing this!

Come to think of it, my tea strainer (not really a ball) is kind of egg shaped. (Oh! Strawberry puerh tea!) I like the ideas of making treats/cookies together and hiding real or wooden eggs. You get the hunt & a treat!

Yep, I'll admit it. I bought NEW plastic eggs this year. I'm probably the only person commenting on this post with such an egregious confession. (Your readership - or at least your commenting readership - all seems so very far down the plastic-free path, Beth.) I'm participating in a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. I'm filling mine with stickers mostly. I wanted my kids to be able to participate, and this is how it goes. We were at a friend's house for Easter a few years ago, they had a few eggs hidden for the kids, and my boy loved it. I'll have to think more about what I could do differently next year (I'll be storing my eggs, so at least I can reuse them if I don't come up with something better). Not using prizes in easter eggs at all is probably a good idea. IF you need an egg activity, just dye real ones with natural colors. But that's more effort than filling a plastic egg, honestly, and I'm short on energy. Really, I'm just going with the crowd on this one, except that I refuse to fill mine with regular candy. It IS pretty fun to hunt for an egg, find an egg and open it to find a treasure inside. I'm wondering how that experience might be duplicated without plastic.

I never had the plastic egg experience. Easter activities involved a basket with real wheat grass started a couple of weeks earlier, lots of decorated eggs, and a few chocolate eggs. We've raised our own chickens for years too, and they live happy, humane chicken lives. No macerated wee roosters either. We normally order "straight-run" chicks so we get both sexes. Or we hatch our own. We always decorate the eggs using lots of crayons and some dye (sometimes natural), but our eggs are actually naturally decorated because we have many breeds of chickens. Some eggs are blue, others are green, a few are cream or white, many are shades of brown, some are speckled. Because we raise straight-run birds with both hens and roosters, some people might wonder about the obvious fate of roosters so I need to add that a rooster's idea of a humane life differs from ours; they'd prefer to live on an old-fashioned free range farm all their life, scratching and pecking, taking dust baths, mating with the hens, and fighting with the other roosters, then suddenly "go to heaven", quickly, before they get old and drop down in the pecking order of the flock. Chickens can be brutal to the senior citizens of their community. Second best is same scenario but to "go to heaven" at a much younger age, about the time they begin to crow and when they are the tastiest. I'm normally a vegetarian, but I obviously I do eat chicken several times a year. And oddly to those who are not familiar with chickens, although I absolutely detest the killing part, I always feel like I've done the right thing.

We don't celebrate anything at this time of year. But it seems like Erin's children already have the ultimate spring egg hunt experience. Real eggs laid - and hidden - by real hens in thir own yard. What could be better than that?

We got 4 chickens that were about a week old at christmas. They are just about laying age so the kids go out every couple days and check all the places where the chickens hang out to see if there are any eggs. Truthfully there is probably another 2 weeks before they start laying but they might start early... We also will try out boiling eggs with blueberries and probably red onion peel this year...

After I read your blog post....I thought, "What about wooden nesting dolls? Do they make nesting eggs?" It took a little searching, but yes there are wood nesting eggs, unpainted. These would be great for an egg hunt! A little expensive, but something you could pass down...they would last forever. Here the the website where I found them. http://www.goldencockerel.com/en-us/easter-eggs/blanks-and-craft-ideas/unpainted-blank-nesting-egg-5-pc-4-inches.html

Thankfully, my dear children decided to leave the Easter bunny alone this year, and have requested lunch at their favorite Indian buffet instead. Perhaps it's my continual reminder to them that Easter isn't about candy and bunnies?

You mention knowing where your wool comes from.... the same can be said for eggs. If you actually KNOW the farmer and the farm from which you get your eggs, then you can feel a lot more comfortable in knowing how the chickens are treated. I realize not everyone may be able to know their farmers, but I'm lucky in that I do have that option, and feel very good about the source of my eggs. Of course, if you are vegan, then I guess you do still have a dilemma for the real eggs and then these other options would be eggcellent.... sorry, couldn't help myself there :)

I'm sad to say my family is not very eco-friendly when it comes to celebrating Passover. The Romaine lettuce my mom bought to be bitter herbs was in a plastic bag, the large pack of matza boxes was collectively wrapped in plastic, and the garlic I bought last-minute to make my pan-fried asparagus was wrapped in plastic netting. And that's just the beginning of it. I've been pondering how to green our celebrations, so hopefully by the next Jewish holiday I will have better news.

We dye eggs with natural dyes (the food co-op lets me clean the onion skins out of the bottom of the bin), order fair trade foil covered chocolate eggs (and bunnies) from www.divinechocolate.com, and make sugar cookies in the shape of bunnies, chicks and eggs and decorate them. And I buy paper grass---ok, it came in a plastic bag once-upon-a-atime, but I collect it all from the Easter baskets (also saved year to year) and use it again. For a number of years, I have been collecting eggs made of ceramic, wood, stone, etc, and put them out each year for decoration, but it could be fun to hide those and have kids hunt for them.

My husband and I decided not to do Easter bunny related stuff. For us, Christ's resurrection is what we celebrate. Chocolate and a gift for the little boy and reading the story from the bible. All the bunny stuff is too commercialized and meaningless.

I'm having such a hard time with Easter this year. My son is just old enough to understand and appreciate the whole bunny and egg hunt thing, so I'm really excited. But options are so limited. We don't do the plastic egg thing. I never got that in the first place, and I certainly won't start now. Wrapped chocolate eggs are nice and sanitary for hiding, but try finding certified fair trade chocolate eggs in my neighborhood (and on a budget). We only buy organic free range eggs, but we're not ready for dying yet. So I'm pretty stumped. I'm always torn between making meaningful sacrifices and setting a good example, or just going with what I had growing up. It's a hard job! I love the Easter egg pockets idea, and what a great family craft. Thank you for sharing these alternatives!

but loved the post alot...each visit to the grocery store is a painful experience for me

how about rolling out dough into egg shaped things and without adding baking soda and baking them or drying them into hard rounds/eggs and dipping them in beetroot water, turmeric water, spinach water etc

How about papier mache eggs! http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/papiermacheeastereggs/