Just in time for Easter I received a copy of Naturally Fun Parties for Kids by Anni Daulter with Heather Fontenot to review.  It gives plans for seasonal parties for kids using all natural and recycled stuff including instructions for how to make everything from the invitations to the food and games.

It wasn’t really time to throw a party (I’m still recovering from the gaggle of 10 year old boys I hosted immediately followed by a well attended baby shower) but we decided that since it was Easter time we’d give using natural materials to dye eggs a shot just for us.  Directions are given in the book for making all sorts of colors.  We picked red cabbage (blue), turmeric (yellow), and paprika (orangish) because we had them all on hand.

Making the dye baths was a pretty odoriferous endeavor.  Our house smelled like spicy pickled cabbage well into Easter morning because to really get the color out of the cabbage it had to boil in water and a little vinegar for several hours.  I boiled the spices in other pots at the same time, with a little vinegar as well.  Spicy, cabbagey steam wafted throughout the house.

Then the kids colored some eggs with crayons and we stuck them in our jars of dye.  It was kind of magical how it all worked.  The cabbage dye looked purple, but was supposed to turn the eggs blue.  The turmeric was clearly yellow.  Since yellow and blue make my favorite color green we made a jar of cabbage and turmeric mixed.

It looked this orangey color, so we called it “not green” and were completely skeptical that we would get any green eggs.  We let the eggs sit in the dye for a long time.  Some for an hour, others a little longer or shorter.

They turned out really beautifully–so earthy and rich in a way that store bought dye just can’t duplicate– worth the stink I think.  The paprika dyed eggs were a little disappointing.  We could have just bought some brown eggs and they would have been prettier, but the yellow and blue we so, so lovely.  And the “not green” really turned our eggs green!

They made our lovely day-before-Easter morning egg hunt all the more lovely.  (We do the egg hunting the Saturday before Easter to make getting to church easier, and to focus on the Savior on Easter day.)

Back to the book– it is full of lovely photography and inspirational ideas.  I don’t think I would ever do a whole party from beginning to end just as it is laid out, but I’m sure I’ll refer back to it for ideas now and then.  Logan is really intrigued by the Knight party.