I've seen ideas out there for dyeing Easter Eggs with shaving cream and never really understood the point. I mean, why not just dye them the conventional way by dipping? Then I had a child. And it was oh-so-clear. My bouncing, running, giggling baby boy would be going nowhere near those cups of dye unless I wanted a rainbow colored house. That shaving cream was making sense now. Actually, it was genius! Baby boy could touch it and smell it and get all up in it, and actually cover the eggs and dye them himself. Then, I saw an idea that swapped out the shaving cream for Cool Whip. And I was sold. I mean, Cool Whip tastes way better than shaving cream ;)
I gathered up the supplies Sweet P and I would need (the dye was from a while back and that vinegar actually made the move from Arizona with us - there are no Safeways in the South, ha!).
Next I needed a dozen or so hardboiled eggs. I always follow the Pioneer Woman's technique of placing eggs in water, bringing the pot to a boil, then turning off the heat and letting the eggs sit for 20 minutes. This is followed by a cold water rinse and the eggs always turn out perfectly.
I had cooked the eggs the day before, so they were cold and ready for us to dye. I poured vinegar over the eggs to help the color set, and just let them air on a plate prior to the Cool Whip fun.
Next I plopped a bunch of Cool Whip in a big tupperware and dropped in some blue and purple food coloring. I started to swirl with a spatula and then let little man swirl some more.
He pretty much immediately asked "Mouth?" which is his way of saying "I'd like to eat some of this, please." I gave him the green light and he was way excited. Take that, shaving cream!
I actually didn't want the food coloring to get too mixed in because I thought a tie-dyed swirl effect would be kind of neat, so I handed Parker the first egg and he got to rolling and coating.
He would stop every so often and say "mouth!" and eat a bit more.
I took each egg as he was finished and placed them on a paper plate. I had some wet wash cloths and paper towels handy as well because Cool Whip is always a hot mess.
We made another batch of yellow and orange colored Cool Whip and followed the same technique, then we put the paper plates in the refrigerator and left them overnight. The next day I took out the paper plates and rubbed all the Cool Whip off the eggs with wet paper towels (some I actually just rinsed under water in the sink). I was afraid the water and rubbing would wipe off all the dye, but the eggs still looked great!
Here are all of Parker's finished creations...
I love how only two batches of dyed Cool Whip produced all these different colors, and I really love that my just-turned-two-year-old was able to get in on the fun and dye the eggs himself!
Are you dyeing Easter Eggs this year? Are you going traditional or mixing it up? Do tell!
(they are great for reinforcing all the colors, too).
of course! Little Blue Truck has been one of Parker's very favorites from the beginning. If you have a baby or toddler (or know a baby or toddler) they need this book! It has great illustrations of a country setting, teaches lots of animal sounds, includes rhyming text, and has a good message. We love it (as well as 
and 
which just came out last December).
Melissa and Doug paintbrushes with these 
and they've been working really well! I think liquid watercolors are totally the way to go for a toddler (versus the watercolor cakes). I just rinse off his brush and the container when he's done and that's all the cleanup there is!
