How To Dye Easter Eggs – With Kool Aid!
Even though I don’t have little ones at home anymore, dying Easter eggs is something I’ve still had fun doing the last few years just for the joy I get from playing with color. You’re never too old to get a little thrill from watching your white eggs transform into pretty new shades of blue or green or yellow or who knows what!
Yes, the color suspense is definitely part of the fun for me which is why I very much enjoyed my experiment this year – seeing what color eggs I would get by using Kool Aid.
And for not much effort (just dissolving a packet of Kool Aid in a cup of water) I was rewarded with some very nice colors indeed 🙂
It’s a pretty cheap project too. Kool Aid doesn’t cost much at all per packet so it’s fun to buy a bunch of different flavors so you can see what different colors you can make.
I was pleasantly surprised at just how well the Kool Aid dye got the job done. The finished eggs had good color intensity and even coverage and looked quite festive when they were all gathered together.
So if you’re looking for a little different twist on coloring your Easter eggs, grab yourself a few packets of Kool Aid and have fun giving it a try!
How to color Easter Eggs with Kool Aid
To begin coloring your eggs with Kool Aid, you will need the following:
- Packets of Kool Aid
- 1 cup of water per packet
- Hard Boiled Eggs
- Small cups, glasses, or bowls for soaking the eggs
Note: To hard boil eggs for coloring, put the eggs in a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then remove from the heat and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 to 15 minutes.
I would also suggest laying down an old towel or some newspapers to protect your work surface. *Just to be safe*
Next, fill a small bowl, or cup, or jar with one cup of water. (I used my stemless wine glasses). Whatever container you use, you want to be sure you can completely cover your egg with water while it’s soaking. For each color you are doing, you will have one cup of water in the container per one packet of Kool Aid.
Empty a packet of Kool Aid into the cup of water and stir to dissolve.
Place the egg in the Kool Aid water and let it soak for about 3 to 5 minutes. I jostled my eggs around with a spoon every so often while they soaked so they didn’t set on any one side for too long.
After about 3 to 5 minutes you should see that your eggs have turned pretty colors and they can now be removed from the water.
Note: I set my eggs back in the egg carton to dry BUT, I had dripped some Kool Aid water in the egg carton sections when I did that which caused a little puddling, and some uneven drying on the bottom of my eggs. If you set them back in the egg carton to dry, don’t leave them that way too long. And maybe they could just be set right on a towel or something to dry.
So what colors can you get from which flavors of Kool Aid? Here are the six flavors I used and the color results:
Cherry = red
Peach Mango = yellow
Blue Raspberry Lemonade = robin’s egg blue
Orange = golden/orange
Lemon Lime = minty green
Grape = grayish purple
Of course these are just six of the many flavors of Kool Aid to choose from on the store shelf, and I would imagine some lovely results could be possible with those other flavors too. I would advise however, based on some other internet stories of this project, to not get your hopes up on the lemonade flavor as it’s apparently too pale to do anything. At best, you can trying mixing it with another flavor for a color experiment.
More DIY Easter Egg Coloring Ideas:
How to Dye Easter Eggs with Kool Aid
Equipment:
- Small, bowls, cups, or glasses that are the right size to cover an egg when filled with one cup of water
Materials:
- Packets of Kool Aid
- 1 cup Water per packet of Kool Aid
- Hard Boiled Eggs
Instructions:
- Fill one of your small cups with one cup of room temperature water.
- Empty a packet of Kool Aid into the one cup of water and stir to dissolve.
- (Repeat the two steps above for each color of Kool Aid you wish to use.)
- Place a hard boiled egg in the Kool Aid water and let it soak for about 3 to 5 minutes. It can help to move the egg around a bit with a spoon every so often while it's soaking to help get even coloring.
- After the 3 to 5 minutes of soaking time, you should see that your eggs have absorbed the Kool Aid dye and are now pretty colors. Remove the eggs from the soaking water and set them out to finish drying.
Notes:
Kool aid and coconut oil or petroleum jelly or beeswax makes a tinted lip balm. I’ve even heard Kool aid used to colour hair (although that is nearly permanent). If you make up an egg colour you really like you can just add the mix to the lip balm of your choice.
Try balancing your egg in an ice cube tray. That will hold the egg up out the puddle
once the eggs are dyed, they can also be placed on a baking rack used to put cookies on after they come out of the oven,, with paper towels places under it, so any drips fall on the towel, and eggs a free of smudges.. works for us..
That’s a good idea Donna! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Do you use cold or hot water?
The water was probably just room temperature. I just turned on the faucet and filled my cups, so it was really neither too hot or too cold.
Why didn’t I think of this? This seems so much easier than the nasty smell of vinegar. Thank you for this idea!
I have always put put my eggs to dry on a metal cake rack…works well
I bet this would work with blown eggs too. Thinking pale blue and green then adding speckles with a dry toothbrush and brown acrylic paint!
I would cut the bottom out of the egg carton to let them drain
Good idea 🙂 Although I would be sure they are then still sitting on an old towel or something.
Maybe I could use Kool Aid to color my homemade soap?????
Perhaps . . . I’ve seen it used to dye yarn and fabric, and some teenagers dye their hair with it too!
what color works best ?
Out of the six flavors I tried they all worked good, but I would say my favorite color was the Lemon-Lime flavor that resulted in a pretty mint green color. My second favorite was the Blue Raspberry Lemonade flavor that gave a kind of turquoise blue color. I guess the main flavor to avoid is the regular Lemonade because it’s too pale to give any color to the eggs.
Might be a dumb question but I always get this part wrong. Do you dye them as soon as you’ve finished boiling them or do you let them cool for awhile?
I let them cool for awhile first.
As an added bonus, pour the leftover KoolAid/water into your dishwasher and run an empty cycle. Use the citrus flavors and the inside of your dishwasher will sparkle. I learned this from a dishwasher repairman who laughed when he saw my very expensive dishwasher cleaner!
Last year I died the actual egg not the shell. If I used Kool aid I am assuming the egg would taste like the Kool aid flavors
Yes, I think if the shell was not on the hardboiled egg and you dyed them, then they would probably take on the flavors of the Kool Aid.
Hi Bev: Certainly love to read you Blog and a log of good reading/ideas. However, may I offer a little tip about drying the Easter Eggs after dying them. I put an old towel or several paper towels that won’t soak thu and use a cooling rack the kind you use when cooling baked item or any hot dish. Works wonders for me it did anyway and the Kool-Aid is a good way to dye eggs have been doing this for some time. Keep up the good work as enjoy reading your articles. Faithful Reader: Tressa
Oh I never thought to use a cooling rack! Will definitely be remembering that idea. Glad to hear you are enjoying the blog too. 🙂
Thank you so much I can’t wait to do this with my grandkids
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