For a sweet, kid-friendly twist on decorating Easter eggs, dye marshmallows instead! Not only will these super cute Easter goodies not crack if dropped, using marshmallows means you can save your eggs for Easter brunch! They also make adorable dessert/decor for birthdays, baby showers, or kids’ birthday parties.
Marshmallows aren’t just a fun, easy, last-minute alternative to Easter eggs. They also take dye beautifully, and are easier for little hands to work with (no risk of a kid dropping an egg all over the table!).
You can simply or our natural dyes, draw on them with food markers, or download our bunny ear template, cut out ears and turn them into puffy bunnies. Using markers or paper cutouts, you can make ears or noses to turn them into cats, chicks, or any other animal for your Easter menagerie.
And it goes without saying that you can hide them, hunt them, and drop them in an Easter basket (if you can keep from eating them first). If you’re hunting eggs, just be sure not to hide them behind couch cushions or any place that might get sticky.
Display the dyed marshmallows in a decorated egg carton and they make a perfect holiday centerpiece. Place them in a basket with treats or a reusable glass egg carton and they’re an ideal hostess gift. Or put one at every plate and make them placecards.
Of course, marshmallows aren’t your only Easter egg alternative for eggless Easter crafts! Download our templates for paper Easter eggs or follow our how-to to make Easter bunny balloons. But if you are intrigued by the idea of hunting for marshmallows, they make a supersweet Easter treat, read on for the how-to.
First, gather your supplies.
You’ll need:
- A bag of jumbo marshmallows (they will shrink when they absorb dye)
- Food coloring
- Food markers
- Small tongs (scissor tongs or these mini gold metal ones are nice!)
- Paper, stickers, toothpicks, and anything you’d like to add as decoration (Optional)
- An egg carton (Optional)
- You can also get everything you need in a kit
- Our Happy Easter Banner Template (Optional)
Step One: Next, mix the liquid food dye with water until you get the color you like.
Step Two: You can stir after every drop of dye to see the color level. We find five drops of dye in about ¼ cup of water give a good color.
Step Three: Dip your marshmallows into the dye with tongs. We recommend leaving a marshmallow in the dye for 10 seconds, then taking it out. Check out the color. If it’s too dark, you can add more water to the solution to dilute the dye. If it’s too light, add more dye.
Step Four: After you pull out an egg, let it dry. You can leave it as is, displaying it in an old egg carton or a cute egg carton from our shopping guide. Or, dip half of it in the dye again for a fun, ombré effect.
Stop here, or keep going with your decor. You can:
- Use the edible food markers to draw faces.
- Download, print, and cut out our Bunny Ears Template, tape each ear to a toothpick and stick it into the top of the marshmallow.
- Cut a beak out of paper (or draw one on!) to make a chick
- Add polka dots with stickers
- Draw the face of each guest at your Easter table on a marshmallow and use them as placecards.
The possibilities are endless, and each one is sweeter than the next!
