A review of Easter egg decorating kits

Egg decorating kits are not all created equally.

By WENDY ALMEIDA, Staff Writer

Last year’s egg decorating experience was a disappointment. The colors were blah and the kids lost focus halfway through the instructions.

So which Easter egg kit should you buy this year?

A group of seven kids ranging in age from 2 to 16 years old gathered to test several kits on the market this year. They rated the kits based on the color quality, ease of use and ease of directions (which were read by the adults for the under 8 testers). An overall thumbs-up or down was given by the group for each kit.

The kids also assessed color quality on both white and pigmented eggs (we used local brown and green pigmented eggs). Overall we found the pigmented eggs offered some of the more vibrant colors with the majority of kits. So if you have brown eggs (or green from Araucana chickens) don’t hesitate to color them even though most kits suggests using only white.

THE UNDER 8 YEAR OLD TESTERS

Dudley “Roll It,” JoAnn Fabrics, $4.99, Thumbs Up
How it works: A mini sponge roller is used to apply color to the eggs. There are five colors in the kit and a separate roller for each color.
Ease of use: The rolling tray is an easy set up to pour the color packets. All the kids found the rollers very easy to use.
Kid’s thoughts: Little hands found it easy to make designs with a variety of colors without muddy results. Our 2-year-old tester didn’t want to stop rolling once she started.
Egg color: The colors were not as vibrant on the pigmented eggs but still offered good coverage.


Dudley “Cute Animal Wrappits,” Christmas Tree Shops, $1.29, Thumbs Up
How it works: There are a variety of animal images on small plastic sleeves. It’s a simple process of sliding the sleeve on the egg and dipping it in a pan of boiling water for a couple of seconds. The sleeve melts onto the egg and offers a quick and easy way to decorate without the fuss of colors, although there are also color tablets for coloring once the plastic sleeve is adhered.
Ease of use: Requires close adult supervision with boiling water but the sleeves were easy to put on the egg and dip in the water.
Kid’s thoughts: The kit was tested by our 5-year-old tester and he offered an enthusiastic thumbs up, declaring it was one of his favorite kits.
Egg color: Sleeve designs were easily seen on pigmented and white eggs.

Easter Unlimited’s “No Spill Egg Coloring Kit,” Rite-Aid, $4.99, Thumbs Up
How it works: Kit requires assembly to put the no-spill lids on top of the plastic cups. Adding the water and tablets proved that the kit lived up to it’s name. It was a no-spill experience for our 2-, 8- and 13-year-old testers.
Ease of use: The tops are a tight fit and it took an adult in our group a couple of minutes to get the cups assembled. The kids’ actual use of the cups was very simple.
Kid thoughts: They all thought it was easy to use once an adult put the no-spill lid on for them.
Egg color: The pigmented egg’s color was more vibrant than the white eggs and the kids preferred using pigmented eggs with this kit (the green pigmented eggs came out the best).



Dudley’s “Fun Foam,” Christmas Tree Shops, $1.29, Thumbs Down
How it works: Tablets are provided to color eggs. Once dry, foam face elements can be added to make animals. Other foam and paper stickers are also included.
Ease of use: The foam stickers were hard to peel for the 5-year-old tester (even his mom had trouble). The foam didn’t stick perfectly to the egg due to the round shape but it did stay on once it was firmly pressed.
Kid thoughts: Without parental assistance the 5-year-old would not have been able to peel the stickers or get them to stick on the egg where he wanted them. He really liked the end result of his egg animals.
Egg color: The color was OK on both white and pigmented eggs.

Dudley’s “Spin An Egg,” Rite-Aid, $5.99, Thumbs Down
How it works: An egg is placed in a plastic container with a few drops of color. The top is closed and the button on top of the container is depressed to spin the egg around.
Ease of Use: Our 8-year-old tester said her arms got tired pushing the button until the egg was coated in color. It takes a solid minute or two of pressing the spinner to fully cover the egg with color. There was also some work involved in cleaning the container between colors that the kids didn’t like.
Kid thoughts: The kids were concerned the boiled eggshell would crack because the spinning was clunky (and quite loud).
Egg color: The color was just OK, if spun long enough in the container. The brown eggs required more spinning time but covered about the same.

PAAS’ “Color Cups,” Hannaford, $1.99, Thumbs Down
How it works: Color tablets are added to cups (provided) and filled with water.
Ease of use: This kit is a basic egg coloring kit that was easy to use. The plastic cups provided in this kit make it worth the purchase to use with other color tablets.
Kid thoughts: The kids were disappointed with the muted colors. Vinegar was not added to the cups and our group believed it was definitely necessary to get a more vibrant color.
Egg color: The color was poor on both the white and pigmented eggs.

THE TWEEN/TEEN TESTERS

Easter Unlimited’s “24k Eggs Coloring Kit,” Hannaford, $3.99, Thumbs Up
How it works: There is a base gold glaze packet with tints to mix other metallic colors and the glazes are mixed and applied with small paintbrushes.
Ease of use: Applying color with paintbrushes was easy but there was some streaking of colors if the kids didn’t paint evenly across the whole egg.
Kid thoughts: The older teens (14 and 16 year olds) tested this kit and thought there were a lot of directions for a simple technique – brush the color on with a paint brush. But the overall result was great and one of their favorite coloring kits.
Egg color: The teens thought the color blended/adhered better on the brown eggs. They didn’t care for the streaking on the white eggs.

Easter Unlimited’s “Bright & Shiny,” Marden’s, $1.49, Thumbs Up
How it works: Color tablets are provided to color eggs. Once the color dries, a special glue is applied and then a “bright & shiny” thin piece of foil is wrapped around the egg. The foil is rubbed around the egg and then removed to reveal a speckled foil design on the egg.
Ease of use: The directions were easy to follow for the teen testers.
Kid thoughts: Our 16-year-old tester thought the foil was “really interesting, different and very nice!” All the older testers said this was a favorite kit.
Egg color: The color and foil worked well on brown and white eggs.


Easter Unlimited’s “5 in 1 Egg Decoration Kit,” Rite-Aid, $5.99, Thumbs Up
How it works: Clear wax crayons are used to make designs on the eggs before being dipped in color. Stickers are also included.
Ease of use: Crayon coloring was tricky for those younger than 5 but the older kids found drawing on the round shape easy to do when they kept their designs simple.
Kid thoughts: The teens felt the color tablets were not vibrant so they opted to use another set of tablets to color their wax-designed eggs. All the kids liked the idea of drawing on their eggs. Our 2-year-old tester was enamored with the little stickers and lost interest in coloring the eggs. She was all about the stickers.
Egg color: The color was poor on both white and pigmented eggs.

PAAS’ “Classic Easter Egg Decorating Kit,” Rite-Aid, $1.99, Thumbs Up
How it works: Color tablets are added to cups filled with water and vinegar.
Ease of use: This kit is a basic egg coloring kit that was easy to use.
Kid thoughts: The 11-year-old tester thought the colors were vibrant and very nice. The kit was very basic so some of the testers used stickers from other kits and/or dipped half the egg in one color and half in another for a striped look.
Egg color: The color was vibrant on both the white and pigmented eggs.

Easter Unlimited’s “Tie Dye Eggs,” Rite-Aid, $5.99, Thumbs Down
How it works: A few drops are added to an egg and rubbed around in a small plastic bag. A new bag is needed for each new color added to the egg.
Ease of use: The teens as well as the younger kids did not think this kit was easy to use to get the desired result.
Kid thoughts: The colors did not cover very well and then got muddy after adding the egg to a bag with a new color. In general the kids found it hard to make their eggs look like the ones on the cover of the kit.
Egg color: The multi-color effect was poor on both white and pigmented eggs.

When the group was asked to choose a top choice for kits, the younger kids all agreed “Roll it” was the easiest and most fun to use. The teens thought the metallic coloring of the “24k” and “Bright & Shiny” kits appealed to their sense of unique and stylish decorating techniques. Overall the kids liked having a variety of kits to work with and by the end of our testing there was a lot of mixing and matching kit supplies for new effects.

Originally published in Raising Maine Magazine, April 2011