With Easter on the horizon, it’s time to prepare yourself not just for mounds of chocolate, hot cross buns and family get-togethers, but for fun, crafty ways to decorate your place ahead of the celebration.
Easter allows for so many festive and colourful ways to decorate a space, which are perfect for kids and grown-ups of all ages.
From creating the best-ever egg hunt to making your own traditional hand-painted eggs, there’s no end to the crafty fun you can have around this time of year.
Craft-obsessed Adam Powell can’t get enough of Easter DIY. Picture: Tamara Graham
Here to help you get cracking on your egg-cellent decor is Sydney stylist and DIY expert, Adam Powell, starting with these mini piñatas filled with – you guessed it – eggs.
Mini Easter egg piñata
Who doesn’t love a good Easter egg hunt? Some of the best memories from our childhood can be found in those sugar-fuelled pursuits of colourful, foil-covered chocolate hiding in all the nooks and crannies of the garden.
But what could be more exciting as a finale than letting the kids (or kid-like grown-ups) explode their own egg piñatas, full of Easter egg goodness for all to enjoy?
These adorable mini Easter egg piñatas are perfect for kids and adults alike. Picture: Tamara Graham
What you’ll need
- Small balloons
- 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of water to make papier-mâché glue
- Old newspaper
- Crepe paper
- Glue
- Scissors
- Chocolates
- Confetti
- Ribbon
How to make a mini Easter egg piñata
Adam Powell creates a mini egg for a piñata using papier-mâché and a water ballon. Picture: Tamara Graham
- Mix up your papier-mâché glue – I find 1 cup of water to 1 cup of flour is plenty and works best.
- Rip up small strips of old newspaper.
- Blow up a few small balloons. Of course, you could do one large one, in which case blow up a standard sized balloon.
- Start to layer the papier mache around the balloons. The smaller and wetter the pieces, the better.
- Hang your papier-mâché balloons out to dry.
- Cut strips of crepe paper and feather the ends with scissors.
- Repeat step four for the second layer of papier-mâché.
- Once your balloons are fully dry, cut a small hole in the top to pop the balloon and take it out.
- Using glue, apply the fringed crepe paper in any colour in a spiral motion until the egg shape is completely covered.
- Pop the chocolates and confetti into the small hole at the top and cover the hole with fringing.
- With the scissors, pierce a tiny hole into the top to feed the ribbon through to hang.
You’re done! Have fun hanging them around the garden for a fun twist on the Sunday morning Easter egg hunt.
Adam Powell loves creating colourful, crafty spins on all the traditional family celebrations. Picture: Tamara Graham
Traditional painted eggs
Dyed hand-blown eggs are a traditional and colourful way to enjoy the Easter holiday. Picture: Getty
What you’ll need:
- Large eggs
- A sewing needle (the larger the better)
- Dishwashing liquid
- Kitchen paper
- A bowl
- An egg carton (to store the blown eggs in)
- Food colouring
How to create painted eggs
- Wash the eggs well in soapy water to get any dirt or germs off the shells.
- Poke the needle through the top and bottom of one of the eggs, making the bottom hole large enough for liquid to come out. Make sure to pierce and scramble the yolks inside – it’s nearly impossible to get the yolks out unless they’re broken.
- Put your mouth to the top of the shell and blow through the top hole, forcing the inside of the egg to come out the bottom and into the awaiting bowl.
- Keep your mouth clear of any raw egg, making sure the surface is wiped clean with the kitchen paper.
- Let your eggs dry back in the carton before painting or dying them with your choice of colours. Adam suggests trying this fun way of dying eggs using shaving foam: “It’s a fun, easy way to get a marble effect without too much effort,” he says.
Bird’s egg nest
Try creating a sweet little nest to hold your creations in. Picture: Getty
Looking for a way to display your egg-cellent treasures? These gorgeous little nests made out of vines are a great way to hide eggs during the hunt; alternatively, you can display them along a dining table.
“Its not hard to mould the shape of a nest out of vines by weaving the vines in and around themselves,” says Adam.
Ask your local florist for some dodda vine, or check in your local craft-supply store for natural raffia and don’t be afraid to get cracking!
Originally published as Quirky crafts perfect for Easter celebrations by Erinna Giblin. Author at realestate.com.au.
