Green Your Easter Celebration

Easter is just around the corner and I am already looking for the best eco-friendly ways to decorate, dye eggs and enjoy the holiday. Being an important holiday for lots of people around the world, Easter has been celebrated with egg hunts, Easter bunnies, candies and dyed eggs for as long as we remember.

The great thing about Easter is that we can add some greenness to the sprouting spring grass, and celebrate in an earth-friendly way. Let us reduce our carbon footprint this year and ignore the plastic and disposable goods that are luring us from the store shelves.

Here are some suggestions on greening your Easter celebration:

Make a basket

Instead of buying one, you can weave one yourself out of magazine paper, you can sew one out of scrap fabric, the alternatives are endless. You can even start a tradition of reusing the Easter baskets every year. Here you can find 15 green ideas for Easter baskets.

Forget about the plastic grass

There are many ways to replace it – actually you can put a serviette or a doily, or use shredded recycled paper that can be used yet again later for packing material or compost. You can also use popcorn to line your baskets. Pop it, let it cool completely, add a couple of drops of green food coloring and seal it in a zip lock bag. Shake well until it is well coated, let it dry completely on a cookie sheet before lining the baskets to avoid staining.

Green the egg hunt

The tradition of collecting Easter eggs can be made greener by using naturally dyed eggs or felted wool eggs instead of plastic ones. If you want to use chocolate eggs, opt for organic chocolate. Try and swap out at least one Easter treat with an organic treat. Better yet, make some homemade Easter-themed treats for the baskets.

Dye your eggs with natural dyes

Nature will cooperate beautifully for coloring your eggs the eco-friendly way. You will be surprised to learn that you can use red cabbage, onion skins, carrot tops, dill seeds or even wine to dye your eggs beautifully. Check here and here for detailed recipes.

It is always exciting to celebrate Easter but think about the amount of waste Easter produces each year, with the plastic basket grass, plastic candy bags and disposable goods from Easter parties. This year, celebrate in an eco-friendly manner and you will feel even better, knowing that you are helping our planet.  The best thing about an eco-friendly Easter is that whole family can enjoy the greenness of the festival together and the environment will benefit too!

Are you planning Easter already?