Confetti Eggs

This past Spring Char and Miss Muffett were in town and we had a great day at Fort Worth’s annual Mayfest.  This was an event the girls always enjoyed when they were little so Char was excited for her own daughter to experience it.

One of the traditions of Mayfest are the confetti eggs, or cascarones.  This was Miss Muffett's first experience with them and she thought they were a blast.

I thought it would be fun to make up a bunch of them and ship them out to MM for her birthday party in July.

Here’s how I made them…

Supplies I used:

eggs – really???  What a novel idea..

dye (food coloring, liquid Ritz dye, icing gels, etc)

vinegar

confetti and/or bird seed

funnel

teaspoon

scissors

tissue paper

craft glue (I used Tacky Glue)

paint brush

Prepping the eggs:

I saved egg shells for a couple of months.  I normally buy brown eggs but switched to white since I was going to be dying them.  There is nothing wrong with using brown either because you can decorate them in so many other ways than dying them.  Your imagination can run wild. 

They have to be cracked a certain way so they can hold the confetti.  With the back of a knife blade or the tip of the knife, gently whack the egg across the top at the pointy end of the egg.

With your fingers gently peel away the shell until you have an opening about the size of a nickel but no larger than a quarter.  You don’t want the opening to be too big, but you need it to be big enough to put your confetti through it.

Twist a skewer around the inside to break up the yolk.  The contents will come out easier.  Rinse out the egg and turn upside down on a paper towel and let them dry overnight.

Dyeing the eggs:

I worked with three colors for her party theme.

To a wide-mouthed mason jar I added 2 teaspoons of vinegar and 1 cup boiling water.

Add your coloring.  I used icing coloring gels a little at a time until I had a nice rich color.  I also used liquid Ritz dye for one of the colors.

Submerge your eggs until you have the color you want.  For the first egg in each color, I checked every minute until I had the richness of color I wanted the eggs to be.  After that I set a little timer (I kept mine in 3 to 5 minutes for each egg).

I made this little drying wrack with a piece of styrofoam and straight pins.  I let them dry on this until they were dry enough to handle then I turned them upside down to drain and dry overnight.

Filling the eggs:

I used bird seed since the party was going to be held outdoors.  If you choose to use confetti you can purchase it by the bag at a party store or make your own by using colored paper and a three whole punch. 

Select a funnel that will accommodate the bird seed.  My seed blend had mostly millet and small shelled sunflower seeds and peanuts.

Use a heaping teaspoon of seed for each egg.

Finishing them off:

Now that you have the eggs filled, you will need to cover the opening.  I selected tissue paper that corresponded with the colors I dyed the eggs.

Cut circles out of the tissue paper that will nicely cover the opening in your egg (you may have to make several sizes).  I used a 2-1/2 – inch round cookie cutter and it worked well.

With a small paint brush, apply a small amount of glue around the edges of the tissue paper.  I kept a little cup of water on the side in case I needed to dampen my brush.

Place the tissues over hole in the top of the egg.  Gently mold the tissue around the egg with your cupped hand. 

Let dry completely

Then have some fun!!  What do you do with a confetti egg you ask???

Why, you smash it over someone's head.  Go ahead, they don't hurt!

Thoughts and Notes….

• If you’re able to plan ahead, this is one of those projects that you can do leisurely.  Prep your eggs over a period of time until you have the number of eggs you want; dye them another (or you can do one color a night); fill them and close them up another day.

• If you choose to empty a dozen eggs at a time, pour the contents of the eggs into a mason jar.  You can whisk them together then plan on using them in the next day or two for omelets, cake batters, etc.  They keep nicely in the refrigerator.

• Paper confetti or bird seed?  It’s really a matter of preference and situation.  If your party is outside where it will be hard to clean up the paper confetti, bird seed is the earth friendly way to go.  The birds and squirrels will love you.  On the other hand, there is something about that paper confetti…..