Not only will the Kool-Aid make your kitchen smell super sweet, you'll get some fantastically vivid results. You can usually pick up five Kool-Aid packets for $1.00, so this is a fun and inexpensive way to change up your annual egg dyeing adventures. Kids will find this soooo exciting.
So let's start with the eggs. Every year, I seem to forget exactly how long to boil them, so here are the directions I use. To make things extra simple for you.
This is really all you need, because Kool-Aid has citric acid in it. No need for vinegar! Add one packet of Kool-Aid to 2/3 cup of water and stir. That's it. I used both lukewarm and cold water and it didn't really make a difference with how our eggs turned out. Keep in mind that Kool-Aid powder is pretty messy, so you should do all of the mixing over your sink to prevent your counter tops from turning different colors the next time you wipe them off. (Not that this happened to me or anything.)
Finally, you'll need to round up a willing helper or two to do the dipping.
You don't have to leave the eggs in the dye cups very long before you'll see them become quite brightly colored. The eggs will smell fruity at first but after they dry, they smell and taste like normal hard-boiled eggs.I will warn you about a couple of colors/flavors that had less than desirable results. Lemonade on its own comes out too light (as does the Pink Lemonade) and Grape will quickly turn dark gray-ish. I remedied this by mixing things up a bit. To get a nice yellow, use one packet of Lemonade mixed with a quarter to half packet of Orange. To get light pink, use one packet of Pink Lemonade and add a little bit of Cherry or Strawberry. To turn the gray/brown Grape egg into an indigo color, add some Berry Blue to the mix.
Here's what your Kool-Eggs will look like.
Hope you have a super cool time making your own rainbow of Kool-Eggs. :)
Oh my goodness. I absolutely adore this idea. I am totally doing this next week. Thanks a bunch!!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great idea for coloring eggs!!! I can't wait to try it.
ReplyDeleteSO fun! Thanks Jen for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWe are all over this one! I even have coupons for Kool-Aid.
ReplyDeleteJen=Awesome.
Love!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! You have a super cute egg dyer too! Aaron J. referred me to your blog. I look forward to reading more of your posts :)
ReplyDeletesuper fun idea! thanks for sharing this. It's definitely on the to do list for sometime in the next week.
ReplyDeleteSuhweet. I plan on having egg dying adventures with both my nephew and the child I nanny next week. I think Kool Aid eggs definitely needs to be in the mix. Also, dying yarn with Kool Aid, tres magnifique!
ReplyDeleteIngenious!
ReplyDeleteyou are brilliant. but i'm sure you know this. ;) we are totally trying this. also... THANK YOU for telling me how to boil eggs. no. i'm serious. you have no idea how much i was stressing out about that. LOL
ReplyDeletexoxo
I'm completely stealing this idea right from under you. :o) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thank you for the directions!
ReplyDeleteHa! I have lots of koolaid packets leftover from earlier years - my kids stopped drinking it, but I never threw them away. Thanks for a great way to use them! Love this!
ReplyDeletewonderful idea! We are definitely trying this next week.
ReplyDeletewhat beautiful colors and so wonderfully fun. The Photography is tremendous and instructions are clear...great job...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tutorial! I'm making some red eggs right now. Hooray!
ReplyDeleteI love this! Totally going to have to try it.
ReplyDeleteGreat colours for the eggs, but I wonder, do people really drink that stuff????
ReplyDeleteYes and it is delicious if you act like a kid for 30 seconds and just enjoy life.
DeleteNope. We act like kids all the time here and only use it for dying! Works great on my hand spun wool too!!! :D
DeleteCan't wait to try this with my alpaca fiber!
ReplyDeletelove this, cheap and great great colors!!!!
ReplyDeletewow!! kwl idea, will be using this instead of messy dye
ReplyDeleteI LOVE THIS IDEA! I have actually used Koolaid in my stamping projects......as a scratch and sniff deal (will be posting a project how to do that next week hopefully on my blog.... really easy and smells great too on your projects/cards! But on eggs I would have never thought it.... love it! Will definitely try this out! Thanks for sharing! Here is a link to my blog - hop by some time and follow me, I am now following you!
ReplyDeletehttp://scrapuliciousbydesign.blogspot.com
Shelley
This is so cool! Love how you photographed the colorful eggs & labeled them with their corresponding flavor. :) Stumbled, shared on FB, and will post at reddit.
ReplyDeletewow this is cool! :)
ReplyDeletejust dropping by when I was mistakenly went to kitchen explorers site which happens to be the same as my websites name and i saw the brilliant ideas for easter egg hunt!
Have a good day!
www.kitchenexplorers.com
HeeHee WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! We just did this! Thank you so much for a fun idea. I don't miss the yucky "stinky feet" smell of the traditional vinegar dye. and actually, these dye so much faster.
ReplyDeleteWhat I did for purple was just combine cherry and berry blue and it was perfect. I don't think I put enough orange in my yellow - but we still had a blast.
Thank you thank you thank you!
JenJenJasp
Odd. I tried this with Cherry and got very poor results. Tried adding a little vinegar to see if that would help. Nope. Tried leaving it in for a long period of time (with and without the vinegar). Both times the egg developed a vivid red skin that would wipe/wash off. Wonder if our hard water is a factor.
ReplyDeletewe just finished kool aid dyeing our eggs and they are so pretty. Bonus- our house smells like fruit loops! Thank you for the wonderful idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing this! We did these eggs and they came out great, and better yet, they smelled great too!
ReplyDeleteThis is my first visit to your blog :) Thanks for your great tips - I'm SO doing this next year!!!
ReplyDeletelove love love
ReplyDeleteWe did less than a dozen due to dh eating all the eggs...but they turned out great! will never use vinegar again...
linked to you via my post today:
http://bit.ly/lzZFyg
This is Awesome! I want to try this next Easter!
ReplyDeletetoo bad easter is over this year...theres always next year...love!
ReplyDeleteLaura
www.whimsicalworldoflaurabird.blogspot.com
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is the coolest thing ever! Who would have thought? Well, I guess you did. I never liked dealing vinegar. I'll never use vinegar and food coloring again. Awesome sauce!
ReplyDelete❀Lisa
Effective Teaching Articles Blog
The best way to start this is letting the kids color on the eggs first (use any color). Let them scribble or draw pics depending on their age. Then put in the Kool Aid, they are WAY COOL!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is sooo kool, gotta share with the grandkids.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this idea! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea and we will definitely be using it at our preschool. No vinegar! Excellent Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteFound you on Pinterest. This is how I'm coloring eggs this year. Great idea! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, I will be doing this with my sunshines (grandchildren) I so hated using the vinegar. So very glad to find this idea. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could mix a red and a blue to get a more desireable purple? Just a suggestion! I think we'll do this for Easter this year :)
ReplyDeleteLove this idea! And so glad you posted solutions to potential fails. my question is: How'd you get your floor so dang beautiful!!11???
ReplyDeleteThese are great! And thanks for the tip about specific colors and combos. Fun!
ReplyDeleteawesome
ReplyDeleteCould you tell me where you got the tongs for dipping the eggs in (the pink ones)? Looks perfect!
ReplyDeletesure, Mandi – the pink tongs came with a Paas dye kit from a few years ago (and might still be around if you look for it?)
ReplyDeletealways worried about the dye getting on a cracked egg and on the egg and not wanting the kids eating the dye but koolaid no problem...thanks for the idea...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I'm so gonna do this with my granddaughter. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI work at a preschool, I think this will be lots of fun, thanks for the info!!
ReplyDeletethis is a great idea, thanks, and i learned a new tip that i will share with everyone, take wire whiskers and place you egg into the inside of them and use to dip your eggs instead of tongs or spoons, they are much easier to handle and they get evenly colored :)
ReplyDeleteI used Kool-Aid to dye some play silks earlier this year and wondered if it would work with Easter Eggs! Can't wait to give it a try with my toddler tomorrow!
ReplyDeletethose are great colors!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHey I just wanted to let you know I featured you on Blissful and Domestic this morning. Stop by and grab a button and check it out.
ReplyDeleteDanielle
Blissful and Domestic
http://blissfulanddomestic.blogspot.com/2012/03/30-spring-crafts-and-treats.html
Are the colors fasted? Living in Washington our Easters are rarely dry. Getting egg dye all over our brilliant white Easter dress is a downer.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea... I am sharing it on my FB page!
ReplyDeleteI am going to try this with my Head Start class. And if it works with yarn, I am going to try it will coloring rice. I have colored rice with alcohol and food coloring but I hate the idea of alcohol and the smell.
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous! Would love you to share at our It's a Cinch link party - link here and be seen on 5 blogs!
ReplyDeletehttp://eclecticallyvintage.com/2012/03/its-a-cinch-link-party/
Kelly
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLOVE this idea! sharing with my facebook friends!
ReplyDeletewww.facebook.com/barnowlprimitives
Happy Spring! xo ~ kristi
I am totally trying this when we dye eggs next week! Thanks for sharing, this is awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else a little unsure about the eggs tasting like the kool aid?
ReplyDeleteI love how these look, but that would absolutely ruin the huge amount of eggs I do every year.
I'd love to know how you dyed your hair with kool-aid, I'm totally serious?
ReplyDeletehi Danielle – my eggs actually did not taste fruity/like kool-aid at all, but I wondered the same thing. good luck!
ReplyDeleteand Poopsie's Pottery – LOL, awesome. in high school, I dumped 3 packs of kool-aid into boiling water (no sugar), poured that into a soda bottle and dipped my hair into it for a few minutes. it lasted *forever.* ;)
Found on Pinterest...had to repin! Thanks for the tutorial and the great photos! Can't wait to do this with my littles!
ReplyDeleteIf you crack the hard-boiled egg shells alittle before dipping in kool-aid, you get Dinosaur eggs when peeled. My boy loves this!
ReplyDeleteWill the yarn dyed with kool-aid be a permant dye?
ReplyDeleteanna said..I love this idea,i'm going to try it with my great-grandson.thanks
ReplyDeleteIf you do get color on our counters or tables that stains, take a little bit of shaving cream and just rub it on the spot a minute or two and then wipe away. The stain goes with the shaving cream.
ReplyDeletejust curious if when you bring the eggs out of the fridge and you get condensation on them, does the sugar in the koolaid make them sticky???
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea! I had the same problem as an earlier commenter that the kool aid was blotchy and left a film that wiped off. I think it's probably because we were doing hollow eggs (for confetti filled cascarones) that hadn't been boiled??? They're not nearly as pretty as your eggs, but we had a great time. I'll have to try them with some boiled eggs soon. :)
ReplyDeleteJessica – love the shaving cream idea. And yes – I've never tried Kool-Aid with hollow eggs. And condensation/cold/wet eggs can cause problems with dyeing (even with normal Paas dye.) I have the best luck with dry, room-temp eggs.
ReplyDeleteJust tested this with one egg before we do it with the kids tonight and it looks awesome! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI add kool-Aid to Sprite so I have quite a few packets. I am having my daughter and neice color eggs Friday. I can't wait to try this. Thank You for the idea.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I just had to say: I love the fact that you lined up your eggs in ROYGBIV order. It's the little things!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! The kids and I are going to be doing this today. When I'm done, I'll post the pics. and link back to here so that people can read your super straightforward instructions!
ReplyDeletehey jen thanks for the reply about condensation but i meant after they have been dyed and eggs go back in the fridge...once you take them out and the eggs start to get condensation on them then, is the koolaid sticky because of the sugar? we tend to have a 'buffet' if you will of all the pretty eggs and sometimes the eggs get condensation...so just wondered if they get sticky...thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnon, there's no sugar in these packets and you don't add sugar, either.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across this on facebook (someone pinned it through pinterest) & HAD to try it this year! The only difference I did with our colors, (for orange & blue) was adding a half packet extra & they came out fabulous! For one egg, since I noticed the purple ones were dark-ish, I dyed it blue first then put it in the purple & it came out better. I don't know if it's the same blue you used, but I used the blue raspberry lemonade one. This was SUCH an awesome idea. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI came across your idea on Pintrest. IT IS AMAZING! My daughter and I dyed our eggs yesterday and they were perfect.The best part was there was no smelly vinegar and very little mess. The colors were great! Thank you very much for sharing!! :)
ReplyDeleteDoing this right now with my three girls. They are loving it . And it does smell so delicious. We had to work on the grape. Color a little bit. Experimenting is great. We have created all kinds of color. Thanks for the great idea.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! Where might I find the cute little bunny egg holder the little girl in the picture is holding? I have never seen those before and think they would really come in handy!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea. Thanks a bunch!
ReplyDeleteTotally trying this as well as posting on our preschooler blog for a great use instead of those messy dyes for little messy fingers!
ReplyDeletewww.BusyBagCentral.blogsot.com
This is the first year we'll follow your method. We've always done the pre-made box method. Thumbs down.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your tutorail with us!
Love this idea, however too late for this year! will try next year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Peace and Blessings,
Nancy
Happy Easter
Just did this with my kids - found your blog thanks to pinterest. We are in love with this method. We did 18 eggs tonight and decided we need to make a ton more tomorrow just so we can play around some more. And the smell is a great bonus!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!!!! Worked like a charm and my 3 year old son had so much fun!!!!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried this taking the shell off and dying the white part to make devil eggs? I saw on pinterest where they dyed the white part different colors then filled with yellow deviled yolk. I wonder if it would taste funny?
ReplyDeleteThis was so wonderful! Thank you for sharing this! We had a great time doing this tonight and it smelled so good. Will be using this method from now on! Oh, by the way, Kiwi Strawberry was a nice pink as well. Our store didn't have all of the flavors you used. Thank you for sharing!!
ReplyDeletethis is amazing!!!! thanks alot!
ReplyDeleteWe just finished dying our eggs. Everything came out great. We couldn't find Berry Blue, so we bought a package of Mixed Berry. It gave us the most gorgeous deep robin's egg blue. We also tried the Ice Blue Raspberry, but it didn't work well at all. Happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteJust did this! and you are right, smells so good!!!! Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteI just did this with my2 boys and just for a lil tip dont let ur eggs stay in but about 5 seconds or the color will peel right off!! But i am pleased with the way the turned out! Pretty colors...
ReplyDeleteI was hoping to have your permission to post about this on my blog. I would have everyone come to your site for the instructions, but was hoping to use your photo that has the packets and eggs in it. you can see my blog here before you decide: http://changingtheworldpebblebypebble.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletesuch a "kool" idea!
My eggs didn' turn out as pretty as yours. The color wanted to rub off. Not sure I did it right but they will be fine. Thanks for your ideas.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! We did this for the first time this year and they turned out so much better then the kits you buy in the store. Plus, they smell YUM! I didn't put enough Berry blue into the grape, so those eggs came out black, but they look really cool! ♥ this and will do this every year now! Thanks!:)
ReplyDeleteIm doing these tonight . Its really cool.
ReplyDeleteDid this tonight. My daughters loved it -- and the nice smell was a plus too. :) We tried to experiment to get a "nice" purple by mixing the red and blue, but sadly our egg just turned brown. LOL oh, well. The other colors turned out fabulous! Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteJust finished dying our eggs with kool aid. I started with brown and green eggs from our own chickens. Some of the colors worked great, but many of them had a film that peeled off. Some of them still had color under that film, but it was just strange. LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks for this! It was a hit: http://www.thenerdnest.com/2012/04/easter.html
ReplyDeleteJust did this with the family. Kids and adults had fun! We experimented with different combinations. Smells so much better than vinegar!
ReplyDeleteVery Cute idea! Found this on Pintrest.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration! I included your post in my Take a Peek @ My Pinterest: Easter Edition post. Hope it brings you some traffic!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amytriedit.com/2012/04/peek-my-pinterest-quick-lil-easter-post.html
I think another idea with the "grape" color is maybe not use the whole packet and add the berry blue in place of it. Since Kool-aid is so cheap, it would be fun to just be creative with several colors!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea...last year I actually died the egg without the shell. Made for a fun Easter table. I wonder if this would work as well without the shell. I love the idea of not having to use vinegar. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWOW can you imagine what it does for your inside???
ReplyDeleteI guess that's a good use for kool-aid, and NOT to drink it, it's nothing but DYE, WATTER and SUGAR
I love this idea with Kool Aid. I just have one question, how many packets do you put in your little cups in your pictures? In other words, did you use more than one packet per color?
ReplyDeleteI hear that you can also use Koolaide to stain furniture as long as you seal it in.
ReplyDeleteVery cool idea
ReplyDeletejust be careful.... heard the kool aid can stain the carpet
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I have been looking for an alternative to Easter egg coloring tablets.
ReplyDeleteI've used Kool-aid for eggs and wool,...but would love to know how to dye hair with it!! :)
ReplyDeleteLove this idea! I had to share it on my facebook business page: https://www.facebook.com/cookingwithjj
ReplyDeleteFantastic Idea!! I'll post this on my blog and will give you credit!!
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
After the colored eggs have dried, rub them with cotton wool dipped in oil, and see the colors get even more alive
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing...I blogged about our experience with Kool-Aid dyed eggs and linked to you. I think the smell was the best part :).
ReplyDeleteJust did this with my almost 4 year old! She LOVED it!!! Just wish I had made a better list before buying the Kool Aid, we didn’t get as many different colors as I wish we would have. But still had fun! Thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteLove it we are trying this tonight can't wait thank you and so glad to have found this blog :).
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea! thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis is great- my daughter is allergic to vinegar and we have been looking for an alternative! She is very excited to do this tomorrow :)
ReplyDeleteI just finished coloring my eggs. I must admit, I was unsure if this would work... and it does, beautifully. I added a little orange to the lemonade, and it is nice bright yellow...also added a drop or two of blue food color to the grape because the first one turned out gray. AND, it smells wonderful.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if anyone posted these suggestions already, but for yellow I used peach-mango kool-aid and got a great golden yellow. Next time I probably wouldn't use the whole pkg so that it was a bit lighter. And for purple, I tried your way but still was kinda grey, so I mixed 1/2 cherry and 1/2 mixed berry(blue) and got a great purple. Last one, I used the mixed berry(blue) because no stores by me had the one you suggested. The only difference was the mixed berry comes out a real vibrant shade of turquoise. Thank you so much for this idea, fabulous!
ReplyDeleteJust did this with the kids tonight and they loved it. They kept asking if they could drink the koolaid when we were done. For yellow we used pineapple flavor koolaod and it came out awesome. We will be doing our eggs this way from now on. Thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteHi! I really loved this idea and used it today.
ReplyDeleteI had a couple issues that I ran into: we ended up with spotted eggs because we set the wet eggs on an old towel and it adsorbed the color and left spots on the bottom of the eggs; too much undissolved powder in the water makes the eggs bumpy; too much undissolved powder on the bottom of the container makes the coloring congeal on the eggs and wipe off when taken out of the dye; the orange didn't turn out very bright by itself; the cherry was very pale, almost orange looking (next year I'll try black cherry); the strawberry turned into more of a pink than the pink lemonade/cherry mix.
A nice surprise, though, was how pretty the Berry Blue, turned to a very beautiful bright turquoise blue, and lemon-lime, turned to a pretty mint green, for me.
Other than that, the colors came out great. Sure, we have some slightly spotted eggs, but oh well...they cool pretty cool!
I just colored my eggs, and they turned out great! Strawberry Kiwi
ReplyDeleteand Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade turned out the best. The Ice Blue one made the eggs the color of robins eggs. Very beautiful and so easy.
Had a wonderful experience with the kool-aid, everything turned out great. Something I did try that worked pretty well: 1 packet blue raspberry lemonade with 1/2 packet grape made a pretty good dark purple
ReplyDeleteI tried this for Easter this year and it was PERFECT. It smelled good and it cleaned up super easy! Thanks for the idea
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous idea! I'll try this for sure next Easter : )
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this post - I'll be trying eggs next Easter but in the meantime I'm after an inexpensive way to dye clothespegs and am going to experiment with your instructions.
ReplyDeleteOk, it desperate need of help before wednesday. Will this dye the inside egg? I need my eggs to be orange for deviled eggs (halloween themed) Will the kool aid work for that as well?
ReplyDeleteHi Samantha - unfortunately, this method won't work for dying the inside of an egg. Sorry!
DeleteYou can use food coloring and vinegar boil your eggs, cut them and soak them.
DeleteYou can use shaving cream too! :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletegonna try this in the spring
ReplyDeleteHey my name is Jen Renee! :)
ReplyDeleteI am doing this right now. I got a pretty bright blue with Blue Raspberry Lemonade and a pretty green with Lemon-Lime. I am so excited about the kids seeing them at the hunt today. Thank you for this post.
ReplyDeleteThis really helped out today. Didnt have no vinegar. My lil big girl was excited to have dark colored eggs. Thank you very much..
ReplyDeleteI did these last year and this year. My kids love it plus it smells great
ReplyDeleteOK! We're into 2015 now, and I have a fabric dye question, please!!! If I dyed some seam binding, would it be colorfast
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful idea. I pinned this on my Easter Group Pinterest Board: https://www.pinterest.com/BestEaster/ Thank you for sharing! This photo tutorial is a great quality post.
ReplyDeleteDidn't read all the notes above, but have you tried decorating with crayons before dipping in the koolaid? Just wondered how that works.... we'll give it a try! :-)
ReplyDeleteSo, I had a hell of a time finding powdered kool aid packs. Apparently they are moving towards the liquid squirt bottles!!! What will we do????
ReplyDeleteNo WAY! I didn't know this. It's the end of an era!
DeleteI am soooooo trying this tonight....
ReplyDeleteKool-aid is now my preferred way to dye Easter Eggs, thanks to Jen Renee! This was our second year using your method. Like J. Patel noted, it has become a lot harder to find the powdered kool-aid packets. I struck gold my local Fry's (Kroger) supermarket. Here are my color notes in case it helps anyone else. Watermelon and Strawberry Kiwi both make a pretty pink. Mango makes a golden yellow. Pina~Pineapple makes a nice lemon yellow. "Great Bluedini" makes a nice teal. Black Cherry makes an oddly attractive dark orangey red, almost burnt sienna color. Cherry, Strawberry, and Tropical Punch all make the same orangeish red. (I remember getting a better red from Cherry last year, so maybe they messed with the formula?) I used blue raspberry in 2014 and got a great blue, but had no luck finding it this year.
ReplyDeleteI'm orthodox and my mom always bought these little red dyes from the local bakery. They would always get super messy and hard to clean. This seems like the modern way to do it and more kid friendly. Thank you!
ReplyDelete