Easter eggs for painting

[SSShakeTheChi]

Dd needs a carton of 12 white Easter eggs ready for painting in school.

Is there some quick way of doing this? The teacher told me I have to make a hole in the top and bottom of the egg with a needle and then blow into the top, the egg yolk and white then come out the hole in the bottom. This is taking ages and I'm finding it a pretty disgusting business on the whole. I've found when I try to widen the hole with the needle, the shell tends to break.

[SoupDragon]

Hard boil them and send them in whole? then bin them when they go off

[SSShakeTheChi]

oops I mean she needs a carton of 12 eggs (not Easter eggs, just emptied out ordinary eggs)

[SSShakeTheChi]

I never thought of doing that. Wonder how quickly they'd go off

[exbury]

Blimey - not asking much, are they

Blowing eggs is a real faff - as you have discovered. I always had to make the bottom hole much bigger than a needle hole - just chip away at it carefully but you will still get some casualties.

How old is your DD? Do these eggs have to last forever? If not why can't they paint hard boiled ones?

They are pretty to keep (varnish them to make them stronger once finished) if you can be bothered to blow them - my only other suggestion would be to get free range / farm ones if you can, as the shells are stronger.

[paulaplumpbottom]

I just boil them.

To be honest I can never find white eggs ( This is funny as brown eggs are harder to come by where I come from ) but I have found that brown eggs color just as well. Whats difficult is finding some without some sort of red marking on it.

[exbury]

x-post, soupy!

They would last a couple of weeks with no problem, I would have thought.

[SoupDragon]

Even if they go off they should be Ok provided the shell is whole. They won't smell until broken I think

[SSShakeTheChi]

Then I think I'll do that with the hard-boiling. I'm getting fed up with this blowing. Takes a long time to get the yolk out through the hole, I keep having to stab in there with the needle.

They have to be white eggs dd said. We were told to get them in time because apparently they sell out around Easter. I tried 4 supermarkets before I found these, they're VERY cheap battery eggs, wouldn't use them to cook with.

[exbury]

In that case you'll never get them blown and even if you did they would break on the way to school, or when she tried to paint them.

Boil them. Definitely.

[SoupDragon]

I thought you had to stick the needle all the way through and shake the egg to break the yolk up? Still fowl

[SSShakeTheChi]

That's a good point about breaking when they're being painted. That's my excuse, thanks!

I will ask at the gates today how many mums have handed in 12 blown white eggs.

[SSShakeTheChi]

blown eggs doesn't sound quite right, but you know what I mean!

[pepsi]

Ive just come on to ask about egg painting so thanks for starting this thread. We are going to dh's uncle and aunt for easter sunday, theres a fair old few of us going so thought we would make something for the children to give as a gift. Ive never tried egg blowing, but knowing my children they would have to be hard boiled to avoid the obvious. Would love to hear any more info on how long you could keep the eggs before the went whiffy. I always put a hole in one end before boiling, would this make a difference.

[exbury]

Pepsi - I would probably not put the hole in for these particular eggs. As SoupDragon said earlier, they will go off - but won't smell until/unless someone cracks them.

If you have the extreme patience required to blow the eggs (instructions ) and you are going to paint them yourself, then once varnished they are reasonably tough and would last forever...

You can also get cool egg dyes and transfers which would make it easier for your DC to decorate them - those are definitely aimed at hard boiled eggs.