Easter is just under a week away and that usually means the arrival of Easter eggs to decorate and hide.
And though egg prices have been on a steady decline since hitting an all-time high of $8.16 per dozen in March, the shortage and price of those rooster bullets may have you rethinking your typical plans for the holiday.
If you’re searching for novel decorating options this year, here are a few ideas:
- Traditional pre-colored plastic eggs are fun for hiding surprises, and they won’t start to smell if you forget where you hid them for a couple of weeks.
- Jumbo Jet-Puffed marshmallows are colorful, but they’re not great for hiding in wet grass on Easter morning.
- Painted potatoes have been pitched as a solution by some farmers. It could work and probably meets the pricing threshold many parents are searching for in 2025.
- Kiwis are the right size and shape, although they’ll probably cost you more than the eggs.
This got me thinking about what other egg-sized opportunities we might find around the farm. A few things came to mind:
- The pile of rocks most youngsters have helped gather from farm fields.
- Horse apples might work, but they’d need to be really, really dry – and even then I don’t know.
- Hedge apples or osage oranges in nearby fields would be a little big but probably free.
- The scrap pile of lumber in the barn could be an excuse to get the lathe out and turn out a few dozen eggs. It would take time, but what’s a little sawdust for the kids?
- Ask the local golf course for an off-hour pass to dive for mishits in the fairway 7 pond. They might agree if you offer to split the bounty, but watch out for the turtles. I’m speaking from experience.
There definitely is no shortage of non-eggy options if price sensitivity is your issue. As we know, farm families are flexible and able to adapt to challenges on the fly. Just look at what we’ve done with baling wire and duct tape.
