kool-eggs / by jen geigley

In the 90s, I dyed my hair with Kool-Aid. Last year, I dyed yarn with Kool-Aid. And this year, we're dyeing Easter eggs with Kool-Aid. I mean, why not? It smells fruity and awesome. It makes me nostalgic for hot summer days at the pool. Time to make some Kool-Eggs.
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.  


After your eggs are ready to go, it's time to find some small containers and get your Kool-Aid packets ready to go.
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.   :)