Saving Us From Ourselves: Greening Your Easter

Note: We realize that while not everyone celebrates Easter, hopefully this post can be taken as motivation to make greener choices in preparing for any future celebration or holiday.

In these days of the over-holidayization (yes, we made that word up) of everything, it's easy to get wrapped up in the consumerism of it all. It's also easy to go the other way and turn into a big Grinch, not wanting to revel in the excesses of it at all. As in many things, the best path seems to be the middle path. That is, not forsaking all celebrations, but instead simply making smarter decisions with the intention to be less wasteful. With that in mind, consider the following suggestions for your upcoming spring festivities.

Dyeing Eggs: Leave the PAAS on the grocery store shelf and dye your eggs naturally. While using a natural method may take a bit more time and effort, this is a project that you will most likely be completing with family or close friends, so taking more time shouldn't be a bad thing. Many interesting hues can be created with only natural items. Place your eggs—organic, of course—in a pot of water along with a teaspoon of vinegar. Add in your dye of choice (see below for options) and boil for 15 minutes. If you desire a richer color, the eggs can be soaked in the dye water overnight in the refrigerator. Here are some popular color choices, but feel free to use your imagination (and whatever's in your fridge) to come up with additional shades.
-Red: red onion skins
-Orange: yellow onion skins
-Yellow: saffron or ground cumin, orange or lemon peels
-Green: spinach leaves
-Blue: jarred blueberries
-Purple/Violet: purple grape juice or red wine

Candy: Does anyone actually enjoy eating those hollow white chocolate bunnies with the creepy blue candy eyes? We think not. Instead, opt for an organic, Fair Trade bunny. Much cuter and less likely to have a scary ingredient list. Or, you can never go wrong with a Newman's Own chocolate bar. For non-chocolate choices, browse the Natural Candy Store. Whatever you do, just be sure to steer clear of the Marshmallow Peeps!

Baskets: Don't throw away those empty egg cartons. Turn them into receptacles to hold either your freshly dyed eggs or other treats. Cut the tops off and cut the bottoms in half (so that you are left with a container with six hollows), and decorate with tissue paper, ribbons, or whatever crafting supplies you might have around. A sturdy wire or pipe cleaner can be used to fashion a handle by poking a hole in either side and feeding the wire through. If that option is too much assembly required for you, use a basket or other decorative bin that is otherwise gathering dust in your closet. Please don't fill it with cellophane "grass." Aside from that stuff being impossible to get rid of (you will be finding it stuck in your carpet and other more unlikely places until at least 4th of July), it is a completely wasteful product. To create a nice bed for your candies, shred colorful magazine pages, old greeting cards, or anything else you can think of and use that to fill your basket.

We hope that these ideas will serve as kindling to stoke the fire of your own creativity for ways to celebrate with a green outlook.

Image Credit: Flickr user lynnmwillis