We love to celebrate holidays with crafts and treats but it can definitely be tricky to navigate ways to do so that are good for us and good for the planet. Egg-based and dye-based activities and foods are so prevalent this time of year so I put together a list of ways to celebrate avoiding eggs and dyes.

• Faux Egg Crafts - Simple swap - fake eggs. Use wooden craft eggs like these or cardboard-based eggs like these and decorate with markers or paint for the most eco-friendly option. Add some washi tape to get the striped look or spring themed stickers for added decoration with just minimal waste. (I don’t love to support the plastic variation but it is a cruelty-free option and available in most main stream stores.)

• Paint Rocks Instead - If you want to go even more eco-conscious, gather oval-shaped rocks to decorate instead!

• Use What You Already Have - Nearly anything can be cut egg-shaped and nearly anything can be used to decorate so get out the construction paper, felt, etc. and make your own eggs. There are even printable Easter and spring themed coloring book pages you can download.

• DIY Dye - Try making your own plant-based dye using food items such as red cabbage, coffee grounds, turmeric, beets and onion skins. Boil in water and some vinegar to make your diy dyes.

• Vegan Baking - Most baked goods can easily be made vegan with swaps like plant based milk, vegan butter, flax eggs, apple sauce, vegan chocolate chips from Enjoy Life, vegan marshmallows from Dandies etc. or look to amazing creators like Chocolate Covered Katie.

• Vegan Store-Bought Baked Goods - We love Abe’s mini vegan muffins and are excited to try out their vegan coffee cake and carrot cake. All of their treats would be the perfect addition to a vegan brunch.

• Vegan Candy - We love YumEarth candy because they are free from dyes and nearly all of their candies are vegan (just skip the gummy bears and candy corn in the fall). They even have vegan jelly beans! (You may know that I photograph for this brand and my sister works for the company, but this link is not sponsored in any way. I just really like their candy.)

• Vegan Chocolate - Even if a brand is not all vegan, check out any dark chocolate products because they are much more likely to be naturally vegan. I recently had the Little Secrets Dark Chocolate Crispy Wafers and man, they are so good. (They may contain cross-contaminated milk so please be mindful if you have a severe allergy.) They don’t carry a vegan label but reading the ingredients, I think we are good to go. I’ve also seen a ton of oat-milk based milk chocolate bars lately.

However you celebrate the spring, I hope you have a wonderful one!

From my family to yours,

Tracy