It's the only time of year that we can all get creative with the all too humble egg. Plucked from the back of the fridge and decorated with care and precision, the egg finally gets to have its day!

You can do so much more than simple dipping and dyeing with a bit of imagination, and that once plain egg can become an amazing blank canvas ready to be made into all sorts of wonderful characters.

You can pre-blow your eggs, or do this as part of the activity for slightly older children; younger kids may need to have hard boiled eggs. We found that the blown eggs sat better on the toilet roll bodies, they will last much longer once blown, and of course the raw egg can be used after your party if you blow your eggs, making less wastage!

To blow an egg, all you need to do is make a pin hole in the top and bottom of the egg, hold it over a bowl and blow. You will find that the inside of the egg slips out quite easily, and you can then rinse the empty egg shell under a tap.

 Depending on how many guests you have, it's a good idea to set up three or so areas for creativity before your guests arrive, chose three themes and make each area different. Have enough eggs so each party guest has two chances and try to use a range of different coloured eggs if possible.

Each egg will probably take up about an hour or so, and you may find the kids want to do more than one egg.

Let's get cracking!

Theme Ideas:
The Egg-Head Family
Easter Bugs, Birds and Bees
On the Farm
In the Jungle
Fairy and Princess

You Will Need:
Brown and White Eggs
Toilet Rolls
Recycled Craft Paper in different colours
Glue
Scissors
String
Ribbon
Cotton wool balls
Googly eyes (if you can get hold of some)
Coloured markets
Pipe cleaners
Glitter
Paint
Tissue Sheets

How to run the party:

• Set your craft materials up on your tables before your guests arrive with a range of hard boiled eggs in baskets in the centre. You can use shredded paper for grass to protect the eggs, and if you are going to be blowing the eggs with the children, make sure everyone has a ramekin or dish to blow their egg into.
• Set the kids up around the tables and try to arrange to have one adult per table if you can.
• Start with the heads of the characters and paint the base colour on, then leave to dry standing in a toilet roll.
• The work on the bodies of the characters; cut your toilet rolls to the desired length, wraps them in a strip of coloured craft paper and glue in place. (Tip: Ask the kids to pop their name on the back of their character so you remember who's is who's later!)
• Then glue on the arms, wings, and accessories, and set the body aside
• Glue on or create the face, hair and ears using the different craft supplies
• Place the egg-head onto the egg body and hey presto!
• You could line all these characters up so they dry in time for the kids to take home with them in their party bags.