(Sorry for the punny title, but it’s practically unavoidable.)
With Easter just two weeks away, there will be many a dozen eggs bought and used for coloring eggs, making devilled eggs and decorating blown out eggs. With all of those eggs come a lot of egg shells. Instead of discarding the egg shells resulting from this year’s festivities, consider reusing them in fun, decorative and practical ways around your house.
How to reuse egg shells
To decorate
Mini flower arrangement. Leave it to Martha to come up with such a cool idea like this. Makes a sweet and simple table centerpiece.
Votive candles. This one take a little more effort and craftiness, but if you can pull it off, these eggshell votives would be a nice addition to your Easter decor.
In the garden & around the house
Slug and snail deterrent. Crush up eggshells and sprinkle them around the base of plants in your yard and garden to help prevent snails and slugs. The idea is that these soft-bodied creatures will not slither over the sharp eggshells.
Plant food. Mix together dried coffee grounds and dried, crushed eggshells and add to potted and outdoor plants as a boost of nutrients.
Plant water. After making hard boiled eggs, use the cooled leftover water to water your plants. Plants will benefit from the extra eggshell nutrients leached into the water.
Seedling planters. Start new seeds in an eggshell. When the seedling is too big, you can replant the whole thing in your garden.
Compost. Add eggshells to your compost pile. Simple!
Bird feed. Sounds strange, but true. Bake at 250 degrees until dry (not brown), crumble and set out for the birds.
Calcium for dogs. Eggshells provide an excellent source of calcium. When prepared properly, eggshells are a great addition to your dog’s diet.
Clean vases. When broken into small pieces, eggshells can work wonders on cleaning items with caked on grime in hard to reach places, like vases. Also works well with a well-used travel coffee mug. Add crushed up shells, water and dish soap to your vase or coffee mug and shake well.
For fun
Eggshell egg heads. The kids will have fun with this idea. Gives you another opportunity to repurpose toilet paper tubes too!
Eggshell mosaic. Save the shells from colored Easter eggs for a rainy day project with your kids. They’ll love creating these colorful mosaics.
Know how to reuse eggshells in a way that I haven’t listed? Leave a comment and let us know!
Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography.
Oh these are great tips! I think I’m gonna use some as plant food. Thanks!
I crush up eggshells and mix them w/ coffee grounds and throw them in flower beds. I’ll do the same once I plant my container herb garden.
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Very timely! I’m boiling eggs for coloring and was wondering if the water would help my plants (particularly my seedlings!) and your blog answered that question nicely.
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