The 10 Most Unique Ideas That Repurpose All Those Plastic Easter Eggs

There's no denying the fun of a backyard Easter egg hunt. If this is an annual tradition in your household, you likely end up purchasing a few packages of plastic eggs to fill with toys and candy to stash around your home and yard. And you're certainly not the only one — the United States has spent over $20 billion annually on Easter for the last few years (via National Retail Federation), and odds are a good chunk of that goes toward plastic eggs. Unfortunately, many end up getting thrown away once the holiday is over, contributing to the millions of metric tons of plastic waste generated by the U.S. every year. While one solution is to save your plastic eggs and reuse them every Easter, it's not the only one. From stylish decor to charming mini bird feeders, there are many unique ways to repurpose plastic Easter eggs around your home and garden.

Most of these plastic Easter egg upcycles are incredibly simple and don't require many materials. The majority call for only paint, string, a hot glue gun, and other basic crafting supplies. Of course, you'll also need your eggs — most of these upcycles use the standard-sized ones, although you can likely still use the jumbos. Whether you need to find a purpose for only a handful you took home from a party or a whole backyard hunt's worth, here are 10 great plastic Easter egg upcycles.

With a little imagination, old plastic Easter eggs can be repurposed into home decor. One particularly unique method involves completely wrapping the eggs in moss and using them as a lovely accent for a spring tablescape. Alternatively, you can turn them into rustic fall decor. Simply spray a few in metallic gold, wrap some in twine, and toss them in a bowl with a few acorns. Apply the same strategy to also create a fun Christmas decoration, only swap the twine for glittery red paint and maybe throw in some decorative pine branches.

To create these fun and colorful string lights, you'll need a set of Christmas lights, enough plastic eggs to cover each bulb, and a drill. First, use the drill to slightly widen the hole in the top of the Easter eggs so the lights will fit inside them. Then, pop an egg over each of the bulbs. Hang the lights on your mantel or around your doorframe for a fun and colorful spring decoration you can reuse every year.

Plastic Easter eggs can also be repurposed into adorable mini planters for your succulents. For supplies, you'll need a hot glue gun, potting soil, and your succulents. Then, split each egg in half, and place one half face down. With the other half facing up, glue it to the top of the bottom half to create a mini stand. Next, fill it up with soil and add in the succulent. To create stylish planters to display all year long, paint the eggs a neutral color before you glue them together and add the succulents.

Whether you want to leave your bathroom smelling fresh as can be or add a little excitement to your weekly soak, you can't go wrong with DIY bath bombs. To make them, you'll need baking soda, citric acid, Epsom salt, water, essential oils, a mold, and dye. Old plastic Easter eggs are the perfect shape to function as molds for your DIY bath bombs. Mix all the ingredients together, and pack the powder tightly into the Easter egg so it forms the same shape. Then, let it harden for a few days.

Adding birdseed to your outdoor space is a wonderful way to increase the fauna in your yard and garden. While the most common method of doing this is probably hanging a bird feeder, another way is to use your old Easter eggs as molds to create these adorable birdseed hangers. Start by mixing birdseed, water, and gelatin. Once the ingredients are thoroughly combined, pack them into the Easter egg so they replicate the shape. After the birdseed eggs are dry, wrap them in ribbon or twine and hang them in your garden.

Elevate your candles by building lovely decorative holders out of your old plastic Easter eggs. One method is to paint the eggs and then hot glue three of them together. On the top and bottom of the eggs, attach little decorative wood pieces for a rustic design. Alternatively, you can make a tapered candle holder by gluing the outer halves together to form a stand, as with the succulent planters above. Fill the opening with tiny decorative rocks or sand, and you'll have the perfect tapered candle holder.

You can't go wrong using your plastic Easter eggs to create a darling nursery mobile. To start, you'll need a frame, string, and art supplies to decorate it. Be sure the eggs have two holes at the top — if they don't, you'll need to add them with a drill. Then, use string to tie them to the frame. Feel free to leave them as is for a cheery and colorful mobile, or paint them. And if you're not sure what to use for the mobile frame, one great option is to repurpose an old lampshade for it.

Another fun Easter egg upcycle is to turn them into these adorable faux cacti. In addition to the plastic eggs, you'll need mini planter pots, rocks to fill them, hot glue, acrylic paint, and a marker. To start, fill the pots with rocks. Next, paint your eggs a shade of green, and use the marker to add their spines. Apply a generous amount of hot glue to the top of the rocks for the first egg, and then stack them from there. If you want to give the cacti flowers, use some pink tissue paper.

Easter isn't the only holiday you can use these plastic eggs for. They can also be turned into adorable Halloween decorations that you hang on your front porch with some string, hot glue, and paint. Use orange paint for the base and black to add spooky witches or ghouls. Or you can turn them into lovely egg-shaped Christmas ornaments for your tree. Glitter, metallic red and green paint, hot glue, and ornament caps are all you'll need to transform Easter eggs into beautiful DIY Christmas ornaments.

With some twine and string, you can easily turn leftover Easter eggs into a festive garland. Use the twine to create the base. Then, loop pieces of string through the holes in the eggs to tie them to the twine. If you want the garland to be spring decor, leave the eggs as is. Or, paint them different colors to match the season or event you want to decorate for. Feel free to spruce it up by painting letters on the eggs to spell out a greeting, such as happy birthday wishes.