5 Items That Can Replace Pricey Eggs This Easter
Written by
Seychelle Thomas
Edited by
Jenna Klaverweiden
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This year’s Easter egg hunt might look a little different if the cost of eggs is too much for your budget to bear. Last March, a dozen eggs cost just $2.992, according to data from the Federal Reserve. As of March 2025, the average price of a dozen eggs was $6.227 — more than double 2024’s prices.
But that doesn’t mean you’ll have to skip the traditions of hunting for eggs, rolling them down the lawn or dyeing them. These five alternatives could replace pricey eggs this Easter.
Also see how much the average Easter egg hunt will cost now that the price of eggs is so high.
Rocks
If your annual Easter tradition involves painting eggs and hiding them, you could save some money by doing the same thing with some medium-sized rocks. While you won’t be able to dye them, the kids will still be able to paint them.
You might even be able to make an extra game out of it by sending the kids on a hunt for rocks big enough to replace eggs.
Marshmallows
What’s large, fluffy and still costs less than $3? Marshmallows might be the Easter egg alternative you — and your budget — are looking for. A 24-ounce bag of jumbo extra large Jet-Puffed marshmallows costs just $2.60 at Target.
Plus, they still take on food dye like a champ without boiling water to make it happen. Marshmallows don’t start stinking after a few hours unlike boiled eggs, and as long as they haven’t been rolling around in the grass, the kids will probably still eat them afterward so nothing goes to waste.
Wooden Eggs
Instead of buying expensive eggs that you’ll use only once, try getting expensive eggs you’ll reuse every year. While the upfront cost of 12 wooden eggs is $17.99 on Amazon, you won’t have to buy new eggs every time Easter rolls around. That’ll be useful if the price of eggs keeps going up.
Think of it as an investment. If you use those eggs for Easter egg hunts for the next five years, it works out to about $3.60 per year. Every year, you can repaint the eggs, hide them, play games with them and then put them back in your holiday storage.
Cake Eggs
If you’ve seen the show “Is It Cake?” on Netflix, you know just how convincing it can be for cake to be passed off as other objects. So why not turn cake into eggs?
Grab a box of cake mix, icing and white melting chocolate. Bake the cake per the box instructions and let it cool before crumbling the cake and mixing it with icing. Next, form your cake into egg shapes and melt your white chocolate so you can dip your “eggs.”
Let those harden, and now you and the kids can decorate Easter eggs with icing or edible paint.
Air-Dry Clay
As long as you don’t mind not being able to open the eggs, air-dry clay could be a crafty alternative to the real thing. A 5-pound bucket of Crayola air-dry clay from Michaels is $11.24.
Your kids will be able to make their own eggs and paint them once the clay dries. Then you can hide and hunt for them and use them again next year. If you do grab the 5-pound bucket of air-dry clay, you’ll likely have enough left over for other Easter-related crafts.
Editor’s note: Pricing and availability may vary depending on location.
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