Easy DIY Easter Egg Tree

Yesterday I shared my spring home tour and promised you the tutorial for the DIY Easter egg tree on my dining room table. Today I’ll show you how I made it – it was SO easy and added such happy, spring vibes to my home. I’ll also share a little Easter egg tree history and give you additional Easter egg tree ideas.

What is an Easter Egg Tree?

Wondering what the heck is an Easter egg tree?? In Germany, there is a centuries old tradition of decorating trees and bushes with eggs. There it is called Ostereierbaum. The tradition spread to neighboring countries in Europe – and of course North America – as Germans emigrated and brought their customs with them. The tradition even reached Brazil, where there is a Guinness World Record winning Easter egg tree: a pecan tree which was decorated with 82,404 in 2017. Historically these Easter egg trees were decorated with real eggs shells that were mouth-blown, dried out completely, and then hand painted/decorated. But today many Easter egg trees feature faux eggs! Eggs are an ancient symbol of fertility, re-birth, and life for many cultures. In Christianity, the egg symbolized Jesus’ empty tomb. Think of an Easter egg tree like a good luck symbol for spring.

Supplies for DIY Easter Egg Tree:

Branches
Faux flowers
Hot glue gun and glue
Plastic decorated eggs (or real egg shells, felted wool eggs – something light)
Thin ribbon

How to Make an Easy Easter Egg Tree:

Find some branches outside
Use hot glue to affix a few flowers (optional)
Decorate eggs
Affix ribbon around the egg with hot glue
Hang the eggs on the branches!

Notes on Easter Egg Tree Branches: I started with some branches I snipped from outside. I wish I had thought of this idea earlier, but I could have forced some blooms on branches! That would be a cute idea if you start planning your Easter egg tree earlier than I did!

DIY Easter Egg Tree Craft Tutorial – Details:

These are the flowers I had in my craft stash – leftover from the DIY planter box we made a couple of years ago. I snipped off a few blooms and then simply glued them on with my hot glue gun. You could skip this step, of course, I just liked how it added a smidge of color to my branches. As an alternative idea, these light up branches or faux cherry blossom branches would be super cute. I liked the idea of scavenging in my backyard for Easter egg tree branches, but I know not everyone lives where trees a plentiful so it’s totally okay to fake it.

Then I hung the Easter eggs on my branches! You saw how I made these marbled Easter eggs the other day. To hang them, I just used a small dab of hot glue on the base of the Easter eggs and then affixed the ribbon at that one point and let it cool. Then I simply tied a knot at the top of the Easter egg. I chose a thin, white fabric ribbon which is such a nice contrast with the pastel inks. And that’s it! This DIY Easter egg tree was so easy to make but is such a statement on the dining room table.

Does an Easter Egg Tree Need to Be Small?

NO, an Easter egg tree does not need to be small! A tabletop Easter egg tree is a beautiful Easter centerpiece idea, but in Germany a very famous Easter egg tree (Saalfelder Ostereierbaum) was large. It was an apple tree in the backyard of the Kraft family who, over the decades, eventually added 10,000 hand-blown and decorate eggs! I’ve seen other photos of Easter egg trees from decades past that are as tall as a Christmas tree. You could start a tradition of hanging Easter eggs on an outdoor tree or collecting branches a lot larger than mine. Just make sure that if you’re doing an outdoor Easter egg tree, no artificial craft supplies escape and turn into litter.

Watercolor Inspired Easter Egg Decorating Inspiration

Here’s a closer look at the pastel ink eggs I decorated. They all look so pretty together! I love how this DIY Easter egg tree turned out and I was so excited to share it with you.