Easter can be great fun when you are a child with all the chocolate eggs and treats about, when you are an adult seeing the prices of those eggs and treats…not so much. Then an idea popped into my head of how much fun and cheaper would it be to try making your own Easter eggs. It wouldn't be entertaining if I didn't show you though the results, so I hope you enjoy my post on making your own Easter eggs.
The costs of buying an Easter egg
I can remember having as a child a large Easter egg (or is it only large when in the hands of a child?) during my younger years, when I got older I was given the choice between money and an Easter egg (can you tell what I went for?) before I was seen as too old for either, oh to be a child once again. Now that I am older I can understand the reasoning behind my parents offering me the option between having money or an Easter egg.
Easter eggs depending on the size you buy can start to get costly, but let us go for the small and medium eggs around in some of the major shops.
Easter eggs of course come in a range of differing sizes and of course prices. You can find yourself spending anything from 75p to £20 for one Easter egg, depending on how fancy you want to get.
When you compare it to the bars of chocolate from the same stores, you can pick up a bar of supermarket own brand chocolate for just 30p. So you'd immediately think it would be cheaper to make your own Easter eggs. All you chocolate lovers out there, whether you are a child, man-child or woman, can you make your own Easter eggs for less?
The costs of making your own Easter egg
To be honest I had never thought of making my own Easter eggs until a few years ago, though there are many posts of how to make your own Easter eggs over the internet for you to choose a method from. However you will need at least two basic things to make your own Easter eggs:
- Chocolate
- Something to shape the Easter eggs – I chose moulds
The moulds are going to be the most costly item of the whole process ranging in price from £6.99 for two moulds to £12.99 for 6 moulds on Amazon. These are reusable though so can be used to create Easter eggs until the Easter bunny is jealous!
Chocolate can be as costly as you want it to be. You can go for the supermarket own brands where a 100g bar can cost 30p or for those that are slightly more expensive, but I am guessing most people will go for the cheaper option. Those with a truly creative touch could even try to make the chocolate themselves (something that fills me with awe!). You can also pick up all sorts of decorations for your egg if you want – don't forget to raid your cupboards first because you might have the perfect sprinkles in there.
How I made my Easter eggs
It wouldn't be fun without showing you how I made my own Easter eggs and the method that I used to make them. It was very fun to do this, so it can be a very fun Easter activity to do with a child.
What I needed to start
Moulds – There are many Easter egg moulds to choose from, ranging from normal sized to the small and extra large ones, at places like Amazon. I personally went for a set of 2 large cracked design to work with on my Easter eggs. Size wise the moulds are the same size as a supermarket medium easter egg.
Chocolate – You can't have an Easter egg without chocolate now can you? I went for two 100g bars of Sainsbury's Basic Chocolate. At 50p a bar they are cheap and tasty. Alternatively you can use Tesco Everyday value 100g bars for 30p a bar.
Time & a responsible adult – two things that might be missing from my household!
Method
- Break up the chocolate bars into squares and add to the mixing bowl.
- Boil some water in a kettle and add to the saucepan, turn on a low heat and place the mixing bowl on the saucepan (if the bowl touches the bottom of the saucepan then the pan is too big or bowl to small).
- As the chocolate is melting keep the chocolate moving using the spoon, you will not want it to burn.
- Once melted add the chocolate to the moulds as evenly as possible and spread as much as you can. Place moulds into the fridge for a few minutes to allow it to set slightly will allow you to spread the chocolate more evenly. Place back into fridge to set for 1-2 hours.
- Remove from fridge and moulds. This was the most tricky as one came out using flexing and slight pushing on the mould but the other wouldn't budge! In the end I used a hairdryer for a couple of seconds to loosen the chocolate and pop it out.
- Place a tray into the oven and let it heat up. Once hot take your two halves and place the edges on the tray for a second or two and them place together. Allow to set in the fridge for a few minutes.
- Enjoy eating your Easter egg (or enjoy watching it be eaten by your loved one).
Is it actually cheaper to make your own Easter eggs?
I had great fun making my Easter egg, and we've got some white chocolate for the next one. But was it actually cheaper?
The moulds set me back £6.99, and I used two bars of chocolate at a cost of £1. That meant the first egg cost me £7.99 – ouch. However, there is still money to be saved. The more eggs I make, the more money I will save, and if I switched to Tesco's value branded chocolate I would save even more.
You can also use different methods that don't require buying moulds, such as making Easter eggs from balloons, or making smaller eggs using things you already have in your kitchen – maybe some Kinder Egg inserts.
Let's say I make 10 Easter eggs, it would cost me £12.99 for the chocolate and moulds (chocolate from Tesco) and I'd have 2kg of Easter Eggs (yum!). Buying 2kg of Cadbury's Easter eggs from a supermarket would cost me £23.60. That isn't a fair comparison though, because value chocolate and Cadbury's chocolate taste different.
In conclusion, I don't think I have saved a lot of money by making my own Easter eggs, but I had a ton of fun. I can imagine this being a really fun activity to do with children, and that's where the true saving probably takes place! If you can keep your children entertained for a few hours for the price of some moulds and some value chocolate then you're definitely saving!
Will you give making Easter eggs a try?
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