Ostereierbaum: How to Make Your Own Easter Egg Tree

Easter is a time to celebrate new life, growth, and beauty. It’s a time to say goodbye to what is old and celebrate the joy of what is new! And we think the home should reflect that with fun, creative, and lively decorations like an Easter egg tree.

Easter decorations come in all shapes and sizes, from egg wreaths and floral centerpieces to the beautifully arranged easter baskets brought by the famous Bunny. But get ready to re-vamp your Easter decor like you never have before. You’ve heard of Christmas trees, but are you ready for an Easter tree? With eggs as ornaments, it makes a beautiful statement piece in any home. Read all about this fun tradition and get some great ideas about how to make and decorate your own tree this Easter!

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What Is an Easter Egg Tree?

This beautiful tradition of decorating trees and bushes with Easter eggs as ornaments originally comes from Germany, known as the “Ostereierbaum” or “Osterbaum.” It’s a centuries-old tradition, but its true origin story has been lost over the years. The egg is an ancient symbol of life all over the world. Easter egg trees are still a common Easter decoration in Poland, Austria, Hungary, and the United States, too.

One of the most extravagant examples of this Easter tradition is Saalfelder Ostereierbaum, an apple tree in Volker Kraft’s garden in Saalfeld, Thuringia, Germany. His family decorated the tree with eggs since 1965, starting with 18 eggs and eventually boasting 10,000. Sadly, the attraction and tradition officially closed in 2015. However, you can find plenty of beautiful Easter Trees all over the world. The Rostock Zoo held the Guinness World Record for an Easter tree when in April 2007, participants decorated a red oak tree with 79,596 blown and painted eggs.

How Do I Make a DIY Easter Egg Tree?

While the extravagant displays in Europe are often outdoors on large trees, you can re-create this decoration inside with some fresh-cut branches or even some dried twigs you find in the yard.

Let’s Get Started: Make Your Own With These Easter Egg Tree Ideas!

Start With the Base

You can go with a natural look, with longer, unpainted branches. You can also go with a more sleek, modern, or minimalist look by spray-painting the branches a solid color like warm white or gold. Place your branches in a tall enough vase so that it supports some weight. If the branches aren’t sturdy enough, you can anchor them with floral foam or pebbles in the vase to make a little decorative twig tree.

Decorate

Wrap the branches with LED lights for some extra drama. You can also buy a pre-lit artificial tree like this tabletop birch tree. Go ahead; it can be a little Easter gift for yourself. Pastel colors and greenery make for a light and airy look, too.

Fresh flowers are one of the signs of the changing season. If you’re making an Easter Egg Tree with your own materials, you could intersperse them with fresh-cut flowers. Cherry blossoms are the perfect in-season decor to use and will give your Easter tree a fun and floral look. Other kinds of budding branches like pussy willow or dogwood work, too. Keep in mind if you’re using flowering branches– the blossoms usually won’t last long once you cut them. So either prepare to swap them out for fresh branches, or take them off once they die.

Add Your Ornaments

You can use any type of eggs you’d like for your Easter Tree. Simple plastic Easter eggs or wooden eggs can be great, especially if you want a kid-friendly option for your rambunctious little ones. If you don’t want to decorate the eggs yourself, you can find plenty of pre-decorated options that are ready to hang on your tree! And nothing beats that free shipping if you have Amazon Prime!

If you want to use eggs that you’ve decorated yourself, you’ll probably want to hollow them out, which is another fun little craft you can do. Poke a tiny hole in both ends of the raw egg, gently blow the contents into a cup and discard them. Then, you can decorate your eggs however you like. While you can dye them, hand-painted eggs and pysanky eggs can give a unique and creative touch as Easter Egg ornaments. Check out our article on Easter egg decorating ideas for some inspiration!

A little hot glue and string are all you’ll need to hang them. You don’t have just to hang eggs from your Easter egg tree, either! Feel free to hang other small Easter ornaments that symbolize the season, like carrots, bunnies, and flowers. Pom-poms, salt dough, paper, candy, and suncatchers all make fun and unique hanging decorations, too!

Spring Has Sprung!

Be sure to share pictures of your decorated Easter Egg tree with the people you love on FamilyApp. Or, tag us in a photo of your Easter tree creation on social media @getfamilyapp! If you’re looking for more Easter crafts, baked Easter treats, or Easter basket ideas (for the Easter Bunny only, of course), we’ve got those, too! Happy decorating!