Easter Egg Decorating When the tradition of Easter eggs first arose thousands of years ago, they were usually from goose, duck, or hen eggs and were painted red. Many parts of the world still continue this tradition. During the course of history, mainly by the end of the 1600's, manufactured commercial eggs were being made of various materials and were available for use as Easter gifts and presents. This included pre-painted eggs. Chocolate Easter eggs would evolve from this type of egg centuries later. The Jeweled Egg Over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, hollow cardboard eggs came into use. These eggs were filled with presents and were increasingly ornate. Decorated eggs continued to improve and expand, eventually leading to highly customized and jeweled eggs made famous by Peter Faberge. The famous Faberge eggs were the favorite gift of the Russian Czar to his wife each Easter. Over the next 57 years this would be the standard to match. Today, the value of these jeweled eggs reaches into the millions. While the development of the jeweled egg continued, there was another development which came from the hollow cardboard egg, the chocolate Easter egg. Original Chocolate Easter Eggs The first chocolate Easter egg appeared around the early 1800's, but the creation of the hollow egg that we know today wouldn't arrive for some time. Chocolate makers had use of only a paste made from ground roasted Cacao beans which was much harder to work with than today's modern chocolates. The original chocolate Easter eggs appeared in Germany and France and soon spread to the rest of Europe and then beyond. While the popularity of the solid chocolate Easter egg gained strength, mass production soon made hollow eggs possible within a hundred years. With the advent of mass production, the low cost of making chocolate Easter eggs made them the dominant gift for Easter. Modern Chocolate Easter Eggs

By the end of the 19th century modern chocolate making, along with improvements in mass production methods, created a way to manufacture hollow molded eggs. This variety of egg soon become popular in the UK, Europe and then spread worldwide. Another development with modern methods was a chocolate Easter egg filled with varieties of both chocolate and other filling such as cream.

In modern day culture, the chocolate Easter egg competes with plastic eggs and other varieties as a way to present gifts during the Easter season. With the development of chocolate, has also come other Easter creations such as Easter Bunnies and Chicks.