How to Make an Easter Egg Tree

In Germany and Austria, it's customary to celebrate Easter by hanging hollow eggs from the branches of trees. This year, bring the tradition indoors by creating a unique display for your blown and decorated eggs.

By

Martha Stewart Editors

Updated on March 6, 2023

From flying kites to making omelets, there are many meaningful Easter traditions that people practice all around the world. In Germany and Austria, celebrants hang hollow eggs from tree branches. This is called an Ostereierbaum—and you can recreate it with a simple DIY. To make this Easter egg tree your own, look to our guide below. All you'll need are blown and decorated eggs, ribbon, and branches (we used pussy willow) to put together this craft, which will also double as a piece of statement holiday décor in your home.

What You'll Need

Materials

Ice bucket (optional)
Floral foam (optional)
Grass (optional)
Branches, such as pussy willow, flowering quince, magnolia, forsythia, or cherry blossom
Vase (optional)
Pebbles (optional)
Ribbon
Large-eyed needle
Blown and decorated eggs

Instructions

Fill an ice bucket with floral foam, then insert grass and pussy willow branches. Or place pebbles and water into a vase, and make an arrangement using any type of fresh-cut branches, such as flowering quince, magnolia, forsythia, or cherry blossom.
Center a slipknot on a length of ribbon, and thread the ribbon ends through a large-eyed needle (or fashion a needle by folding a 12-inch length of 27-gauge wire in half; use the loop end to thread ribbon).
Gently pass the needle through the holes at each end of the egg, and pull ribbon through. Before inserting the needle, decide which end of the egg will be the bottom; the hole from which the ribbon ends protrude will be the top of your egg.
Double-knot the ribbon above and below the egg, then tie the loose ends to a branch with a bow.

Originally appeared: MARTHA STEWART LIVING, APRIL 1999