Appropriate age group(s):
Elementary School
Middle School
High School & Beyond

Estimated time to make this gift:
15 minutes per egg

Materials:
large plastic easter eggs
masking tape
shoe polish: earth tones and brights
rags/cotton balls/Kleenex for applying polish
paper towels
effective and gentle hand cleanser, such as "Goop" waterless

Instructions:
Tear off bits of masking tape and stick them to the eggs, overlapping, until covered. Rub the egg to make sure the edges are down neatly. Apply a small amount of shoe polish evenly all over eggs, covering completely. If may begin to get "tacky", so that the places where you are holding the egg lift the color off. Hold it then with thumb and forefinger, touch it up around; then lay it down on a paper towel and gently touch up those ends. Nothin' in nature is "perfect" anyway, and you can touch it up more later if you care to.

When the eggs have set awhile, they can be buffed a bit with a piece of flannel or whatever's logical to use (orphan socks?).

The resultant eggs look like something marble, alabaster, or leather-y, and look most decorative in a plain or rustic container. Wire basket, old basket, crockery, ancient cook pots. Check cupboards at home, garage, thrift stores.

Other comments or suggestions to consider:
For some reason, it is probably aesthetically more pleasing to display things in odd numbers versus even (whether it be eggs, cookies, or flowers), but once you get to stacking them in a container, it may not matter. 3 colors would be nice; we had to settle for 2 shades of a brown and a nice blue. Wine-colored shades, teal, or turquoise would be awesome!