Eight ways to turn decorated eggs into a centrepiece guests will actually stop and admire.
Blow out a dozen eggs, paint them a soft blue-green, then flick brown acrylic from a stiff brush for the speckles. Pile them in a wide wooden bowl lined with moss. It looks like a wild nest, and the shells last for years.
Brush the bottom third of white eggs with size glue and press on gold leaf. Set them in egg cups on a pedestal cake stand at different heights. The shimmer catches candlelight beautifully at dinner.
Swirl diluted watercolour in a shallow tray and roll boiled eggs through it for a marbled, cloudy finish. Line them up in a long glass planter so the colours read like a gentle pastel sunrise.
Write each guest's name in fine black pen on a white egg and perch it in a tiny ceramic cup at each place. It doubles as a place card and a keepsake that people carry home.
Apply pressed-flower stickers or napkin decoupage to eggs, then nestle them among a low arrangement of tulips in a mason jar. The petals echo the pattern and pull the whole table together.
Dye eggs in graded shades of one colour, from palest blush to deep rose, and stack them in a pyramid on a plate. The gradient is dramatic yet takes only one dye colour and a few timed dips.
Halve eggshells, wash them, and plant cress or wheatgrass in each with a spoonful of soil. Sit them in an egg carton down the table. By Easter Sunday they sprout a fresh green fringe.
Gather bare branches, stand them in a heavy vase with pebbles, and hang ribbon-looped painted eggs from the twigs. It brings height to a small table without blocking anyone's view.