Make sure you follow a few food safety rules when you decorate hard-boiled eggs. The most important thing to decide is whether or not you want to eat the decorated eggs later. If you won’t be eating the eggs, you can use any decorating materials you want and display the eggs anywhere for as long as you like.

If you do want to eat the eggs, follow these rules:

Wash your hands between all the steps of cooking, cooling, dyeing and decorating.

Be sure that all the decorating materials you use are food safe.

Keep the eggs refrigerated as much as possible. Keep putting them back into the refrigerator whenever you’re not working with them.

Dye the eggs in water warmer than the eggs so they don’t absorb the dye water.

If you hide the decorated eggs, put them where they won’t come into contact with pets, other animals or birds or lawn chemicals.

After you’ve found all the hidden eggs, throw out any that have cracked or have been out at room temperature for more than two hours. Eat uncracked, refrigerated hard-boiled eggs within a week of cooking them.

Source: American Egg Board.