Decorating Eggs has to be one of the oldest Easter traditions and it's fun for everyone, if you take a few sensible precautions! First things first, I remember as a young Mum settling down with my daughter to decorate eggs when she reached the right sort of age. I forgot one thing, you need to hard boil the eggs! That was very messy experience for both of us. So before  you do anything get those eggs boiled and cooled.

A good table covering is essential if you are going to paint or dye, and something to store the eggs in whilst they are drying - old egg boxes or egg cups are perfect. You need to let the coats dry between applications or you end up with mud coloured eggs, not very attractive! paper towels are useful too for mopping up spills, and you can use scrunch them up to make blotted patterns in the wet paint too.

Stamps and stencils come in handy and you'll need paints and dyes too. Then you want things to stick on the eggs like flowers, sequins, glitter, ribbons, just about anything will stick with the right glue - you need that too. If the eggs are for gifts (Grandparents love them) I like to put them in little containers which can be decorated to match, old yoghurt ports are great or you can use pre-cut boxes that you make up yourself.

You can get some really good egg decorating kits if you don't have all the bits and pieces to hand and it's a lot more reasonable than going out and buying supplies of everything - you would have loads left over.

If you are worried about mess you can always decorate your eggs with stickers, it's quick if you are short of time too. You can buy loads of Easter stickers or even make your own using suitably sized sticky labels. If you want to make sure they stay put just get some wipe on varnish and put a coat over the stickers. It holds them on very well.

I generally dye the eggs on the drainer by the sink - less messy than everyone having their own pots of dye. Everyone can put their own eggs into the dye solution and then lift them out with a slotted spoon. They can go into the egg boxes to dry and dye doesn't get spilled all over the kitchen. The drainer is easy to wash down afterwards too.

If you have the space and the weather is kind it can be a good idea to put a plastic sheet on the lawn and let the children work there - it stops the eggs getting dropped from the table to the floor as well.

Once the egg is dyed then it's time to have fun with paints, felt tips pens and all the decorations you have. Putting a little glue on a paper plate is easier than managing a big pot for little hands. Once they are done and you have safely stored away the eggs you can just gather up the plastic sheet with all the rubbish and throw it away, clearing up in one simple step!