INNOVATION

14 Easter Inventions That Never Quite Took Off

This holiday take a look at these products, from egg coloring devices to tomb pendants

Megan Gambino

Senior Editor

April 3, 2015

This rotating egg coloring device holds and spins a hard boiled egg while the decorator adds uniform stripes and patterns with a marker or paintbrush. USPTO

This "tomb basket" is meant to remind children of the biblical story of Easter. Much like the stone that rolled away from Jesus' tomb when resurrected into heaven, a side door on this spherical container can be pulled back. Let's hope, though, the kids don't find this tomb empty on Easter morning. USPTO

When a child presses this Easter bunny's tail down, the toy spits out a steady stream of eggs. USPTO

Bunny or cat? You choose. The ears and tail on this toy are adjustable. Extend the ears and retreat the tail, and you have a bunny. Push the ears in and pull the tail out, and it's a cat. USPTO

In lieu of flowers, decorate your Easter table with this fancy Easter basket, which has ornamental eggs illuminated by light bulbs. USPTO

If your child doesn't already fear the Easter bunny, maybe he or she will after getting a shot with a bunny syringe. USPTO

This contraption holds an egg, with suction cups, between two shafts and applies stripes, dots and spirals in various colors. USPTO

The makers of egg decorating kits are pretty clever in putting perforated circles in their boxes to punch out and rest drying eggs in. But if that setup doesn't suffice, this rig with wells for dye in the middle and spots for eggs in the perimeter surely will. USPTO

Keep synthetic grass contained in this mesh bag, which lays in the bottom of an Easter basket year after year. USPTO

People clearly have opinions about Easter grass. This complicated-looking machine reduces the static charge on the grass by coating it with an anti-static compound. USPTO

Inventor Christine Marie Mikulas of Colorado Springs must have picked up one too many strands of fake grass from Easter baskets, because in 1997, she filed a patent for "connected decorative grass." Her version binds together strands of grass in the middle and also connects their ends to the basket. USPTO

A tomb pendant can be worn as a reminder of why Christians celebrate Easter. USPTO

This apparatus can be used to lay Easter bunny tracks. It dispenses flour in a pattern that resembles paw prints. The same device can be repurposed for Christmas, when it lays Santa's tracks or reindeer hoof prints. USPTO

Pinterest fans, get a load of this? A bunny made from artificial flowers. USPTO

When the first German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania in the late 17th century, they brought with them all types of traditions, including the Easter Bunny (which they called the Easter Hare) and along with that, a holiday ritual of building birds' nests of grass. The Easter Hare would surreptitiously drop eggs in the nests for children.

Over the centuries, the custom has evolved to the point where now many Americans typically lay a bed of grass inside of a basket, where the "Easter Bunny" leaves eggs, candy and other treats. And while some companies are selling organic hay and kits to grow your own grass as eco-friendly options, most use bundles of plastic grass.

It turns out people have strong opinions about the synthetic stuff. Beyond being wasteful, the petroleum-based plastic grass is a pesky product that has a way of getting everywhere. A search through the United States Patent and Trademark Office archives turns up several patents by disgruntled parents. There was a patent filed in 1990 for a mesh bag to keep the plastic grass contained and another from 1997 for a bunch of connected strands of decorative grass that can also attach to the rim of a basket, to prevent blades from coming loose. A group of inventors in 1993 even came up with an elaborate method for reducing the static charge on Easter grass.

Click through the gallery above for more products that never exactly made it mainstream.

Correction: The image gallery originally included a fun pair of bunny heels invented by Pamela Ohlsson Barras and sold by Streetzie's High Heel Bunny Slippers. The heels were not inspired by Easter and have seen commercial success. We are sorry for the error.