With Easter on the way, PAAS Easter Egg Dyes is celebrating its 125th anniversary. In honor of the milestone, the traditional PAAS Easter Egg Decorating Kit will be packaged in a commemorative tin, holding nine food-color tablets, two egg dippers, 30 stickers and six egg wrappers. The tin is sold at stores for about $2.99. According to the company, Americans purchase more than 10 million PAAS Easter Egg Decorating Kits during the Easter season. For Easter egg decorating advice, go to www.paaseastereggs.com.

Easter fun facts

The National Confectioners Association offers the following bits of information about Easter traditions:

• The first chocolate eggs were made in Europe in the early-19th century and remain among the most popular treats associated with Easter.

In the United States:

• Seventy-six percent of people eat the ears on chocolate bunnies first.

• Ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter each year.

• Sixteen billion jelly beans are made for Easter.

• Each day, 5 million marshmallow chicks and bunnies are produced in preparation for Easter.

• Easter is the second top-selling confectionery holiday, with Halloween in first place.

• Eighty-eight percent of adults carry on the Easter tradition of making Easter baskets for their kids.

Spring tradition

If you just love those squishy and sugary marshmallow Peeps (marshmallow chicks have been produced since 1953), here's your chance to make them at home. Try the Marshmallow Making Kit from Williams-Sonoma. According to the Williams-Sonoma Web site, the kit contains a marshmallow mix; two chick molds; pastry bags for piping the marshmallow into the molds; purple, pink and yellow sanding sugars and black eyes. It's $22 plus $6.50 for shipping. The kit is available at www.williams-sonoma.com or through the catalog.

Speaking of Peeps, it seems each year the makers of Peeps gives us something new. This year it's Peeps with chocolate. A yellow Peeps marshmallow chick is encased in a 3-ounce milk chocolate, hollow egg for about $3. And if you want to decorate your own Peeps, an Easter Decorating Kit with six white marshmallow eggs and a tube of cake decorating gel is available at retailers for about $2.

Seattle Times news services