Buying eggs for Easter? Plastic ones from Walmart and Target might be the cheaper choice this year as egg prices remain high

• Egg prices are off of their January peak, but a dozen still costs more than $4, inflation numbers show.
• With Easter approaching, fake-egg dye kits from Walmart and Target may be cheaper than the real thing.
• The high cost of eggs led one of the largest dollar store chains to decide not to carry them for now.

Easter is supposed to be fun, but high egg prices could turn decorating for the holiday into a financial headache.

The average cost of a dozen Grade A large eggs ticked down in February from its record high in January, but the price still remained at an uncomfortably high $4.21, per US inflation data released Tuesday.

That's roughly double the cost from a year ago, and nearly triple the price that many consumers were used to paying before inflation and avian diseases became a factor.

Now it may actually make better financial sense for would-be egg decorators to opt for a kit of a dozen artificial eggs — dye included, nutrition excluded — available at retailers like Target and Walmart for less than the cost of the real thing.

Walmart comes in with a bargain $2.24 per kit, while a carton of Great Value large white eggs will run $2.63 at an Atlanta Supercenter. (Actual egg prices vary substantially by geography.)

Target has a pair of owned-brand offerings — a Spritz dyeable kit for $3, or a Mondo Llama paintable one for $5. Perhaps the Mondo Llama eggs are cage-free.

By comparison, a dozen edible store-brand eggs are $3.29 at the Atlanta Midtown store, while traditional dye kits start at $3 and must be purchased separately.

In online comments, shoppers point out additional benefits of using fake eggs over ones laid by chickens. They're cruelty-free, easier to use with young children since they're less breakable, and don't require boiling.

Easter decorators aren't the only ones adjusting their plans due to the still-high cost of eggs this spring. Dollar Tree, one of the largest dollar store chains, said Tuesday that it would pause selling eggs in its stores for a few months while it waits for prices to come down a bit more.

The store said it will remove eggs from the grocery sections of about 8,000 Dollar Tree stores across the US and Canada.

And for those who still want a budget Easter eggs-perience but neither want to pay for real eggs nor decorate pretend ones, Walmart has you covered: a carton of a dozen chocolate-covered marshmallow Easter eggs is on shelves in select stores for just $1.