Sharing A little DIY sweet Love

I have an obsession. And it’s an ironic one. I love making bath bombs. I don’t, however, take baths more than 4 times a year. If that. 

And yet, these have become one of the easiest, most frugal DIY projects ever! Very little clean up, pretty basic ingredients that are all non-toxic and the kids can enjoy making them and gifting them! We made a bunch around Christmas as a way for the kids to participate in making and gifting to their teachers, babysitters, aunts and uncles and cousins. It’s important to us to let the kids be a part of the gift season but it’s also pretty sweet to be able to give practical and unusual gifts beyond the coffee mug, Christmas ornament and candy.
And we used Christmas cookie cutters as molds- which was very festive, fun and to be honest, the only action my cookie cutters saw this season!

Three Different Christmas
​Bath Bomb Sessions! 

It's been at least a month since we've made more, so it was time to get creative again! 
For Valentine’s Day I decided to whip up some more sweet – without the sugar- treats.

Hopefully no one will mind the visual deception!

Bath Bomb Loofa Cupcakes. 

After using different recipes to make bath bombs I have found the trick to making them solidify without intense crumbliness is to not add too much moisture. Therefore, these are really kid friendly steps until you get to the very end where adding too much liquid could be a problem (a problem that grownups can make and learn from too!)
​

Step One: Measure and Combine the Dry ingredients:

• Aluminum Free Baking Soda: 8oz
• Organic food grade Citric Acid: 4oz
• Epsom Salts: 4oz
• Corn Starch or Arrowroot Powder (nonGMO): 4 oz

Stir these gently into a bowl until well combined

​Step Two: Combine SOME of the Wet ingredients:

• 2tsp plant oil – Avocado, Almond, Olive… you pick!
• 20-30 drops of your favorite essential oil
• 10 drops or more of Natural food coloring or not!​

Some of the essential Oil
​combos I have used:
(Where I get mine)

Stress Away(10) and Lime(10)

Joy(10) and Orange (10)

Tangerine(7) Orange(7) Lavender (7)

​Peppermint(3) and Stress Away (15)

​After you combine your wet ingredients, drizzle these on your dry ones and then blend it with your hands.

​The next step is crucial: Drizzle lightly with witch hazel or spray about 5 sprays at a time with aloe or witch hazel. Or water. It’s not super important. The super important part is that you don’t over water the mix. You’ll see it fizz where there is extra moisture, mix that up quickly as much as possible. You benefit from mixing with your hands at this point. If you can squeeze the dry mix into a clump and it stays, you’re pretty much done.

You don’t want it to ever get really moist or the citric acid will react and fizz before it makes it to the tub!   

Once you have a good clumpable mix, pack it into your mold- cookie cutter, cupcake tin or bath bomb spheres. You choose! One batch made 9 mostly full cupcakes.

If you want to be super lazy, you could even just keep it as a dry mix, skip the spraying with liquid and put that in plastic baggies and use it as a fizzy tub powder.

I am a mom of flexibility so make it what you want!! 
If you do over water the dry mix, they are still salvagable. (She says from experience.) Mostly it will just take longer for the bath bombs to dry and they will swell as they are drying. You'll just have to keep packing them or re-pressing them into the molds. 

Side note about this recipe: One recipe I read asked for 2 tsp of essential oil. That’s crazy- unless you’re using low quality, not super concentrated and pure essential oils. I would never in a million years need 5ml of essential oil for this recipe! That’s about 85 drops! And that’s a LOT of essential oil. Every time I have made this I have stuck in the range of 20-30 drops and it smells great. My house and hands currently smell amazing from using this much in our most recent batch. So if you’re using high quality essential oils, you’ll be fine with this much, I promise! Don't waste your money on mass quantities of oils, use ones that require less and are more potent (and more quality!)

​As far as other supplies go, you have choices on bulk or smaller quantities. I tend to go bulk to get a greater discount. I especially did that this time because almost everything in this recipe can be used in the kitchen or for other simple DIY projects!

 I love Epsom Salt. We use these for an easy bath salt. I take ½ a cup (for kids) or a few cups (for grown ups) and add a few drops (3-5) of essential oil, stir it up and add to a tub or a foot soak. SIMPLE and SO GOOD FOR YOU!
Even if you don’t use a lot of Epsom Salt in this recipe, you will want to add them to your regular baths or foot soaks. Epsom Salts are magnesium Sulfate and have a lot of great health benefits. You could also use Epsom salt in a salt scrub with olive or avocado oil, though I might grind mine up a little finer.

 
I wish I was a mom who made time for a tub. I think it would be nice. But I tend to only get in the tub when I am needing a massive immune support or a muscle soak. Otherwise, I am all about the foot soak. Bath bombs CAN be converted into foot soak bombs. It just doesn’t sound as lovely, does it? If you’re a foot soak kind a gal, just make smaller disks or molds! It’s also a great way to still get some relaxation in without drawing up a whole tub! OR if you’re like me and want to make the most out of bathing your kids, take off your socks and soak your feet in their tub! Epsom Salts and all the ingredients in this bath bomb are great for kids. Be strategic about your essential oils and you can support their immune system or help them to wind down before bed. Yes, Please. 
 
This version of Valentine’s Cupcake Bath bombs will be sweet gifts! With a Cherry Tag on top!

​

And guess what, they are SO FRUGAL. Do you know how you can pay $10 for a luxury bath bomb? Guess what. This whole batch costs less than that. I’m not kidding. You pay less than a dollar per bath bomb cupcake. >mind blown< Just another opportunity to burst the "Healthy is expensive" myth. Because these are most definitely healthier than fake fragrances and fake dyes and who knows what else. You can do it! I did use these simple to shrink wrap gift bags since I had them from Christmas time. But you could use a sandwich bag and a piece of twisty tie to package them!
 
You could make a batch for as little as 2.55 plus your essential oils of choice. I made two batches (total of 18 cupcakes) for about 6 dollars and then got 20 loofahs for 5 dollars!! The biggest thing you're giving here is the gift of your time in giving them something to help them to relax!'


It was so much fun to turn these into cupcakes, cause I needed to be creative. And I plan on giving these to a group a sweet mom's who could use a little pampering. If they promise to use them, then I will promise to take a break and put my feet up and maybe even get a luxurious soak in too!
Happy Valentines Day.


If you want to see what I am making or learn more about other easy, healthy DIY crafts and how we go natural and have fun, join my Facebook group and follow me on Instagram!