It’s The (Bath) Bomb! Homemade Gifts That Don’t Suck

The holidays can be extremely expensive, especially when you have a lot of people you want to show your appreciation for. My son with autism has 2 teachers, 4 therapists, 1 aide, 2 bus drivers, 2 bus aides, 2 religious prep teachers, and 3 prep helpers. And I have two other kids in school and activities too. Homemade gifts can be one solution. Does the thought of making something yourself bring about anxiety or flashes of that Friends episode with the homemade sock bunny? Relax – there are homemade gifts that are easy, classy, inexpensive, and fun. Last year, we made these beautiful DIY candles. This year, I’m sharing our fabulous homemade fizzy bath bombs.

Fizzy Bath Bombs

Store bought bath bombs can contain harmful ingredients like phthalates, parabens, and artificial dyes.These homemade ones are nontoxic and pretty easy. The recipe below makes a big batch (we probably filled about 12 jars that we gave as gifts). The kids had a lot of fun helping and they loved saving any mess-ups (any bath bombs that did not come perfectly out of the mold) for their own baths. Some people make fancy bath bombs with herbs like rosemary (I don’t, because who wants herbs floating around in the tub?). Next time with might class them up with some natural food coloring (I usually crush up spirulina for green or use beet juice for red). Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 cups baking soda
• 1 cup citric acid
• 1 cup Epsom salt
• 2 TBS oil (we used jojoba)
• About 4 tsp essential oils, until the scent is to your liking (we used lavender)
• 2 TBS witch hazel in a spray bottle (you might not use all of it)
• Silicon molds (we used these)

Directions

1. Mix baking soda, citric acid, and Epsom salt in a large bowl until free of clumps.
2. Stir in essential oil.
3. Slowly stir in jojoba oil, whisking as you go. If your mixture starts fizzing, you are going too fast.
4. Spray the mixture with witch hazel until it is the right consistency. You want it to feel like damp sand – clumpable and moldable, not falling apart but not too wet.
5. Smush into the silicon molds.
6. Let sit at least overnight night to set (mine took a full day).
7. Carefully remove from molds and seal in an airtight container (we used mason jars).

Other Homemade Gift Ideas

If bath bombs aren’t your thing, there are plenty of other options. Here are some other homemade gifts that are fun, easy, and don’t suck:

Holidays and Happy DIYing!