One of the recurring ideas I had seen there over the past few months is homemade sugar scrub. If you don't know, sugar scrubs are scented exfoliants that typically sell in small jars for anywhere between $12 and $30 (and up). There were so many versions of this gift idea floating around on Pinterest that I began to collect them all, sorting through the different versions to come up with a combination I could call my own and give as gifts to my female coworkers and friends. (I don't want to be sexist here - just because my recipients were all gals doesn't mean that the men in your life might not want to receive this too!)
I finally got around to making this over the weekend and was really surprised at how nicely everything turned out. The fact that the house smelled like peppermint on Saturday was just an added bonus! Since everyone who has received a jar so far has seemed pleased, I thought I might share my version of this idea with you.
Note: I actually ordered my supplies online, but I think you could probably find everything locally with some effort.
Dodie's All Natural Peppermint Sugar Scrub
Ingredients:
- 3 parts sugar
- 1 part sweet almond oil (can sometimes find at Walmart, but is always available online)
- Peppermint essential oil (not extract [for cooking] - the aromatherapy kind)
Directions:
- Mix the sweet almond oil and sugar thoroughly using a whisk.
- Add several drops of peppermint oil to the level of scent of your preference and stir well. (I used about 10 drops per 1 cup of sugar.)
- Use a funnel to place in clean mason jars with tightly sealing lids (preferably the plastic "storage lids" that are sold separately from the jars).
Notes:
I used 6 cups of sugar, 2 cups of sweet almond oil, and about 60 drops of peppermint oil, which made enough to fill 12 4-ounce small quilted jelly jars.
Packaging:
I designed and printed front and lid labels using Avery oval labels:
Notice the "don't sue me if you slip in the shower" disclaimer I added to the directions!
The end result:
I had some unused treat bags in a drawer from last year's after Christmas sales and found some pink ribbon in my wrapping stash, all of which I think ended up as a cute, but simple, presentation:
Other ideas:
The sweet almond oil seemed to be preferred in most of the iterations of this idea that I read because it's typically used as a skin moisturizer, is all natural, and doesn't have a scent. Some of the recipes used olive oil, but I think that might be too heavy. One even used canola oil, but I had some of that in my kitchen and didn't like the smell.
If you don't like the natural color, I suppose you could add a drop of liquid food coloring to the mixture, but one of the reasons I liked this gift idea was that it is all natural. I'm not sure I'd want to tamper with that.
Now that I think about it, you could also use any combination of essential oils that you like. I think that some sort of citrus combination would be wonderful in the summer. Maybe a lavender/rosemary mixture for its calming properties? The possibilities are endless once you master this simple technique!
Isn't creativity fun?!
I designed and printed front and lid labels using Avery oval labels:
The end result:
I had some unused treat bags in a drawer from last year's after Christmas sales and found some pink ribbon in my wrapping stash, all of which I think ended up as a cute, but simple, presentation:
Other ideas:
The sweet almond oil seemed to be preferred in most of the iterations of this idea that I read because it's typically used as a skin moisturizer, is all natural, and doesn't have a scent. Some of the recipes used olive oil, but I think that might be too heavy. One even used canola oil, but I had some of that in my kitchen and didn't like the smell.
If you don't like the natural color, I suppose you could add a drop of liquid food coloring to the mixture, but one of the reasons I liked this gift idea was that it is all natural. I'm not sure I'd want to tamper with that.
Now that I think about it, you could also use any combination of essential oils that you like. I think that some sort of citrus combination would be wonderful in the summer. Maybe a lavender/rosemary mixture for its calming properties? The possibilities are endless once you master this simple technique!
Isn't creativity fun?!
Great gift! Love your labels and the disclaimer too :)
ReplyDelete