DIY XMAS: Bath Snowballs

As a companion to the Spa Salts we talked about the other day, why don't you make some Bath Snowballs?

Ingredients
1/2 cup citric acid
1 cup baking soda
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
About 6 drops food coloring
10 to 15 drops essential oil(s)

Directions1. Stir together citric acid, baking soda, and cornstarch.
2. Stir in sugar and food coloring.  If you leave out the food coloring, the final product will be white and more snowball-esque.  But you might want to make them to match your spa salts, or just in cool colors for fun and excitement.
3. Fill a spray bottle with water.  Spray the mixture lightly pausing between spritzes.  It should become damp but not fizzy; if it starts to fizz you are spraying too much too fast.  (Rather like Shakedown Street.  Get it?  "Maybe you had too much too fast..."  OK, nevermind.)  It's perfect when you can pack the mixture with your hands, and it stays together but just barely.
4. Add the essential oil one drop at a time until you like the way it smells.  For The Frugal Hostess, this means shake the bottle like hell - about 25 drops, maybe?  If you're using food coloring, mix it until the color is even.  Spray again if the mixture begins to dry out.
5. Spoon into an ice-cube tray (you might need to use two), pressing firmly. Let them dry at room temperature overnight.
6.  Pop them out of the tray, and put them into jars.

Some thoughts on this gift:  FruHo can't say she totally loved the way the snowballs looked, most likely because she put too much in each cube.  Don't overstuff them.  Next time, she plans to use a mini-muffin pan rather than an ice cube tray.  Also, she made white ones but thinks they would be cuter in a color.  And, finally, while a pure extract of vanilla or almond would work well for spa salts, this project really takes essential oils for the scent to be pure and strong enough.

Packaging:  Since TFH didn't love the color, she packed these into a jar and added some uncolored spa salts.  The tag will say something like, "After your snowballs melt, empty the remaining snow into your bath."  Cute, huh?

Also: The Frugal Hostess thinks she got this idea from Martha Stewart, but it could have also been ReadyMade or some random blog post.  If you think this was your idea first, it totally was, and you can get credit and a backlink - just leave the info in the comments.

The Frugal Hostess gets lonely. Please comment. You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, follow on Twitter @frugalhostess, or subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears.

DIY XMAS: Spa Salt

The Frugal Hostess is a big fan of bathing.  Just kidding.  But she does bathe.  Just kidding.  Who cares.  Let's just skip the formalities and get straight to the easiest gift to make ever: bath salts.  This is also super cheap, like about $2 for two to three gifts.  Just kidding.  But it's cheap.

OK, here we go.

Ingredients
Latching Mason jars (purchase for $1-$2 at the thrift store - not easy to locate at other stores)
Epsom salts (buy in the pharmacy section of your grocery store - $2.50 for about seven cups)
Food coloring (already had some,  no idea how much it costs)
Essential oils and/or extracts that smell good (orange, peppermint, almond, vanilla)
Carrier oil (which is supposed to be sweet almond or sesame oil, but can also be canola oil, which is much more frugal)

Directions
1.  Mix two cups of Epsom salts with 1/3 cup of oil.
2.  Add a few drops of oil or extract and a few drops of food coloring.  Stir until completely mixed.
3.  Spoon into jars.

Right?  Could this be better?  And by better FruHo means cheaper.  While The Frugal Hostess is making these for Christmas, they would make excellent birthday or Mother's Day gifts, or fun party favors for a baby or bridal shower.

A note on food coloring: So, you know how you've had the same four crusty bottles of food coloring next to your shaker of multi-colored sprinkles on the top shelf since your first apartment after college?  Well, TFH has some exciting news.  Umm, there are all kinds of new colors.  Neons ones.  Super exciting.  Get thee to the grocery store, post haste.

The Frugal Hostess hopes you bathe a lot. Like at least every other day.  Please comment. You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, follow on Twitter @frugalhostess, or subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears.