Chill Out Bath Bombs

After the hectic bustle of the holdays, what better gift is there than one that will help the giftee relax? These bath bombs are simple enough for kids to make and are also incredibly fun to use!

You will need:

I also recommend a large bowl, ice cube trays and some gloves. Plastic bags can be used in a pinch as a substitute for gloves. Most of these ingredients are found in a common drug store or in the pharmacy section of the supermarket. However, the citric acid and the essential oil took a little hunting. I found the citric acid in the baking section of Whole Foods ($6 for 2.5 cups) , but you can also order it from Amazon here: Now Foods Citric Acid, 1 -Pound (affiliate link). We also found the essential oil at Whole Foods, but you can also choose to order it online here: NOW Foods Lavender Oil, 2 ounce (affiliate link)

First, place 1 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup citric acid into a bowl and stir.

Place a few drops of essential oil in the mixture. We used about 10 drops of lavender oil.

Next, fill a spray bottle with about 1/2 cup of witch hazel. Place in a few drops of food coloring. We chose blue because we wanted the bath bombs to represent ice.

Now, here is the tricky part. Spray the mixture so that it just barely comes together when squeezed. It should form a clump in your hand, but some granules will still fall off. Notice how the mixture in the bowl looks a little powdery? That is exactly what you want. Pack the mixture into the ice cub trays immediately. They shouldn’t change form or grow. Pop them out after a couple of hours and then let them dry on a counter for at least 24 hours.

They should keep a perfect cube shape that the Ice Queen herself would be proud to use.This was the second choice title for this post. Check out those ice cube like bath bombs. Forget the cheesiness.

When dropped in water, the bath bombs delightfully fizz.

A little sneak peak. Made this! The aroma of lavender fills the air. #notalkaseltzer

A video posted by JoAnn & Megan (@awhimsiclelife) on Nov 11, 2014 at 6:10pm PST

My kids used some in a bath the other night and not only did the bathroom smell like lavender, but they had so much fun we ended up using our entire supply of bath bombs.

A word of warning

If your mixture in the bowl resembles play-dough, you have added too much witch hazel. Here’s what happens. When you pack it in the ice cube trays, you will notice little bubbles forming in the molds.When you remove them from the molds, they keep growing and pretty soon…Don’t become a Pinterest Fail. Seriously, you should only need to spray the mixture a few times and that’s it. We obviously learned the hard way.