I love giving homemade gifts. Last year I gave some cookies in a jar and they were a big hit. While watching Steven and Chris on CBC, they had a segment by The Frugalista on coconut oil (she has a great website by the way). Her sugar scrub stuck out in my mind and I knew I had found this years gift in a jar.
There are many recipes out there, but I followed Frugalista’s using coconut oil. Here’s what you need:
1) Containers:
I found these sugar jars at my local dollar store. They were perfect because they had a lid and a little spoon! If you can’t find a suitable sugar jar, I’d recommend a mason canning jar. I think it’s important to have a wide mouth jar; if you don’t have a little spoon to scoop the scrub out, the recipient has to dig their fingers in the jar…much more difficult if the jar is narrow. I washed and dried the jars, and I removed the “sugar” sticker on them because I wanted to make my own labels.
2) Cocount oil:
I found organic extra virgin coconut oil at a local health food store. This jar was $12.99 and was enough for the 6 jars I made. You could likely substitute the coconut oil for olive oil if you wanted to. I love the smell of coconut oil and it has very good moisturizing properties, so I knew I really wanted to use it.
3) Scented oil:
This is the peppermint oil I use for my beeswax lip balm so I didn’t have to buy anymore. You could use any essential oil you like, just make sure you’re not using baking extracts! {although since the recipe is just sugar and coconut oil, it would be completely edible…a little snack for the shower? ;) }
3) White sugar
C’mon, I don’t need to take a picture of white sugar, do I?
That’s it for ingredients!
Coconut oil is quite stable, meaning it can melt and then return to a solid form without any major consequences. My apartment is a balmy 26 degrees Celsius year round, so I had to keep my oil in the fridge, otherwise it would turn to liquid. Since the Frugalista measures her oil in solid form, I was convinced I had to have the oil solid. I’m going to tell you to throw this out the window. You have to melt the oil to mix it with the sugar anyhow. The 1/4 cup of coconut oil that’s recommended in the recipe didn’t give me the consistency I was looking for. So don’t worry if your oil at room temperature is a mix between solid and liquid, or all liquid.
In a bowl you’re going to mix 1 cup white sugar with your coconut oil. I will recommend you start with the 1/4 cup melted coconut oil that’s recommended, but I kept adding until I liked the consistency. I wanted it to be a wet mixture; with 1/4 cup of oil, I found the sugar to just be clumpy. I ended up with close to 1/2 cup of oil, but mix it until you like it. Add your essential oils; I never measure how many drops, I go by smell.
Now comes the crafty part…making the jars look pretty!
Labels are up first.
I could have easily left the sugar labels that came with the jar, but I wanted something a little more festive. You could design your own, or you could use holiday address labels. Here’s a link to some holiday label templates from Avery.
I decided to use the labels in my Stampin UP digital design free download, that I got a few weeks ago. I chose the little snowman label. I added the words “peppermint sugar scrub” and resized it to fit the space on my jar.
I printed them in colour and cut them out. Since the scrub is most likely going to be used in the shower, I wanted to protect the label from water damage…which would make the ink run and get…well…yucky.
If you have a laminator, this is the time to use it! If you’re like me, you resort to plan B and use shipping tape.
Sandwich the label in between shipping tape, and now it’s protected! Trim the edges and adhere to your jar. I used double sided tape I use for making cards, it’s strong and sticky!
I wanted to dress up the jar a bit more, so I added one of my rhinestone snowflake gift tags and added some red and white baker’s twine to the lid of the jar.
How cute are they!!!??
I’ve gifted one already and it was a big hit! I also had some scrub left over and used it myself. It smells amazing and left my skin so soft and smooth. A quick and easy gift, easily made in big batches and quite cost effective!
If you make some, take a picture and post it on my Facebook page! Tell me what oil you used too!
Happy gifting!!
3 comments:
This sounds easy enough.. I might try and make some to give away... thanks for sharing ..
What is the shelf life on this scrub? Have you tried adding Vitamin E oil to it to have it have a longer shelf life?
Hi DJ, I've never added vitamin E, so I can't really comment if that increases the shelf life.
And I've always used mine up within 2-3 weeks; my mum still has hers from last year and there's no issues. I would go based on the expiry date on the coconut oil jar if I had to guess.
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