DIY Christmas Presents

Christmas is my favorite holiday (original, right?).  I love spreading the holiday cheer, especially in the form of dirty cards (I found some really good ones this year!) but also with gifts, which can get kind of expensive.  I decided to try something new this year:  making gifts.  See?  I told you I was getting all domestimicated...

My policy for most gifts is that they should be something I'd be happy to keep for myself.  Since I've been going through quite a lot of bath products, particularly since the weather changed (yes, even in the south it gets chilly enough for warm baths), I decided to try making homemade bath products.


I did a lot of research online, trying to find recipes that weren't too complicated and sounded nice.  I finally decided to get the ingredients for four different recipes.  After five different stores, I actually came home with the stuff for three and a half of them.  I ended up making two.


The coffee bath scrub was the simplest recipe, since it only required that three ingredients (coffee, raw sugar, and massage oil) be mixed together...so it's the one that will be found under people's trees this year.  I was actually surprised at how well it worked (I had to ensure product quality, after all!).  And, unlike those sand scrubs, you weren't as prone to getting stray coffee grounds in uncomfortable places...


The bath melts took a lot of time to make, since it involved melting raw cocoa butter on the stove, mixing in sweet almond oil, pouring it into soap molds (or Popsicle molds when all the soap molds were full), sticking it in the freezer, and coaxing them out of the molds without breaking (pretty much mission impossible).  Even in pieces, they made for a nice skin-softening bath.  However, I made the unwise decision to add cocoa powder to mixture as decoration and to enhance the chocolate aroma.  The bath tub looked like a very muddy child had just been washed there.  Although I do think the cocoa had added a slight tint to my skin, I think I'll just have to keep those for myself.  Darn...

DIY Chocolate Bath Melts and Coffee Body Scrub

DIY Gift Lesson:  pick one simple recipe!


Despite my good intentions, everyone got the same simple body scrub as a gift.  And I really think they'll all like it (or, at least, quietly regift it).  However, I didn't end up saving any money (or stress) from my holiday shopping this year due to all of the extra ingredients.  It's not money down the drain...I picked these recipes for a reason.  But starting smaller would have made this weekend a lot simpler.