DIY Peppermint Sea Salt Scrub and Peppermint Sparkle Playdough {Easy DIY Gifts for Your Friends and for Kids} – with free printable faux chalkboard labels
Today I am sharing a fun and easy gift idea that is perfect for both your friends and their children: Peppermint Sea Salt Scrub and Peppermint Sparkle Play Dough. Not only were these gifts so simple to make that my boys helped me with them, but I think they are a great little offering to show your family friends that you appreciate having them in your life. On it’s own the Peppermint Scrub would also make a fabulous teacher gift or a gift for your coworkers.
DIY Peppermint Sea Salt Scrub:
To make THREE 500ml (2 cup) Jars of Peppermint Sea Salt Scrub you will need:
3.5 cups sea salt (1 kg box)
3 cups coarse salt (750 g box)
2 cups olive oil
dried mint (or fresh mint dried yourself – see below)
20-40 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil
Three 500ml (2cup capacity) Mason Jars
Twine, Labels (free printable labels linked below), candy canes, jingle bells, spoons (embellished with candy cane Washi tape)
It is pretty basic! So much so that my five year old helped me with the process:
Mix the ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon or whisk. Add the essential oil to your preference – somewhere between 20-40 drops depending on the strength of your oil. Let your nose be your guide. We picked some fresh mint from our beach (it grows wild there) and then dried it out in the microwave by placing it on a paper towel and zapping it for 30 seconds, then checking, followed by another 30 seconds until dried. Add the dried mint, stir it all together, and spoon it into your jars.
I chose to embellish my jars with labels, a candy cane, a jingle bell, and a spoon for your friend to be able to scoop it out with. I also painted the tops of my jars black with flat black spray paint and used a chalk pen to write the name of the scrub on the top as well.
Click on the labels below for free printable labels- I printed mine on white cardstock with TWO sets per 8.5×11 page in order to make them smaller (set this option up on your printer – print two pages on one page). Right-click the image below to save it to your computer and then you can print it off at home!
Peppermint Sparkle Play Dough:
To make this play dough you simply follow the recipe that I shared here the other day and then wrap a few balls of play dough in a transparent treat bag (I bought mine at the Dollar Tree). Dress up the wrapping with some fun striped twine and a colorful candy cane – and for a few cents you have an adorable and fun little gift for children of all ages.
I love that both these gifts are ‘consumable’ so your friends and their children can USE them and enjoy them and it is not just more ‘stuff’ that will end up broken or in the garbage.
This is part of the Get Your DIY On Challenge: Handmade Gifts.
Check out what my cohosts were up to this week:
Hand Made Canvas Holders Gifts by Mandy at The Hankful House
Cross Stich People by Christy at Confessions of a Serial DIY-er
Three Creative Gifts Under $10 with Free Printables by Abby at Just a Girl and Her Blog
DIY Gifts for Your Friends and Their Kids {Peppermint Sea Salt Scrub and Peppermint Sparkle Playdough} by Me at The Happy Housie (you are here!!)
Super Sweet Snowman Feet by April at House by Hoff
Have you made any homemade or handmade gifts for this holiday season? What do you like to make? I would love to hear about it – I am always looking for new ideas.
Krista, if I don’t have essential oil but have peppermint extract, will that work ok?
Hi Deana! I haven’t tried it myself- but I know it is significantly less expensive. I use it to scent my play dough but didn’t try it in the sea salt scrub. I would try it in a small part of the recipe and see how it works- what kind of scent it gives you. It will probably work, but has a slightly different scent then the essential oil does. See if you like it! Thanks for coming by and good luck!
Hi Krista! I absolutely LOVE this and every detail. I wanted to let you know you are one of my featured picks for tonight’s Project Inspire{d} ~ thank so much for helping to make the party a success. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Hugs,
Mary Beth
Hi Mary Beth!! I took a bit of a blogging break over the holidays and didn’t really post or link up – but I totally appreciate the feature and will hop over to grab my button. See you back refreshed with my new projects in the new year!! Happy New Year to you:)
Does the mint have to be dried? I tried to microwave it like you said and it smelled weird and bad…can you not put in fresh?
Hi Brooke, I read some instructions online and I microwaved mine for 30 seconds at a time, checking it after each session until it was dry and crisp…it worked out well for me so I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with it! You could try putting it in fresh but I was concerned that it might go moldy or rotten if it went in fresh, though the salt may ‘cure’ it- about that I am not sure! On the other hand, I added the dried mint mainly to add to the appearance of the scrub and add a little bit of a nice, fresh scent – you can totally skip the fresh mint and just use the mint essential oil if the drying doesn’t work out. Hope that helps!!
This is a great idea. I love the smell of peppermint.
It is super refreshing smelling Shannah!! Thanks for your visit!!
This sounds fabulous and what a perfect gift. Thanks tons for linking to Inspire Me. Hugs, Marty
Thank you Marty- and thanks for hosting!!
Dear Krista, I love this idea. It is a perfect holiday gift idea. And I bet is smells refreshing and just awakens the senses. Dropping by from Best of the Weekend. Blessings, Catherine
Thank you Catherine- I gave a few out the other day and my recipients seem pleased- that is what counts, right? Thanks so much for your visit!!
It’s Deonna from the Child at Heart blog! I love this post and would love for you to link up to the Merriest Blog Hop and share your creations!
http://www.thechildatheartblog.com/2013/12/the-merriest-blog-hop-week-4.html
Thanks Deonna and thanks for the invite!!
Krista, loving this sea salt scrub idea! Thanks so much for the inspiration. Pinning for sure!
🙂 Linda
Thank you Linda!! I enjoyed trying it out while I was making it- might have to keep one jar of it for myself:)
It turned out better than I had hoped Linda – I had really soft hands after testing it out several times:) But you do need to moisturize after!! Thanks so much for the visit and the pin!!
Oh how refreshing! I adore anything peppermint!!!! I’m making this salt scrub… for me and some other lucky friends! Thanks for the tutorial and the great gift tags!
I bet they will love it Yvonne- I am going to be giving out some of mine later today. It does smell incredible!
These are some great gift ideas! I bet that sea salt scrub smells wonderful, and leaves your skin feeling wonderful and tingly. My yougest grandson would probably try to eat the play dough (-; But my 10 year old would love it.
Thanks for sharing these gift ideas!
Hi Linda! I made some of this for my Kindergarten class too and one little boy keeps eating it (and he is five!)… but at least it only has all natural ingredients in it (flour, salt, water, cream of tartar and peppermint extract- the worst thing is the food coloring and kids get lots of that I bet). It is amazing how the playdough can scent the whole room!! Thanks for your visit and comments:)
Truly have to better at my gifts and start making one, this is something I could do, thanks Krista dear!
Hi Vel! We can only do so much… you have to pick your priorities and it isn’t homemade gifts for everyone – lol!! But it was pretty easy, you could pull 12 jars off in less then an hour and then just have to wrap them. I found the part that took the longest was experimenting with the recipe to get it right:) Thanks for your visit!!
This is so great! And having the printables makes it even better! And my kids LOVE playdough! Thanks so much for sharing Krista, such great gift ideas! I hope you are having a super wonderful day! Hugs!
Thanks Mindi! My boys love the playdough too. I am going to make another batch this morning to share with our friends… Thanks for your visit and have a wonderful weekend!
This is such a great gift idea!!! I am in love with the glitter play dough!!!
Thanks April – it is fun, and a reminder that it is not ‘food’ even though it smells so good (though the reminder doesn’t always work – at least not in my classroom:) Have a great weekend!
Mmmmm that scrub sounds so wonderful! I will have to try that one! Thanks so much for sharing, friend!
~Abby =)
Hi Abby! It turned out well- I tried another recipe too and made up my own for a lavender sugar scrub – lets just say it didn’t exactly turn out:) At least this one worked and I have six good jars to give out!! I’m taking them to a mom/child friend Christmas party this afternoon!! Have a great weekend friend:)
I love making my own scrubs – in fact I just mixed up a new batch today! Peppermint is perfect for waking me up on these dark, gloomy mornings!
Kelly
Hi Kelly! I haven’t really tried scrubs before and read about a zillion recipes before I tried it- hope this one works as great as it smells:) I should try it in the morning to wake me up ,then I wouldn’t need so much tea and coffee:)
Ooh…I want some peppermint scrub! I’ve never made it before…your recipe looks easy to follow! Great gift idea! 🙂
Hi Christy! It was easy- I read about 200000 recipes first and then sort of modified to make my own. It looks good still so far:) You just never quite know when you are trying something for the first time- but I know I had soft hands last weekend when I was testing them all out…. I am going to hand some of these out later today! If you were nearer by I would definitely gift you one:)
Ooohh Yum Krista- I bet this smells delicious!! 🙂
It does smell amazing Mandy- and so does the playdough. It makes the whole room smell like peppermint when my boys play with it:)
lovely!! I just may make this recipe! pinned!
Hi Anne!! I experimented a lot and this was the final go- It is tricky to get the right proportion of salt/oil so that the oil doesn’t separate out – that looks somewhat less then appealing:) lol! Hope you have a great weekend, and thanks so much for the visit and pin!
Krista, I love that sea salt scrub and my little nephew can’t get enough Play Dough – I’ll be he would LOVE some sparkle Play Dough. Thanks for sharing these great ideas! Pinning! Hope you are having a wonderful, merry week! 🙂
Hi Cindy!! The sparkle playdough literally takes minutes to make and it is so fun for kids!! I have already made three batches… the smell of your kitchen after can’t be beat!!