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After a long winter, one of the things that gets me excited for the months ahead is when the stores start stocking their shelves with bubble solution, water toys and all sorts of colorful "play things" for spring and summer. My toddler was REALLY into bubbles this year and my 4 ½ year old is starting to take an interest in science experiments and the like. I didn't want just "any" bubbles this year though. I wanted to impress my kids with some ginormous bubbles that would make their mouths drop open. Bubbles that were bigger than their heads, bubbles they could imagine almost climbing into to float away up into the clouds. I was on a mission.
I don't know if any of you feel this way, but I'm absolutely in love with Amazon.com. I don't necessarily buy everything from Amazon but you have to agree they carry almost anything you could ever think of. What I use Amazon for the most is product reviews from real people like you and me. It's how I make most of my purchases, whether I end up buying from them or not. I was on the search for an impressive bubble wand and decided on this one.
The wand arrived at our door two days later and we ripped the package open, ready for the big bubble show to begin. It came with a little bottle of solution that promised to make gigantic bubbles. We all were impressed and had lots of fun. . .that is until the bubble solution was gone. . .in the first 15 minutes. How frustrating. I think as parents we've all had those moments where we had invested in store-bought bubble solution only to watch our children dump or spill it all over the place. It happens all the time. Lumps form in my throat just thinking about it because I see my hard-earned money just going down the drain.
So, I was on the hunt again to find a recipe to make my own bubble solution. I needed to find something that was affordable to make, yet created big, beautiful bubbles for the wand we just bought. I found tons of recipes that used glycerin. That's fine, but I didn't have time to run to the craft store to try and find glycerin. I kept looking until I stumbled across a recipe that used karo syrup which was something I had, so I was willing to give it a go.
Here's the recipe I used:
No-Fail Homemade Bubble Recipe
5 cups water
2 cups dishwashing liquid (I used Dawn)
½ cup karo syrup
The results? See for yourself below. This is now my go-to recipe. It produces the gigantic bubbles I hoped for and the karo syrup makes them stronger, so they last longer. I've even been experimenting by adding a little more karo syrup than what the recipe calls for. I love using the green apple-scented Dawn. These bubbles smell so much better than store-bought. I couldn't care less if the kids get these all over their clothes!
Make these bubbles for your kids ASAP. You won't be disappointed. They're so huge they make their own shadows! My kids are ecstatic about these and they love to help me make them. I hope you enjoy them too! If you have other homemade bubble recipes that you love, please share them. I would love to hear from you!
Shirlene Rebecca Ice
where is recipe?
Sara
Hi Shirlene - It's right in the middle of the blog post.
Julia
Just fyi, glycerin is a sugar (it's often used in cake decorating), as is karo syrup, they are pretty much interchangeable in a recipe like this. But I do think most people have corn syrup in the cupboard so it's a lot more practical. I can't wait to try it! Thanks for sharing 🙂 your kids look like they are having a blast!
Sara
Yes, I don't normally have glycerin on hand so in our house we always use karo syrup!
Adriana
Hi i'm wondering about lasting time of these bubbles. Do you play with it in hot sunny days? about 30 Celsius degrees?
Sara
When I make this solution we usually have it used up in about a week. The temperature in the summer doesn't seem to matter as much as the wind. If it is a windy day, it's difficult to produce the larger bubbles. I hope you have good luck with it!
livingrn
This was a waste of our money and time. For now on I will ONLY make bubbles with glycerin!!
Sara
Oh no, what happened? We've always had real good luck with this solution as you can see from the photos in my post. My kids love this stuff and so do I. I'm so sorry you had a bad experience.