Homemade Bath Salts

Homemade Bath Salts - A super simple and awesome way to show someone you care. Only 5 ingredients and so pretty in an interesting glass jar!

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With Mother's Day just around the corner I thought everyone could use a little inspiration on gift ideas for that special lady in their lives. When I think about my Mom, I have so very much to be thankful for. She taught my sister and I the importance of caring for others, keeping a clean home, putting God first and making healthy choices. Beyond that, thanks to her, I know how to iron (do people still do that these days?), I'm an expert at planning and I put all small objects laying around the house in baggies. Thanks, Mom - for the lifelong skills and OCD tendencies.

Growing up, all of the women in my house took baths. Why? I'm not real sure, but our hair was always a big "to do," so we'd take our baths and then actually wash our hair in the sink after that. The whole process took only about 2-3 hours and that was on a good day. Seriously? Where did we find time for that? Thinking back now, I bet over 20 hours in my week was just spent "getting ready."

Well, times have sure changed. These days I've traded in my relaxing baths for showers and my 2-3 hour hair routine for more sleep. But it doesn't mean that once and awhile we can't pamper ourselves. And as moms, we all should. So today, in honor of my Mom and all moms out there who deserve some pampering, I'm going to show you how to make your own bath salts - either to package up as a gift or keep all to yourself. I won't tell.

How many ingredients do you need? Only five, and four of them you probably already have in your house.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup Epsom salt
• ½ cup coarse sea salt
• ¼ cup baking soda
• Fragrance oil (8-10 drops)
• Food coloring (6-8 drops)

*This recipe makes about 16 oz. of bath salts

Bath salts are absolutely one of the most easy and fun gifts to make. And best of all, you get a lot of bang for your buck. Start by mixing all of the dry ingredients together: the baking soda, Epsom salts and sea salt.

Then add the food coloring and fragrance oil. I used Irish cream and grape fragrance oils but you can use whatever fragrance oil sounds good to you!

Now, I can read your mind. Don't worry about the food coloring. You're not putting enough in here to dye your body. There's just enough to give the salts some color and pretty them up. Whisk everything together. Enlist the kids to help with this part. I did.

See how the food coloring is starting to blend? Now get some glass jars. I used some 7 oz. tureen jars I had purchased years ago for my candle making. I don't remember where I got them from but you can find jars of all shapes and sizes all over the Internet. These salts would even be fun to put in the smaller mason jars.

Can I just say that my house smelled absolutely AMAZING when I made the salts? The grape, the Irish cream. . .it was heavenly. Heck, I even thought about jumping in the tub in the middle of the day just to try the salts out.

Oh, it will happen. Don't you worry. Which scent would you try first? When I finished making the salts, my 5-year-old told me he wanted to try the Irish cream. I would have bet money he would have told me grape. He surprises me every day, that boy.

Have fun making your own bath salts and don't forget to thank your Mom for all she does for you. Even today, when I'm with my Mom, all is right with the world. That's how I always felt growing up. Everything is just better when your mom is there, isn't it? Moms are just magical. I hope that when my kids are older and they look back at the memories we've made and the things I've taught them, they'll think I'm pretty magical, too. I can only hope.