In November of last year a couple of my girlfriends and I took a class at Otion Soap Bar in Bellingham, WA.  We had a very fun time learning how to make a variety of holiday gifts including salt scrubs and scented melt and pour soaps with cool effects.  Without a doubt our favorite project of the night was making bath bombs.  Trendy body care boutiques charged up to $6 for one bath bomb, and here we were learning that it takes about 50 cents worth of materials, about 5 minutes and some practice to make your own bath bomb! 

It’s so easy, you can do it with the kids!  And it’s a great lesson in chemistry!  Acid + Base + Bathtime = Science Fun!

The hardest part of the whole process is procuring the citric acid.  You can order it online at BrambleBerry – Otion’s mail order company, find it in the bulk section of some groceries stores, or at soap making supply stores.   Here’s the recipe:

• One Part Citric Acid
• Two Parts Baking Soda
• A few drops of essential oil or fragarence oil of your choice
• Witch Hazel in a spray bottle
• Food Coloring or Powdered Colors from a soap making supply store
• Molds (you can buy bath bomb molds, use soap making molds that don’t have a lot of detail, I’ve had really good luck using a metal 1/2 cup measuring cup)

1. Measure your baking soda into a bowl.  Add your oil and color and stir with a whisk until it’s blended.
2. Add the baking soda mix into the citric acid and mix very well with your hands until it’s completely blended and lump free.
3. Spray 6 spritzes of witch hazel over the mixture and blend.  You want it to be moist enough to hold together when it’s squeezed, but not too wet.  It should look like this:
4. If it’s still too dry spray it with more witch hazel, 3 or 4 spritzes at a time.
5. Pack it into the mold.  Put a little in, mash it in super well and then add some more.  Keep packing until the mold is full.  
6. Let the mixture dry in the mold for a few minutes and then pop it out.
7. Let it cure at room tempature for a few hours and then store it in a moisture proof container!

We made champagne scented bath bombs and I tried using a new 3D mold from Bramble Berry.  As you can see it didn’t work out too well!  Nate got frustrated with getting the halves to stick together so we gave up and made “domes”. 

Anne-Marie, who owns BrambleBerry and Otion has some great tips and recipes on her site The Soap Queen!

Have fun!

April Fools’ Day is on Thursday and I figured I’d gather up some of the better easy prank ideas I’ve seen in order to give you time to prepare.   In my experience kids really, really love silly good-natured pranks and will spend all day trying to prank you back.

A super easy “prank” that seems to go over well with kids of all ages is tinting the milk.  Either discreetly put a few drops in with cereal or in a drinking glass. If your milk comes in a carton you can tint the whole container before you pour it. Blue and green are unexpected and the kids are less likely to expect a flavor to go along with those colors.  Last year I put red in Kitty’s milk which turned it pink and she cried when she realized the milk wasn’t strawberry flavored.

Some other super easy April Fool’s Day tricks you can play on the kids:

Take the ball out of a trackball mouse, or put a post-it note over the light on an optical mouse.

Freeze some water in a cereal bowl overnight leaving enough room on the top for a layer of cereal that will cover the ice. Immediately before serving  pour some cereal and a bit of milk over the ice and watch the kids try to dig in.  Might want to have a placemat on the table for this one!

If your child sets out his clothes for the next day before bed, replace his jeans with a pair that’s a size or two smaller.  In the same vein you can shove a wad of tissue or a balled up sock into the toes of his shoes. 

Sneak in during the night and safety pin all of your child’s underwear (or pants) together side by side.  When she goes to grab a pair in the morning a whole bunch will come out.

Make a meatloaf and press it into a pie plate,  Bake it in the pie plate and the top it with mashed potatoes you have tinted pink with red food coloring (or ketchup if you like that).  “Frost” the meat loaf with the pink potatoes and bring the whole “pie” over to the table!  “Dessert” for dinner!  Family Fun has a whole slide show of “faux-food” like this one!

Know of any other good pranks?  What was the best prank you’ve ever had played on you?  Leave a comment and let me know!