DIY Gifts: Lavender Bath Salts

Working through my list of gifts to make, I arrived at the "bath salts" component.  This is the Relax part of my Read, Write, & Relax Christmas gift theme.  There are hundreds of bath salts recipes online, and they are all different.  I searched up and down and read and read, but I could not find a consistent formula - so in the end - the bath salts I made were made based on the formulas I preferred.  A good place to start, if you are looking for a bath salts recipe, is this one provided by Martha Stewart.  Martha's recipe uses a lot more Sea Salt than Epsom salts, but I did the opposite - I used more Epsom Salts and fewer sea salts.

My original plan was to make three different kinds of bath salts for gifts: a lavender (relaxing) bath salt, a Eucalyptus (de-congesting) bath salt, and a citrus (energizing) bath salt.  In the end, I just made a whole bunch (and I mean a whole bunch)  of Lavender Bath Salts.  Due to other unrelated expenses, I just did not want to spend the money buying more oils so I only purchased Lavender Oil to make the lavender salts.

Sidenote:  I love the idea of bath salts - but not everyone takes baths.  I don't.  So I had to do some sleuthing to make sure the people I want to give these gifts to actually take baths and are not shower only folks like myself.

Bath Salts are not difficult to make, and they make a beautiful gift.

MATERIALS:

-Epsom Salts (I got 2 5.5kg containers from Costco)

-Sea Salts (they sell these in three packs at Costco - I used 5 of the 750g containers)

-Baking Soda (I used almost an entire box)

-Lavender Oil (purchase a quality oil - I bought mine directly from La Maison Lavande in Québec)

-Lavender buds (completely optional - I purchased these at La Maison Lavande as well

FOR STORAGE:

You will need airtight containers.  I used Mason jars (with rims and lids).

You may also want material to make tags and ribbon to attach them to the jars.

METHOD:

Very straightforward - combine your ingredients (based on the formula you choose) in a large bowl and then place in airtight containers.  I made some that did not include lavender buds, some with buds mixed in throughout, and some where the buds were placed on the very top of the jar.

It really is that simple.  You do not need very much oil - so a tiny jar of oil will go a long way - consider joining forces with a friend who might also want to make their own salts.  This will help ease the cost of the oil.  

How much did this make?  With the ingredients listed above, I was able to make:

8 x 1 L jars

15 x 500 ml jars

2 x 250 ml jars

My favourite part of this project (aside from the super - relaxing smell) is that I had some green Bernardin jars just waiting for something special to be funneled into them.  I put the plain (no buds) salts in these jars.  In addition, I had some purple lids and rims on hand, which paired beautifully with plain jars and the lavender salts.  My cousin has her own cold pressed soap business, so I will be putting a little half bar of beautiful soap along with the large jars of bath salts.  I am really looking forward to sharing these gifts with friends and family over the holidays.