I so love Christmas, but I am not really a huge fan of the winter:(
So…this year I am making and gifting some sugary sweet scrub. I think it’s the perfect fix for your tired, cracking winter hands. It’s affordable too, these jars are from Wal-mart, the labels are a free printable gift tag, and the ribbon is leftover from somewhere. Not only that, most of these ingredients are probably in your kitchen pantry. Make sure you give it and use it sooner rather than later, there are no preservatives…But who wouldn’t want to use this immediately?!?!
Honey Almond Sleepy Sugar Scrub:
Mix about 3 parts white sugar and 1 part honey.
2 Tablespoons tea (I brewed an extra strong cup of Sleepy Time tea)
(ps-use this more quickly, since the tea won’t be good forever)
1 Teaspoon almond extract. You could also use an essential oil here instead.
The consistency: Not oily runny everywhere, like the honey won’t mix all the way in.
Not breaking apart and lumpy like there is too much sugar:)
Vanilla Almond Brown Sugar Scrub:
Mix about 3 parts brown sugar and 2 parts olive oil (or sweet almond oil)
2 packets instant oatmeal (or about 1 cup oats)
Handful of almonds
1 teaspoon almond extract or an essential oil
Mix all in a food processor, or beat a bunch with a spoon (and chop the almonds)
This consistency will be more grainy than the last recipe, but should still have a little movement in it.
You really can’t mess this up…if in doubt, use it yourself and see if your hands feel too oily afterwards.
If so, add more oats or sugar…
Peppermint Sugar Scrub:
Mix 3 parts white sugar and 1 part olive oil or sweet almond oil (look for that same consistency and add where necessary)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract or essential oil
Now spoon them into a container, dress them up with a ribbon and a sweet note.
You’re done!
Enjoy!
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Oh and PS, thanks to my sweet husband and his brand new camera for taking photos. Aren’t they fabulous!
OMG! What a wonderful idea. Many of us don’t spend on Extravagance items such as this. Love it.
Love the tags! Cute gifts. Can I borrow your husband’s camera? Mine is p-i-t-i-f-u-l.
-Trish
So…..I ended up with some extra jars this weekend and used them to put these awesome gifts in. Oh my gosh! So crazy easy to make! They look super cute and they make your hands feel amazing!! Thanks for all the great ideas!!!
Hello. Hopefully you get this. I was wondering how long is the shelf life for Honey Almond Sleepy Sugar Scrub? I had heard that tea could turn bad pretty quickly. Did you have any problems? I would love to make this as a gift.
Thank you! :)
Also where do you get your jars? I love them. Thanks again!
My brother suggested I would possibly like this web site. He was once entirely right. This publish truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
Thanks so much for these recipes! My daughter is loving them, but you give some exact amounts (1cup oats) and some part amounts (3 parts sugar). It’s a bit confusing, how much do these recipes make. Does it matter how much oats compared to sugar?
Hey Kerry!
It’s not really an exact science, you are basically looking for a consistency that’s not too runny or oily. I think I made 2 jars from the brown sugar scrub. I would start with the dry ingredients then add in the oil. If it’s too oily, you will never get it off your hands, and you won’t feel clean. And feel free to add your own ideas, you can’t go wrong!
I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipes!
I’ve been searching the web for sugar scrubs and up came your site. You make it seem so quick & easy. I’m looking forward to making some of these for the girls in my family. This may be a dumb question, but where do you buy essential oils? And are they expensive? I don’t want to go too cheap & have a below par scrub. Thanks!
You can get essential oils through my doTERRA website http://www.mydoterra.com/essentiallyhealing/ or I can help set you up with a wholesale account. If you’d buy more than $120 worth per year, the wholesale account saves you money. I’m an essential oil therapist and aromatherapist (Bastyr University) and would love to help you
I am going to make these for Christmas and wanted to know how long these keep and should they be kept in refrigerator. Also someone asked you if the tea would go bad and I didn’t see an answer. So I am asking it again in case I missed it!
Thanks look forward to giving these for Christmas.
I have a bad habit of responding by email and not commenting back to answers:(
They will keep for a few months, I had some of the brown sugar and it lasted through winter. The tea would probably not last quite as long. I think on my labels I just suggested they enjoy it sooner rather than later. Hope that helps, let me know if you have anymore questions,
Christine
This sounds like wonderful gifts. I was thinking about doing this to give to classmates for Christmas. I am new to the world of making my own scrubs. Is there anything that I should know before I give this to people? Like could there be any skin reactions? Besides if they are allergic to nuts, I would ask if they are before I would give them the almond.
Thank you
Hey Kelly, yes on the almonds, steer clear of that if you have friends with nut allergies. As for everything else, they are pretty basic household/cooking ingredients so you should be ok.
Let me know if you have any other questions:)
Christine
Can you please give us an updated link for the gift tags? You linky is broken :(
Hey Terri! I’m so sorry!!! I fixed it, but realized that it is a blank printable that you can customize. My old computer crashed and I lost what I must have used myself for the tags, so I will whip up a new printable and post it this weekend. :)
Thanks so much!
Christine
Thanks so much for the new link. I appreciate it :)
I was just wondering if you suggest a certain brand of olive oil because in the first batch I made (almond/oatmeal) the oil smell was really off putting even with additional almond oil for scent. Any suggestions?
Hey! I used Pompeian I think, but I have heard this before, I think the bad smeller was in a green bottle or was green colored?
Hope that helps:)
May I make a suggestion? Instead of olive oil, use mineral oil or baby oil insteadl…
May I make a suggestion? Instead of olive oil, use mineral oil or baby oil instead…
i am making all three for my cousins for christmas and i didnt have peppermint extract. i crushed up almost all of a full sized candy cane and it worked perfectly. i also wanted the scrub to smell like mint, so i had to go and get mint extract from the store. even if you do have extract, try adding a little crushed candy cane, because it adds a nice texture and looks really nice.
thanks for the tip sid! it worked very well with the added candy cane and my sister loved!
This looks gorgeous,thanks so much,cant wait to gift it and use it!
instead of olive oil use sweet almond oil. it is awesome!!!!
Oh wow wonderfuL!
Where do you find sweet almond oil!?
Hey Amanda! I would try online or at a local vitamin type shop, maybe even a natural grocery store.
Thanks!!
This is probably a stupid question but how much is a (part) 1cup or something else? Can’t wait to try the brown sugar scrub.
Thanks
Cherry
I myself would love to know what 1 part means???
Hi!
Sorry I realized I responded to this by email instead of here on the site. One part depends on how much you want to make. So if you were making a 1 to 1 mix of water and oil and you wanted 2 cups, each 1 part would be 1 cup. If you wanted to make a gallon then 1 part would be 2 quarts water and 1 part would be 2 quarts oil.
Does that make sense?
:)
Christine
I was looking at your recipe for the peppermint scrub – can you substitute any essential oil? I was looking at the Bergamut oil you had on your doterra site. would that work?
Hi!
I would say anything is worth a try, as long as it’s safe on skin:)
can the olive oil be replaced by coconut or sunflower oil?
Hey!
Coconut oil is hard below 70ish degrees I think, so it wouldn’t be liquid, not sure about sunflower oil. Lots of people have subbed other things like sweet almond oil, so I would say anything would be worth a try:)
I was told you could use grape seed oil as well? Have you tried it? Are these supposed to be kept in the fridge?
Hi!
One of the commenters did recommend it, but not I haven’t tried it yet. No on the fridge, just be considerate of the type of ingredients and their typical shelf life.
Thanks!
Christine
Thanks for sharing the recipes! Love your verse–may God continue to bless you and your family.
What great recipes! Thanks so much for sharing! :) I’m having a DIY Christmas this year & these will make great gifts for my sisters & sister-in-law. Love it!
You’re so welcome! Thanks for stopping by!
I like using sunflower oil. But I have noticed that you dont use as much oil. So I always just start out with a small amount and add it little by little til I get it to where I want it. Everyone that has tried it with the sunflower oil loves it because I get the kind with added vitamin E. And it has no smell :)
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