Hey there, Mason jar fans!
It’s March, and as winter drags on a bit here in Colorado, Maggie and I decided to focus the blog on self care this month for a little mid-winter pick-me-up! First up are some easy, DIY recipes for a luxurious spa day at home which are made even easier (and cuter) with Mason jar accessories. I’ll walk you through making your own lavender scented bath bombs, relaxing milk and salt bath soak, and an invigorating sugar scrub.
I’ve been making a variety of self care items from scratch for over a decade and am known for giving out little spa goodie bags at the holidays (my lip balm is near famous at my kids’ school!). It’s easier than you might think to make a scrumptious sugar scrub or fizzy bath bomb with a lot of the items you’ll already have on hand – plus making the items is almost as therapeutic as getting to use them.
The recipes in this blog post are super simple to put together, as you’ll see my 8 year old helped with most of them, involve fairly common, around the house ingredients, and don’t need specialized storage containers (unlike lip balm) aside from the Mason jars you already know and love. If you’re ready to try your hand at making your own, all natural yet still posh spa day at home, then this is the blog for you!
Some Accessories for Your DIY Spa Day:
First some accessories to aid in your at home spa day to make it feel posh while being a piece-of-cake.
Mason Jars:
As always the first thing you’ll need are some jars. For these types of recipes, I typically use smaller jars like 4oz jelly jars, wide mouth, half pints (8oz), and pint (16oz) jars. Sometimes for special gifts, I’ll package up a batch of bath bombs into a wide mouth quart (32oz).
As always we hope you already have a cabinet full of Mason jars that you’ve collected over the years that you’re using and reusing. But if you need to score a few extras for gifts to give away, we recommend looking at your local grocery, hardware, or discount store like Target or Wal-Mart.
You can use regular or wide mouth jars for these spa recipes. In general, if I’m going to put my hand in the jar, like for a sugar scrub, I prefer a wide mouth. If I’m going to pour it out, like a bath salt, then I use a regular mouth Mason jar. That’s just my personal preference but see what you like best.
Decorative Lids:
Whether it’s a gift for yourself or someone else, a pretty lid is always the perfect touch! We carry a number of decorative lids to suit your style, decor, and taste. I went with all galvanized finished lids and accessories because I like how it looks with the black caddy and it gives a classic, rustic charm. I adore the decorative crystal knob canister lid as I think they’re so elegant and timeless, which I used on my milk and salt bath soak. For my fizzy bath bombs, I topped my Mason jar with my favorite galvanized canister lid with handle.
Stainless Steel Storage Lids:
Perhaps not as adorable but totally practical, stainless steel storage lids can still find a home in your spa day! I love decorative lids for all my dry spa goodies, but sugar scrub is definitely moist which can rust the galvanized finish. I always use a stainless steel storage lid for sugar scrub whether it’s for me or to give away.
Frog / Flower Lids:
You may not think of using a frog/flower lid in the bathroom, but I think they’re the cutest, chaos tamers! I love using a frog/flower lid to organize makeup brushes, lip pencils, eye liners, and of course put some cheerful blooms by the bath or sink. I used a square grid galvanized frog/flower lid for my brushes.
Caddies:
Caddies are another great organizing tool while also protecting your jars from being knocked over. I love caddies by the sink with soap, lotion, hand sanitizer, or dish soap. In the bathroom though, they can also help you keep all your spa day essentials together and looking so cute! Grab your own 2 or 3 pint caddy to spruce up your home spa!
Candles:
What’s a spa day without candles?! Taking a relaxing soak in the tub with the lights dimmed and the candles glowing is simply the best! We have a variety of candle holders for tea light so you can pick whatever matches your decor. I went with the galvanized metal finish.
Some Ingredients for Your Spa Day Recipes:
Most of the items that you’ll need for making these recipes are probably already in your home or pantry like sugar, coconut oil, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), tea, essential oils, and food coloring (if desired). There are a handful of additional ingredients that you may want to consider picking up to make these recipes.
Cream of Tartar:
Bath bombs are supposed to be fizzy and most DIY recipes use citric acid. I often make these for my kiddos (one of whom has eczema) and friends with sensitive skin so I wanted a gentler alternative. I found a recipe that used cream of tartar instead of citric acid to give the bombs their fizzy effect and it works great! Plus cream of tartar is easy and inexpensive to buy in bulk on Amazon and other retailers, rich in potassium, can help clear up acne with its antibacterial properties, and is even thought to help with arthritis and migraines.
Epsom Salt:
We put Epsom salt in our baths all the time and buy the Dr. Teal’s bulk boxes of it at Costco. Made from magnesium sulfate, these amazing little crystals can help detoxify the body, reduce inflammation, soothe the skin (works for my kiddo with eczema), reduce pain, soreness, and stress. What more can you ask for?
Pink Himalayan Salt:
For a lot of the same reasons, pink Himalayan salt is also good for soaking in. It naturally contains healing minerals, is beneficial for the skin and aids with irritating skin conditions, is a powerful detoxifier, and brings relief to cramped, sore muscles. Plus you probably already have some on hand or can easily buy a container at any grocery store.
Powdered Milk:
The first time I heard of bathing in milk was while reading Charlotte’s Web when Mrs. Zuckerman gives Wilbur a buttermilk bath before going to the fair. I thought this was crazy as a kid, but it turns out there are real reasons to bath in milk (and even Cleopatra knew it was a good idea!). Powdered milk is high in lactic acid which lightens dark spots and smooths skin. Dried milk is beneficial for moisturizing dry skin (the higher the fat content, the better), acting as a gentle exfoliator, and relieving winter itchy skin.
All the recipes I used, I got by referencing other sources which I’ll link below as well for you to check out. My younger kiddo (age 8) helped with the prep of all of these as they’re super kid friendly to make (not to mention fun!). I also love how soft my hands are by the end of spa kit making – not to mention how great my kitchen smells! It’s a little bit of therapy just putting them together as well so enjoy the process.
Heart Shaped Lavender Bath Bombs
Original recipe can be found HERE
Ingredients:
- 1 cup baking soda
- ½ cup cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted (or oil of choice)
- 5-15 drops of lavender essential oil (optional)
- Dried lavender (optional)
- Food coloring (optional)
- Spray bottle with water
- Silicone heart shaped ice cube tray (EXAMPLE)
Mix together baking soda, cream of tartar, oil, essential oil, and food coloring. Mix and add coloring and essential oil until you’re happy with the look and smell. The mixture should be quite powdery still.
Then using the spray bottle, start to gently spray the dry ingredients. You don’t want to soak the powder and cause the fizzing chemical reaction to get out of hand but you want to be able to mold the bath bomb. Slowly add water with the spray bottle until it’s the consistency of wet sand and you can form it into a ball. Mix in dried lavender buds if desired and mix one last time.
Gently press the powder into the silicone tray, making sure to get it packed in tight and to the edges. Allow the bath bombs to dry in the silicone molds for 12-36 hours depending on how dry your climate is.
Carefully pop the bombs out of the molds. If they crumble, then you didn’t use enough water. Simply crumble up the bombs and start again – it’s that easy. If they do stay together, you can put them gently in your Mason jar and top with a decorative lid.
This recipe makes about 12 hearts which will fill one wide mouth, pint Mason jar.
Milk & Salt Bath Soak
Original recipe can be found HERE
Ingredients:
- 1 cup epsom salt
- ½ cup pink Himalayan sea salt
- ¼ cup powdered milk
- 5-15 drops of essential oil (optional)
- Dried lavender or rose buds (optional)
Mix together Epsom salt, pink salt, powdered milk, essential oil, and dried flowers in a bowl with a spoon or hands. Pour into your Mason jar and top with a decorative lid.
This recipe will fill one regular mouth, pint jar.
Tea Infused Sugar Scrub
This recipe is adapted from one given to me by a friend
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tea bags (optional)
- 5-15 drops of essential oil (optional)
Mix together oil, sugar, tea, and essential oil. We decided to make this an invigorating sugar scrub and used blood orange tea from Trader Joe’s and grapefruit essential oil. Spoon mixture into a wide mouth, half pint Mason jar and top with a stainless steel lid.
This recipe makes one 8oz, half pint jar.
Any of these recipes can be doubled or more depending on how big of a batch you want to make for gifts or simply to have extra on hand.
If you make your own DIY spa day recipes, I’d love to be inspired to try something new! Comment below or find us on social media and share it with us. We LOVE to hear from you! Join the conversations going on right now on our Facebook business page, Mason Jar Lifestyle, or Facebook group, Living The Mason Jar Lifestyle! We are also on Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. Looking forward to connecting with you soon!
