Has anyone ever made their own lotions or soaps?

Or anything of that nature?

I was thinking of making some containers of this Hemp Body Butter recipe I found HERE
for Christmas gifts... I also want to make some soaps or something else to hand out- maybe like an assortment...

Any suggestions on what to make, aside from the lotion, for a cute gift basket?
Any other websites with recipes or recipes you've tried?
Any recommendations on where to get the supplies?

I've purchased Altoid tins off of Specialty Bottle before so I was thinking about getting some cool bottles/jars off of there again... The CraftBits site I found has 3 or 4 other websites they recommend to get the ingredients from but so far none of them have all of the ingredients- so I'd have to buy from a few of them.

I have made soap, and a nice idea is to Buy a pretty soap dish and put the soap on there and wrap it like in an organza bag with a ribbon or something like that!!!

Was it hard to make soap? I've never tried making anything like that before.

If I end up making one of something for everyone I'll do the organza bags otherwise I'd like to do a basket- so I'll probably get that cellophaney stuff and make it all big and showy

I realized I know of another site that has lots of recipes: www.makeyourowncosmetics.com I'm just having a hard time choosing what I want to make on here!! I think this is the site that actually recommends where you can buy the ingredients you need- not CraftBits. They're both good sites though- at least from what I can tell, without actually ever making anything off of them!

I hope someone out there has tried lotions, lip balms, butters & creams, or something along those lines....

I might be making soaps for my SIL's baby shower. I saw a cute little round soap with a rubber ducky in it. It looks like the duck is swimming in blue water. But I'm still thinking about it!

Originally Posted by LuckyGirl

I might be making soaps for my SIL's baby shower. I saw a cute little round soap with a rubber ducky in it. It looks like the duck is swimming in blue water. But I'm still thinking about it!

Click to expand...

Heather they also have It's a boy and It's a girl molds-- if they know what they are having!

What a good idea! I was thinking about doing something similar for Christmas too! I was thinking about making bath salts, etc.

I made Libby Lui lotions and makeup with my daughter a few weekends ago... It was fun.. But they had all the sparkles and color in the store... It was fun though.. Not what your looking for I'm sure,, but still fun!!!

I like to paint ceramic statues for my presents and put them on presents,, that way they are ornaments for the next year.

We also like to make they make your own cookies and so forth.. Those are neat too! Put all the ingredients in a glass jar and make it up pretty.. Those are people fav gifts..

In the 90's I had a small home business where I made home-made bath products, essential oil fragrances, soaps, lotions and gift baskets.

One of my favourite things to make and give away at Christmas was home-made bath saltz. I would scent them with an expensive perfume and then bottle them up in a large decorative crystal wine decanter (the kind that has a crystal stopper at the top), similar to, but not exactly like this one.

http://i11.ebayimg.com/01/i/03/a6/a3/76_1_b.JPG

Of course for a more cost efficient gift you could use jelly jars that have the hinge/springs type top.

My favourite gift basket that I did one year for some friends and close family was a "mood in a basket". It consisted of:

1 bottle of their favourite wine or champagne
2 crystal wine or champagne glasses
2 bath sheets, washed, dried and folded
2 bath robes
floating candles (not the wax kind. The kind that you use cooking oil and wicks)
1 bundle of incense
1 incense holder
1 CD of romantic piano music
1 box of sea shell chocolates
1 chocolate initial for his name and one for her name
1 litre of home made bath saltz in a crystal wine decanter

All wrapped up in a large decorative wicker basket.

It wasn't cheap (each basket when finished was about $300), but they were sure fun to make and give away!

I have a whole book of soap making recipies in a book I have in storage. If you like I can look for it and PM you some recipies

I like to make scented bath salts with essential oils and epsom salts. It is really easy and essential oils are natural, no toxic perfumes. Bergamot made a real nice one. You can get real essential oils at health food stores and I think I saw them at one of the fragrance stores, can't remember the name.
Get the real thing though. It is a little more expensive, but you use less and it is natural, which is important for people like me with fragrance allergies.

Thanks for all the tips! My mom has allergies to that sort of stuff so I'll definetely have to get the natural stuff instead- that would be a bad Christmas gift!

Sibohan if you want to look for your book & PM me some recipes I won't turn you down! I have found lots online but if you have some that you know are really good, I'll check them out