Here’s a simple and fun gift idea that can be done with kids…

These are little hard-packed mixtures of citric acid, baking soda, almond oil and essential oil that fizz when you put them in your bath.

Besides being fun, they give the water a beautiful, smooth feel and wonderful scent once they’ve dissolved.

Besides the ingredients mentioned above, you will also need some kind of mold to shape your bath bombs. We just used an empty egg carton and it worked fine.

Citric acid comes as a powder from Mountain Rose Herbs and is made from the fermentation of fruit sugars. It acts as a preservative and is what makes these bath bombs fizz.

It can be a mild skin and eye irritant in this powdered form, so caution children helpers not to touch their eyes with it on their hands. Simply rinse with water to alleviate any irritation that does occur.

Mix 1 cup of the citric acid with 1⁄2 cup of baking soda in one bowl.

Mix 4 teaspoons of almond oil with about 30 drops of the essential oil of your choice in a separate bowl. Lavender or rose will make for a nice relaxing bath. Try peppermint or lemon for a reviving bath.

If you’re using plastic or metal molds, oil them with a small amount of vegetable oil. (We didn’t need any oil for our egg carton mold.)

Now, take ½ of the powder mixture and mix in ½ of the oil mixture.  

Pack the mixture firmly into the molds and let sit a few minutes.

Once the bath bombs have hardened a bit (it really only takes about 5 minutes) remove them from the molds and place on wax paper to dry for at least 24 hours. We just cut the center pillars from the egg carton and twisted it like an ice cube tray to loosen them, and then turned them over onto the wax paper.

Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

My kids loved dropping their creation into their bath the next morning, and watching it fizz!

For gifts, you can get creative and package them in decorative containers or boxes. Use your creative flare!