How to make fizzy bath bombs

In our ongoing quest for the crafty-est summer ever, we decided to make some fizzy bath bombs.  First of all, those things are way cool. Second, they can be pricey for something that dissolves that fast.  It was a bit cheaper (and more fun) to make our own.

I looked around at various sets of directions and recipes online. Then kind of consolidated and made up my own.

Here is what we used:

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cup citric acid (I found it in the canning section at Walmart, $3 for this little jar, I bought two jars which is enough to make about 3 batches and have a little bit left over to sprinkle on sliced apples for a picnic)

1/2 cup corn starch

2 tablespoons salt

3 tablespoons coconut oil (sofftened, not melted or hard)

about 8 tablespoons liquid (we used water)

few drops of scented oil (we had lavender)

The salt that I bought was the wrong kind, but I had some of this in the cabinet, which worked pretty good.  I'd purchased ice cream salt, that was too chunky to use.  Epsom salt would probably be fine too.

You can use food coloring, if desired.

Oh and glitter! Ours was in a magic wand shaker that Aunt Sissy gave to us. 

First you mix all the dry ingredients, then add the oil and the essential oil drops.

Stir well.  Then mix the food coloring and water together in a squirt gun.  I saw that Martha Stewart used a mister/sprayer thingy in her directions, but we didn't have one of those.

Start adding the colored liquid a squirt at a time.

The citric acid has a reaction to the baking soda when you drop the bomb in the tub, that is what makes the fizziness.  It's also what you want to prevent from happening when you are making them.  Save the fizz for the tub, not the mixing bowl!

The trick is to have one person add the liquid while the other stirs non stop.  A bit of fizz breaks out with every squirt, but whip it in fast and it goes away.

Mix and mix while adding spritzes of water until you get the consistency that will hold when you squeeze it into a ball.

Next, press it into molds. 

We used the bottom of a measuring cup to press the mixture down hard, and get it compacted.  Next, you wait a day or two till it sets up.

We scraped up all of our crumbs, and all the remnants in the bottom of the bowl and on the spoon, then added some water to see if it would bubble up, because we couldn't wait that long. And yep, it was as fizzy as an alka seltzer!

The food coloring and the glitter make the bath water pretty. But everyone might not enjoy that as much as we do.  You can always leave that stuff out.  

We got about 6 large hearts and 6 smaller tartlet shapes out of our batch.

 

 

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Comments

[Linda P.]

Looks so fun! I made bath fizzies many years ago, but I don't remember my recipe, so I should try yours! Thanks for the inspiration, the recipe, and the helpful hints.

[Gigi Harlan]

It looks like you and your daughter had so much fun making these! Thanks for sharing this recipe. These would make great gifts for friends and family. Love it!

[Karla Nathan]

These really could be made up pretty, and would make wonderful gifts. I would like to make some softer colored ones and wrap them up special for holiday gifts this year.

[Sandy]

Thanks Karla! I am bookmarking this post, one of my little grand girls will be over next week for a craft day and she loves bath products and these look right up her ally, will try your recipe. Thanks for sharing some summer fun.