Presents - what are you making?

[dixiedragon]

Every year I make gift baggies for my co-workers and extended family. Usually it's soap and lip balm. This year I'm adding at least 1 tube of lotion. I am also considering turning some of my rough bars and end pieces into "soap leaves" and having a little baggie of those in each one. Not sure how to explain that? Soap leaves for your soap dish?

I am also considering some wickless wax tarts/melts - but again, I'm not sure if a lot of co-workers will know what to do with them? My co-workers are mostly men.

I always send home an extra gift baggie with one guy, b/c his mom makes the cornbread dressing for our Christmas lunch at work and it is AMAZING. She gets a big tray of hush puppies from Captain D's and uses that as her cornbread.

 

[IrishLass]

My standard gift-giving usually consists of bar-type soap, of course, and lip balm. And depending on the person, I may also include soap dishes, perfume sprays, liquid soap, room/linen sprays, body butter, lotion bars, sachets and/or wax melts.

A cool thing to add along with your soap leaves are nylon draw-string baggies such as these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GXZOEO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 They're great for using with soap scraps. I keep one in my shower to hold all my soap 'nubs' (soap that has become too small to use in a practical way), and I use it to scrub my feet.

I personally don't know many men that would know what to do with a wax melt/tart, except for my brother (he loves using them), and my son and my hubby. But that's because they've seen me use them, and although my hubby knows what to do with them, he doesn't much care for them all that much and would never be seen melting one himself. I usually wait until he's left for work before melting one down. lol


IrishLass

 

[Rowan]

My friends and family adore emulsified sugar srubs with their soaps for Christmas, with matching scents. I change it up a bit for the men and have fun with the title, such as "Dirty B...tard Scrubs". It works a treat. They generally don't like the idea of pampering and moisturising, but tell them the scrub gets rid of grease, oil and dirt and they can't wait to try it!

I was going to try lip balms this year. I made them for my young kids last year and they loved them. I just need to experiment a bit more and find a really good recipe.

Your soap leaves sound lovely. Are you going to shave thin slices off the scraps or form leaf shaped mini soaps?

 

[Rowan]

Irish Lass, what a great idea with the mesh bags! Can't wait to order some now. Hopefully I can find them in the UK!

 

[dixiedragon]

My friends and family adore emulsified sugar srubs with their soaps for Christmas, with matching scents. I change it up a bit for the men and have fun with the title, such as "Dirty B...tard Scrubs". It works a treat. They generally don't like the idea of pampering and moisturising, but tell them the scrub gets rid of grease, oil and dirt and they can't wait to try it!

I was going to try lip balms this year. I made them for my young kids last year and they loved them. I just need to experiment a bit more and find a really good recipe.

Your soap leaves sound lovely. Are you going to shave thin slices off the scraps or form leaf shaped mini soaps?

I love this lipbalm recipe (from Majestic Mountain Sage):
Ingredients

• 60 grams of Beeswax
  75 grams <A title="Shea Butter" href="http://www.thesage.com/catalog/products/Shea-Butter.html" target=_blank>Shea Butter, Refined
  45 grams <A title="Cocoa Butter, White Odorless" href="http://www.thesage.com/catalog/products/Cocoa-Butter-White-Odorless.html" target=_blank>White Cocoa Butter
  120 grams Avocado Oil

• It makes 60 tubes.

• I'm going to run some of my soap ends through my Salad Shooter (aka Soap Shooter) so I'll have lots of thin curls.

 

[snappyllama]

I'm doing a box with various soaps, lip scrub, emulsified sugar scrub, bath bombs, bath truffles, and maybe a lotion or body butter. I'm really tempted to also make Dorriettefarm's face scrub from the swap for a few people. The soaps are already curing. Everything else only takes: a day, a netflix marathon, and a big cup of coffee to complete.

Last year, I scored some really fun photo boxes at Micheals that fit everything perfectly. I'm actually heading out to Cost Plus and Micheals tonight to see if they have nice gift box containers.

I love the idea of the soap leaves and manly scrub.

 

[Rowan]

Wow, thanks so much. I can't wait to try out this recipe! I've not seen many salad shooters in the UK. I love the idea of them though, especially to grate up my laundry soap. It takes such a long time by hand.

 

[Susie]

You can use the shredder blade of any food processor. Just don't shove too many large pieces in at once. Feed them one at the time, and give it time to shred.

 

[DeeAnna]

And empty the bowl often so the shreds don't get packed in the bowl and make a sticky mess. Found that out the hard way. :sick:

 

[doriettefarm]

If you work with mostly guys here are some things that come to mind: lip balm (of course), shave soap, after-shave lotion, pumice scrub, beer soap or shampoo bar. Maybe beer confetti soap to use up some of those soap shreds? I recently gave my brother some liquid soap in a foamer bottle (scented w/BBs Lavender & Cedar) and he raved about it.

snappy - thanks for mentioning my scrub but wanted to give you a heads-up on something I recently discovered. The batch I made for the swap used a very finely ground almond meal that I ordered on Amazon. I ran out and couldn't find anything local except the Bob's Red Mill brand and it's a MUCH coarser grind (even though it says finely ground http://www.bobsredmill.com/shop/flours-and-meals/almond-meal-flour.html). This is what I used for the swap scrub and I'm definitely ordering more (http://www.amazon.com/JK-Gourmet-Almond-Flour-finely-ground/dp/B006K3RXG0/ref=sr_1_17?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1447389109&sr=1-17&keywords=almond+flour).

 

[snappyllama]

snappy - thanks for mentioning my scrub but wanted to give you a heads-up on something I recently discovered. The batch I made for the swap used a very finely ground almond meal that I ordered on Amazon. I ran out and couldn't find anything local except the Bob's Red Mill brand and it's a MUCH coarser grind (even though it says finely ground http://www.bobsredmill.com/shop/flours-and-meals/almond-meal-flour.html). This is what I used for the swap scrub and I'm definitely ordering more (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006K3RXG0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20).

Thanks for the heads up! I'll put the right one in my cart.

 

[Deedles]

I'm making soap and lotion for the ladies. Not sure about the guys. Our Christmas is on Dc. 12 so I don't have time for a full cure on some manly smelling soap. Maybe I'll just knit them all hats!

 

[shunt2011]

I do soap, sugar scrub, lip balm, bath bombs and a roll-on perfume. Some I also add body butter. The guys get soap, pumice scrub and lip balm, aftershave.

 

[treegoddess]

I am giving my family members bars of soap. I was thinking like an exfoliating one and a moisturizing one.

 

[quiltertoo]

I give a lot of soap but I also make wine and give wine to the wine lovers. I also quilt and sew so there are a few gifts along that line and the grandsons love my strawberry jalapeno jelly and want some every year. The last 2 years I made maple syrup in the spring and I have gotten a couple hints for some but I'm not sure I have enough to share so better not start gifting it. Looking forward to the holidays. Giving is so much better than receiving for me.

Mary Lou

 

[dixiedragon]

I'm gonna make some shave soap this weekend. I've never done it before, no idea if they'll be willing to try it!

I'm also going to try my hand at solid perfume this year - I'm using Rose floral wax and actual Sandalwood EO. *fingers crossed*

 

[kchaystack]

actual Sandalwood EO

Can I get a loan? LOL

 

[dixiedragon]

Can I get a loan? LOL

It is a TEENSY amount, 1/16 oz.

 

[PinkCupcake]

We do very small holiday gifts in my family. My wife is a long-distance runner. In the wintertime the runners use lip balm on their cheeks to keep from chapping, so I am making her a big tube of balm to use. I also made some tea tree & activated charcoal soap for after running. And for her & my mother-in-law, I'm making lotion bars, lip scrub, and lip balm. We're gonna be so soft & smooth!

 

[TeresaT]

I am making double mint soap with candy canes in the tops. (Hmmm...who was it that posted a thread about not understanding the whole food and glitter on soap?) I am also making applesauce. 138 pounds of it. I bought 4 bushels of apples and I've canned 46 pounds so far. I have another 23 pounds of sauce in the fridge. Too tired to can tonight. Tomorrow is canning and soaping. I hope I don't get the ingredients confused.