This past weekend I had the girls over for our 3rd Annual Girls Christmas Craft Party. This is a day I started three years back and has become a tradition that we have kept going these past few years. This year I wasn’t sure if we were going to end up doing it because my husband and I sold our house and moved in November therefore it’s been a few hectic weeks!

The craft day is open to everyone and the attendance list changes yearly. Not everyone can make each event but it’s fun to get together when possible. Each year I have planned a specific craft that we do together as a group. The first year was making our own various Christmas themed lip and body scrubs and epsom salts for the bath.  Last year we made Christmas wreaths and this year we made homemade soaps/gift bows to give out for presents (and keep for ourselves too of course!). It’s always fun to brainstorm new ideas and to get together during this busy season. Next year I may need to recreate my homemade chocolates because they were delicious and would be so much to do together! 

Since soap making requires extra time for the soap to harden, I was glad we had bow making to entertain us as well. For the bows we used the EZ Bow Maker and just watched some youtube tutorials to get us started! 

There were various different colours and we experimented with different ribbon that would match our presents, wreaths and christmas trees!

Soap making was a lot of fun because everyone was able to customize them to their own tastes. I purchased the glycerin block that was already ready to be made into soap and did not need additional items like lye etc. My friend Kusala from Kukaru Designs picked up some of the white base soap and we were able to create different kinds using the two bases. 

Getting started was quite easy because I had the “ready to go” soap base as I mentioned above. 

Items needed for soap making:

• Glycerin Soap Base
• White Soap Base
• Pots to melt in
• Aromatherapy Oils
• Toppings (dried flowers, herbs etc)
• Various molds

To get started:

1. Cut the soap base into small pieces and add into pot. Put the pot on medium heat stirring occasionally until all pieces melt and liquid is formed.

JMS TIP: Keep an eye on the pot as this liquid can boil over and cause quite a mess on the stove area!

2. While liquid is warming, gather molds and put them out on a flat surface.

3. Add in your toppings of choice to flavour the soap and make it pretty! We used various items to make our soaps – see below for ideas. One thing we did discover is that if you add items to the bottom of the mold they will float up quickly if the hot liquid is poured on them. I suggest pouring a little liquid on first and letting the “toppings” set into place before adding the full soap liquid to the mold.

Decoration ideas:

• Oatmeal
• Lavender
• Mint
• Teas
• Citrus peels
• Ginger
• Coffee Grinds
• Flowers
• Dried herbs
• ETC!

4. Once soap pieces are melted, add in your essential oil flavours into the liquid base. Stir.

5. Pour liquid into molds and let harden for atleast an hour. We had cold temperatures outside therefore we put them on the outside deck in a covered corner which worked well! 

6. Once hardened, take out of mold and they are done!

The soaps turned out surprisingly nice and are perfect stocking stuffers for this Christmas! It’s always fun to get together with the girls and create something new! 

What are your favourite Christmas diy crafts? Comment below!

Make sure to tag #jmsentertaining to show us your crafts this season!