If you've been suffering from the Social Distancing Blues (TM, thank you) lately, you've probably been exhausting your Pinterest boards in a search for things you can do at home with or without kids. This whole quarantine thing has been great for keeping the unwanted solicitors off your door (excuse me, ma'am, do you have a moment to talk about...) but being alone and inside gets old fast. Maybe you've already tried baking bread (or creating your own yeast, if you find that it's hard to come by lately), rainbow window displays, homemade laundry detergent, or whatever.
Well, sister in quarantine: have you heard the good news about homemade bath bombs?
I had a kit gifted to me by my lovely and amazing sister, and I was waiting for the perfect time to break into it. Well, that time is now, Aprebruarytember 43rd, or whatever day this actually is.
I was pleased to find the kit made everything very easy for me, although it was with ingredients that you can probably find in your home already! I used:
2 cups of baking soda
1 cup of citric acid
1 cup of cornstarch
1 cup of epsom salt
5 Tbsp of coconut oil
1 1/2 Tbsp water
12-15 drops of essential oils
If you happen to not have citric acid on hand, you can substitute it with lemon juice or white vinegar (1 Tbsp for every 1 tsp of citric acid). You can also use cream of tartar as a substitute! I mean really, they're bath bombs. Throw whatever in there and see what works. It's quarantine, not Martha Stewart's Solitary Hour.
You're going to want a glass or stainless steel mixing bowl--and for the love of goddess, make sure it's big enough. If you think, "yeah, this will probably be okay," you're WRONG and need to pick a bigger bowl. Pick one that makes you think, "this is insanely large and I'm being paranoid." You're not, I promise.
My kit also included some cool ideas on how to color your bath bombs with natural, real colors, but I am lazy, and convinced myself that they would look more like snowballs if I left them plain. They do, and I'm satisfied with my sloth-like behavior.
So first, mix all your dry ingredients in your enormous bowl. Set aside 2 Tbsp of epsom salt to top your bombs. Mix in your oil, then get in there and start mixing (it's easier to use your hands, but you can use a spoon or whisk or canoe paddle, if that's what you want). Spritz the water if you can (1 1/2 Tbsp is about 100 spritzes) so you get the mixture crumbly enough to stick together, but not wet enough to activate the ingredients in the bowl.
Add in the essential oils of your choice (I went with lemongrass and grapefruit), and shape your bombs!
You can use any kind of mold you might have, or make them into balls with your hands and drop them into cupcake liners. That's what I did, but I remembered too late that I have an enormous skull cake pan I could have used. How awesome would a 5 lb skull bath bomb have been?
If you want to get fancy, you can put stuff in the middle of the bombs, too. If you have crystals big enough to not wash down your drain, put some rose quartz in there! Some flower petals. Maybe throw in a piece of costume jewelry so if you have a wine in the bath you might think, "HEY COOL!" for a second before you remember you did that.
You can also top your bath bombs with stuff like sprinkles, dried flowers, citrus zest, or tea leaves. Again, we're living in Mad Maxian times, people. There are no rules!*
*Except no glitter, please. Not good for the water.
