A Bath Bomb Recipe for Fun Bath Time Fizzies

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Natural Bath Bombs

Make these natural bath bombs to use at home and also give away as gifts. They’re simple to make and are a fun and educational project to do with kids.

Looking for stocking stuffers or a nice addition to a gift basket? These natural bath bombs only take a few minutes to mix up and are a fun and unique gift idea.

You can scent them with your favorite fragrances so they will add a nice aroma and make bathwater silky soft at the same time. These will make a dainty little surprise for any of the girls on your Christmas list this year. Think moms, sisters, nieces, friends, aunts, teachers, or any other female who might like a little pampering.

Natural Bath Bombs: Scented Bath Fizzies

1. Sift the following ingredients together in a large bowl to eliminate any lumps:

2. Stir powdered mixture carefully until mixed well. Measure about 1 cup of the mixture into a glass bowl to begin the project with. (It’s much easier to work in small batches.)

3. Fill a small spray bottle with the following liquid ingredients and shake to combine:

  • 1 cup of water
  • 10 drops food coloring of your choice (optional – blueberry and beet juice are examples of natural coloring)
  • 5-6 drops essential oil of your choice (where to buy 100% pure essential oils)

Bath Bomb Fizzies 3

4. With a mixing spoon in one hand and spray bottle in the other, slowly spritz the natural bath bombs powder mixture while stirring to combine after each spritz. You do not want too much fizzing to occur during this stage or the finished product will not fizz much in the bath.

5. Use your hands to check the consistency of the mixture. As soon as the mixture holds its form when squeezed in your hand, it is ready to be packed into your baking molds.

Important: The mixture will still look very powdery when it is ready, but over-watering will cause the natural bath bombs to turn out very crumbly.

Bath Bomb Fizzies 4

6. Begin firmly packing powdered mixture into molds, filling just to the top. Let bath bombs dry for about 2 hours, then gently remove from molds. Depending on the size of your baking molds, you should end up with about 12-18 of these natural bath bombs.

Bath Bomb Fizzies 5

Tips for Better Bath Bombs

Since we make our own dishwasher detergent, we already had citric acid. However, I realize most people don’t have this lying around. We have to purchase ours at a local home-brewing supply store in the past, but you can also buy citric acid online or in the canning aisle at your local grocery store.

Coloring

Notice from the pictures that the natural bath bombs will turn out very lightly tinted, not brightly colored. Do not spray them with more of your dyed water in hopes that they will get darker, it will only compromise the finished product. Instead, add more coloring to your spray bottle if a darker color is desired.

Consistency

If you notice your natural bath bombs have “grown” while drying, this means too much water was used. These will not fizz much in the bath because the excess water has activated them and most of the fizzing action has already taken place. In order to avoid this problem, be sure to check the mixture with your hands after every few spritzes to see if it is ready to pack (see Step 5).

Molds

I bought a silicone baking mold that makes small daisy shaped fizzies and allows me to easily pop them out when dry. (I actually think the mold was designed for candy-making, but it works perfectly!) You can also use nonstick metal baking molds in any desired shape. I chose to tint my natural bath bombs green this year and scent them with lavender essential oil. Feel free to play around with different tints and scents; red tinted peppermint bath fizzies would be fantastic for the holidays.

IMPORTANT: These natural bath bombs may irritate broken skin. If giving as a gift, you may want to include this warning on a tag so bathers with boo-boos won’t have a negative bath time experience.

Gift Your Homemade Fizzies

Think about a cute way to give these away for Christmas, birthdays, or whatever. Here are a few to get you started.

Give a small bag of bath fizzies along with a bath sponge and a good book or a magazine for someone to enjoy in the tub.

Put together a spa basket for a friend, including natural bath bombs, lotion, a festive nail polish, and a furry pair of slippers. Or just stack several tinted fizzies in clear bags, alternating colors.

Don’t forget to attach a charming little tag giving instructions to “Drop one or two scented bath fizzies into a full bath, sit back, and enjoy a quiet soak in the tub!”

Check out our spinning bath bomb recipe too!

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About Betsy Jabs

Betsy holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Counseling, and for nearly a decade worked as an elementary counselor. In 2011 she left her counseling career to pursue healthy living. She loves using DIY Natural as a way to educate people to depend on themselves to nourish their bodies and live happier healthier lives. Connect with Betsy on Facebookand Twitter.

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DISCLAIMER: Information on DIY Natural™ is not reviewed or endorsed by the FDA and is NOT intended to be substituted for the advice of your health care professional. If you rely solely upon this advice you do so at your own risk. Read full Disclaimer & Disclosure statements here.

Comments

  1. Avatar photoJulie says

    Hi, Betsy! Thanks for a great tutorial! I really wanted to make some of these for stocking stuffers, but I didn’t have a clue where to find the citric acid. I noticed the label on the bag in your photo and googled the manufacturer. They have a list of retail shops on their website and I was able to find one that is local to me. I’ll be stopping by tomorrow to pick it up! I thought I’d post my findings in case someone has problems finding it.

  2. Avatar photoKara says

    So I’ve been making these, and I LOVE THEM, but I’ve had some questions about them in jetted tubs? Are they bad for your jets, will they cause my lines to crack? I’ve tried searching my tub manufacturer with no luck and I’ve searched online to see but all I ever come up with is about outdoor jetted tubs.
    Just curious if you knew any information about it…
    PS LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE your site!

    • Avatar photoBetsy Jabs says

      That is a great question Kara. We don’t own a jetted tub, and I don’t have any information on whether these will harm the lines. I would recommend calling the company that makes your tub and asking them to direct you to a department that can answer this. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful!

  3. Avatar photoJill says

    I like to use the silicone trays for making melt and pour soap. I often find them in the dollar bins at Target. They are really for ice cubes but I have found stars, hearts, and little totems. These make the perfect gift size soap and now I am going to try the bath fizzes.

  4. Avatar photoAshley says

    Thank you so much for this article!
    All the others I read weren’t as good as this one.

    I made my first batch, and it was gooey! The article I read before this one said to just add water – didn’t say anything about a spray bottle!

    I was about to give up hope until I found this article. Thanks again! Hopefully I can add these to my business. 😀

    • Avatar photoBetsy Jabs says

      I’m so glad this was helpful to you! It’s definitely one of those recipes you have to be prepared to ruin at least one batch. 🙂 Once you find the right proportions you’ll just LOVE the outcome!

  5. Avatar photoMegan Lindsay says

    We made these for all the ladies on our list (even the little ones), but had a hard time finding the molds until we went to IKEA yesterday (too late!). We ended up using plastic candy molds found at our cake decorating shop. They were more shallow than the rubberized ones, but worked just fine. But the one thing we realized–thankfully!–before giving the gifts is that we needed to put a warning on the label about the citric acid. Because of the citric acid, the fizzies will irritate broken skin. Our 6-year old found this out the hard way while taking a bath to test them out. VERY important for parents of small children to know this!

    • Avatar photoBetsy Jabs says

      Megan…thank you for this information! I’m adding this warning to the article right now. So sorry to hear about your kiddo’s bath experience with these! 🙁

  6. Avatar photoDanielle L. says

    Have my first round currently in the mold, since it was recommended to be done in batches, it’s my partial batch 🙂 That way if I messed it up I didn’t waste all of it 😛 Have the rest of the powder mix covered up thouroughly to keep it from absorbing water from the air 🙂 The food paste is working beautifully, I also only used 1/2 cup of water to keep the color intensity up, the other bottle ingredients are the same as well. I must say, (I’m using Rose colored paste, Wilton brand) the color is beautiful! I used a straw to dip into the paste container, and then put that down into the bottle and blew into the straw and swished it around down in the bottle. Color on the fizzies is quite beautiful, I thought pink would be pretty with the Jasmine oil I picked out. Thanks so much for this recipe and idea! Also I’m using a Jello Christmas Mold, has Santa, and stars and snowmen, this bombs are going to be huge 😛 So likely only one or two, but I’m really excited.

    • Avatar photoDanielle L. says

      I might have over watered this partial batch but that’s why I did it in pieces 😛 We’ll just have to see, they are swelling slightly in the forms, so I think I might have gotten over zealous with the water trying to get the right consistency. Also I used a whisk instead of a spoon to kinda disperse the liquid quickly!

      • Avatar photoBetsy Jabs says

        No worries on the “swelling” batch. They will still soften the water, make it smell nice, and fizz at least a little bit. Your ideas sound awesome! Wish I would have used food coloring paste…sounds like it’s working out well. Thanks for your tips & updates! 🙂

        • Avatar photoDanielle L. says

          Well, whatever you do, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT get impatient and over concerned with them and stick them in the microwave to try to dry them out……..because…………they puff up like marshmallows! I tested a bit of it and it was still very fizzy so not all hope is lost, but this is definitely a comical and enjoyable adventure!

          • Avatar photoSusi Matthews says

            *chuckle* Ok, that’s the best laugh I’ve had all day so far.

            I’m SO trying this. But not in the microwave.

  7. Avatar photoSarah says

    I love it! I actually have all of this stuff at home right now and with the holidays coming up there is bound to be a craft night soon. The idea of paste food coloring is great.

  8. Avatar photoDanielle L. says

    Could you use food coloring paste, I know the colors are more intense and they are less liquidy by nature. They may provide more intense color as well as less overall liquid since I’m sure many would be tempted to try for that perfect shade instead of stopping when they should 😛