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Body scrubs make great gifts and are easy and inexpensive to make. Make sure to keep one for yourself!

I love when I can find things to make with the kids as gifts.

And a few months ago someone posted a link for Domino Sugar’s recipe for a sugar scrub.

Way too easy.

Then I saw another, over at Chin Deep, and then one at Good Life Eats

Greenbean’s Crafterole has one, and so does Northern Cottage.

There are so many ways to make a body scrub, you can go as simple as hand dish soap and sugar to buying all the fancy oils at the craft shop and kosher salt.

What the girls and I figured out was this.
Do what you want.
It’s a body scrub, meant to help remove dead skin and rough spots.

Now there are a few good tips we want to share, along with what we did for our scrubs.

First-
Your container-use whatever you want as long as it’s spill proof, but do consider where it will be used.
One of the sites I visited mentioned glass in the bathroom is a bad combination.

Luckily, you can buy these nice plastic screw top storage containers. Problem solved.

Also, don’t make your container too big. Especially if your going with all the special essential oils, that can be a big dollar investment.

Now the only thing you really need to have to make a scrub is granulated sugar and liquid.

Body Scrub Recipe #1

Sugar and Dish Soap

Measure your sugar into your container, then pour it into your mixing bowl. Now add the liquid soap till you have the right consistency.

I had to try this to believe it so we made some last week. I kept it by the kitchen sink and every night after I finished the dishes, I gave my hands a little mini massage with the scrub. Wonderful!

Body Scrub Recipe #2

Using Sugar and oil

Again, measure sugar into your container then pour into mixing bowl.

Use any oil you want, Domino’s recipe uses vegetable oil, I saw one recipe using olive oil, another sunflower oil, then you have your essential oils (vitamin E, blah, blah, blah)

We went with the vegetable oil. (We tried one with the olive oil but the oil scent was too strong for my tastes)

Now here’s what I really liked about the body scrubs we made. Northern Cottage’s recipe made a light bulb go off for me. Her recipe had peppermint extract in it.

I’ve got tons of that stuff. And I like when a scrub smells good!

Depending on the size of your container will decide how much extract you need. We started with 1/2 teaspoon for a small container.

Then we added our oil and adjusted to taste (smell, you know what I mean.)

Then spoon back into container, wipe your rim off and add lid.

For our plastic containers, we used about 2 teaspoons of extract.

My top 3 picks for extracts for body scrubs are

Peppermint
Lemon
Chocolate

We also tried using lemon juice but I wasn’t thrilled with how much we needed to add to make it smell lemony and also worried about the spoilage factor. You could try lemon or orange zest.

Now make it look pretty with some ribbon. I found these cute tags at Dollar General, for just $1.00

And you know somethings good when you’re sitting at the table telling your daughters which flavors you would be happy to receive as a present….

Easy Sugar Body Scrubs

Materials

Sugar
Soap or Oil

Instructions

Measure enough sugar to fill your container 3/4 full.
Pour the sugar into a mixing bowl.
Add soap or oil of choice to make the mixture easy to apply.
You can add additional scents as mentioned above.
You can use different soaps for different uses. (kitchen, bath, or hand soap)

Notes

If you are using essential oils you need to use a glass container as those oils don't always react well in plastic.

If you’re looking for additional gift ideas, here are some more.

Comments

Carrie - ASassyRedhead.com says

December 7, 2011 at 1:40 am

Let me tell you…my mom started making the sugar scrub with oil about a year ago and I AM ADDICTED.

I am a freak when it comes to skin care. Will NOT go to bed with makeup on, constantly cleansing, moisturizing, etc. This stuff mom makes is by far, some of the best stuff ever.

Better than any of the commercial stuff on the market, I’ll say that.

I’m sending this to her…she’s gonna LOVE THIS!

Jenna @ Newlyweds says

December 7, 2011 at 10:15 pm

What a fabulous gift Idea, I think I will make some for myself, I just love sugar scrubs, never thought to make them myself.
I pinned this!

Thanks for sharing at Newlyweds Recipe Linky!

Melissa Placzek says

January 3, 2012 at 7:41 pm

great minds think alike 😉 I made rosemary mint body/hand scrub for Christmas gifts this year! mmmmm….there’s something heavenly about the simple indulgence of homemade bath and beauty products. so personal too!

Joan@chocolateandmore says

January 4, 2012 at 4:37 am

Melissa, I’ll have to update this post, I do have a link to your first scrubs but didn’t realize you had done another. Just wish I could find some of your ingredients locally, I hate waiting for things when I have to order them, hehe

Melissa Placzek says

January 4, 2012 at 5:01 am

What ingredients are you having a hard time locating? 🙂

Easy Sugar Body Scrubs