Monster Puke Bubble Bath - A Good Homemade Birthday Party Gift for a Boy (or a Girl)

Quin, my daughter, likes to make the birthday gifts that she gives to her friends. I used to be somewhat unsure about giving handmade gifts at a birthday party but I have since learned that most of my friends and their children really appreciate them. I know that my kids have more toys than they know what to do with, so it is always nice when they receive something unique and made just with them in mind. One of our standbys is play dough. What kids doesn't love it? Some moms that I know don't like it, because it can be "messy" when it dries up but you can always use it outdoors. You can find my recipe here. Crayon cakes are another favorite which you can find out how to make here. For more ideas you can look for the label "gifts you can make" on the right hand side of my blog, midway down...


Recently, Quin went to the party of a fellow preschool classmate and we wanted to make him something different. We decided that a four year old boy would probably like the idea of foaming monster puke bubble bath. Quin herself loved the idea. I found the recipe on Craftbits.com. I liked that the ingredients could be customized to our liking and the the ingredients were mostly natural. In the end, when Quin tried our bubble bath, it was not very foamy but did make the bath tub a nice green. I think it is because I used hand soap as my liquid soap when I should have used liquid dish washing soap.

Monster Puke Bubble Bath
Originally on Craftbits



Ingredients
1 cup of Olive oil
1/2 cup of Liquid soap (dish washing soap)
1/4 cup of Honey
1/2 tsp of Green food coloring
1 tbs of Peppermint fragrance or extract (I used peppermint essential oil so I used 1/2 teaspoon plus a few drops. I just wanted enough for a good scent.)


Directions
Mix all the ingredients together. We put ours in a recycled plastic peanut butter jar and had more than enough leftover for our own test run in the bath. We made a paper label to go over the PB label, put on some monster stickers, then attached a circle of recycled fabric and a plastic monster toy to the lid with hemp cord. Voila!

It was a hit with the recipient :)

A Week of Birthday Posts - #3 - Colorful Party Favors for Kids

Our daughter turned 4 this year. I still can't believe it! She is growing up so fast and it is really amazing to see her change and grow. We had a fun time planning and creating for her birthday party. She was able to help with almost everything. We decided to make the party favors she gave her friends. We often make and give play dough as a homemade birthday gift and it is always well received by both parents and kids. For the favors we decided to make play dough, one ball each of six colors per kiddo, in a goody bag tied with metallic ribbon. Each child was also sent home with a lollipop.



I will re post the play dough recipe here so you can make some of your own...



Homemade Play Dough
By Tiffany Teske

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
1 Tablespoon Alum Powder (I buy it in bulk at a health food store)
2 cups boiling water
3 Tablespoons cooking oil (vegetable)
food coloring

Mix dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Mix well until it forms a dough. Divide into however many ball you need for the number of colors you want. Knead dough balls until they no longer sticky and add food coloring according to the colors you want to make.



Here are some colors to get you started...

Pink - 1-2 drops of red
Orange - equal parts red and yellow
Purple - equal parts red and blue
Black - 3 drops red, 3 drops blue, 2 drops green
Brown - 2 drops green, 2 drops red, 6 drops yellow
Turquoise - 1 drop green, 3 drops blue
Lime - 1 drop green, 9 drops yellow


As for the lollipops, I put a rolled up washcloth the bottom of a vintage flower pot, covered it with jelly beans, and stuck in the lollies, with a bit of metallic ribbon wrapped around each stick.