Make Your Own Lip Balm / Chapstick

Who doesn’t need lip balm? I feel like we are constantly losing ours, so even more reason to make them. Not only is making your own lip balm fun, and easy–it’s also a great activity to do with your kids. They will take pride in making their own lip balm, designing their own label, and then hopefully not losing it! But even better, this is a gift that everyone could use.

 Organic Beeswax $14.95 

Sample Recipe:

• Beeswax Pastilles
• Sweet Almond Oil (grapeseed oil or coconut oil will also work)
• Shea Butter (cocoa butter or mango butter will also work)
• Essential oils (optional)
• Natural Tint (optional) (I got some organic beet root powder)
• Flavors (optional) I got some from this etsy shop.
• Can also add in jojoba oil, castor oil, grapeseed oil, evening primrose oil–any edible oil will work.

How To Make Lip Balm:

Combine equal parts: beeswax + shea butter + sweet almond oil

Take equal parts beeswax (I like using pastilles, but a candle works too), coconut oil or sweet almond oil, and shea butter and add this to a pyrex glass measuring cup.

You can heat the beeswax and oils in the microwave (if you have one) or use the double boiler method which is super easy. I got this set of two 2-cup glass pyrex cups when I started making lip balms and face lotions because you need one for waters and one for oils. These cups are great because they’re heat safe, have the measuring increments, and a nice pouring spout.

What is the double boiler? DIY version: Add about 3-4 inches of water into a stainless steel pot on the stove and place your heavy glass measuring cup in the pot (you can put some metal mason jar lids beneath the glass so it’s not resting directly on the pan–although I have done that and lived to tell about it) while it is warming up, stirring and melting the wax and oils. Don’t let any water splash into the cup. And don’t shock the glass by placing a cold glass into boiling liquid; the water does not need to boil. (Alternately you can use a metal container, or fit your glass container over the pot so it uses primarily steam to melt the wax. You only need to melt the wax, not boil it.)

Once your butter, beeswax and oil mixture is melted, remove from heat and add any additional oils, colors or flavors and stir until combined. Then carefully pour into your containers. Be careful it’s hot! You can use a plastic dropper, but I prefer pouring slowly with the measuring cup. The wax mixture hardens as it cools, so reheating may be necessary.

Set aside your lip balms while they cool, and don’t cap them until they’ve reached room temperature, or else they’ll sweat.

Want to make your own beautiful label? I got inkjet printable ones and designed my own. Or you can draw on a label, or add stickers.

 Cardboard Chapstick Containers $9.95 

Other things you will need:

• Containers: BPA free plastic white tubes  or eco friendly biodegradable cardboard style.
• Another great option is tins and tubs: rectangular tins are fun to slide open, while round ones are small and sleek and they can come in aluminum or plastic.
• These empty chapstick balls are a fun shape (or a headache if they start throwing them). More reason to give them away! They come in lots of colors, which is also a plus.

 Lip Balm Spheres $13.99 

• Lotioncrafter and Brambleberry are great places for ingredients in bulk, plus Lotioncrafter has a handy calculator if you need one.
• Many ingredients can also be bought in person at stores like Sprouts, even TJ Maxx and other natural food stores of course.
• If you want to add essential oils, be sure to avoid citrus as it can be photosensitive.

Prefer A Lip Balm Kit?

This kit contains everything you will need and it’s pre-measured: bees wax, shea butter, grapeseed oil–even peach flavor–plus 8 empty tubes and several tins, stickers and more:

 Lip Balm Kit $34.95 

Here’s another kit: contains safflower oil, beeswax, shea butter, 6 chapstick tubes.

 Lip Balm Kit $21.95 

Once you have all the ingredients to make a lip balm, you can easily make a hand salve. See how that works? The options are truly endless! These little tins would be so cute for a hand salve or lip balm. Winter is coming, how are your hands doing?

I love using a mug as packaging for another smaller gift, but it’s also a great stand alone item, especially when it’s hand painted!  I still drink out of my cups and love them dearly.

You can find simple white mugs just about anywhere. But you do need to use a special paint: this paint is just for glass, and is food safe, although I didn’t paint where I would eat or sip from. 

 Glass Paint Set $32.50 

Pebeo Vitrea 160 Glass Paint is somewhat transparent but it appears bright enough on a white cup. You could also alternately paint on clear glass. There are so many options. Once painted and dried, follow the directions to “cure” the paint in the oven.

I also got a Pebeo Vitrea 160 Black Ink Paint Marker so I could draw shapes and designs and then paint them in. The Black Marker would also be great for adding text. Black Marker, $9.04

Here is a cute set of 2 mugs which would make great hand-painted gifts. Just make sure whatever you get is oven safe–these are.

 Mugs Set $10.99 

Have a bigger family? Here is a set of 6 white mugs, ready for your children’s undying creativity and limitless energy.

 Mugs Set $27.99 

Prefer to skip the paint and just give someone a cute mug? These mushroom mugs with lids from World Market are adorable!! $8.99

I really just wanted an excuse to get my own laminator machine, because how cool are they? You can seal any drawing in paper for any reason, and no reason. But in this case, I decided to make bookmarks with my kiddos.

You can also make ornaments. I also made a chore chart to keep on the fridge for the kiddos to learn responsibilities. The options are endless!

 Laminator $33.49 

I like to use a heavier paper for this. Basically a drawing paper weight. I’m sure you can use copy paper, or construction paper. Blick is my go-to for art supplies, and I use this paper here.

Finishing touches include punch a hole for a ribbon or tassel. Every now and then Michael’s has a ribbons ‘grab bag’, or scrap bag. Here is one at Hobby Lobby for $2.99.

Art Materials To Color With:

• Pen / Sharpie
• Felt tip marker pens, assorted colors
• Colored Pencils
• Crayons
• Washable Markers
• Even collage will work! We glued things down and the laminator took it like a champ.
• Also, oil pastels will work but they will melt a little. It could be a cool experiment!

We go through a lot of markers and sharpies in our house. Even though Sharpie’s are allegedly non-toxic, they do have a stink, so open a window!

Here is a gigantic set of 72 Sharpies for $50.72

Are you understandably afraid of permanent markers? Try these washable ones instead.

 Washable Markers $14.99 

Books

Other Gift Ideas

Break Your Own Geodes

I got a few geodes a few years back, and it was a fun little project to learn about: where they’re from, how they are formed, and ultimately the surprise of breaking them open. For California folks, they will come with a Prop 65 warning, which I didn’t know until after I bought them.

California Proposition 65 Warning: This product contains one or more chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and/or other reproductive harm.

We washed our hands after we handled ours, and cracked them open outside.

I like that this kit comes with a lot of geodes, because it gives more opportunity to get some cool colors and to perfect the WHACK! Also comes with goggles, a magnifying glass, and three display stands.

 Geodes Kit $44.99 

Sick of the tiny geodes? Try the Jumbo Geodes pack:

 Jumbo Geodes $19.95 

Hardbound Artist Sketchbook

It’s an incredibly simple, but satisfying gift. So my kids’ drawings are all over the place because they generally use just copy paper (to keep up with their voracious appetite for drawing). Yes, we are responsible for the vanishing of at least one forest somewhere. (Hey its recycled paper a lot of the time) BUT, I do get these hard bound journals for them to draw in because I want to keep a record of their drawing all in one place.

They tend to spend more time on the drawings in the hard bound journal. And then I can see their transformation and progression over a period of time in an organized place. It’s fun to thumb through.

 Sketchbooks $13-$16 

Journals like this are a must. Blank pages ready for their wild and untamed imaginations! Coloring books are fine up to a certain age (don’t get me wrong my kids have tons of coloring books), but the real magic happens when they are given a blank page. Let them make their mark, discover their mark, experience the feeling of truly creating something and finding their voice with their hand.

If you have a budding artist, it may be time to step up their art supplies. This prismacolor pencil set has a range of drawing pencil hardnesses / softnesses. $19.99

The 8b, 6b, 2b are going to be very silky, black, and soft for dark areas that sink into the paper. The kneaded eraser molds into shapes and can get tiny points for highlights. It’s usually for charcoal, but can work for the woodless graphite pencils. The hard pencils (all the H’s) are going to be very light, and sharp, for sharp definition in those light areas.

And don’t forget the colored pencils. Make those drawings pop with color. Set of 60, $29.

Here is a Sargent set of 52 for only $9.00!

Don’t like the smell of Sharpies but still want that black, even, smooth line? Try a felt tip pen.

If you can cook, you can make cleansing grains!

Cleansing grains are nice because without the addition of water, you don’t need a preservative. Exfoliating the face a few times a week works away the dead skin cells and keeps the skin healthy and vibrant.

Simply combine a variety of dry ingredients and add them to glass jars. You can wrap some pretty fabric around the lid, or make your own label or hang tag.

How to use cleansing grains is easy. Just pour a small amount of dry grains into the palm of your hand, add a few drops of water, and gently scrub onto an already wetted face in little circle motions. Then rinse!

 Organic Chamomile $11.95 

Some Possible Ingredients Include:

• Dried chamomile flowers
• Dried lavender flowers 
• Organic old fashioned oats

(grind the above up in a coffee grinder)

Then in a plastic or glass bowl:

• Add in some bentonite clay
• White Kaolin clay (remember not to use a metal spoon or bowl for the clays)
• baking soda
• sugar
• few drops of your favorite essential oil

 White Kaolin Clay $14.95 

Now for the pretty jars, there are so many options. This cute set of 12 ‘honey pot’ shaped jars comes with the corks, twine and labels! $19.48

Looking for something a little more glamorous? These pink glass jars come with a rose gold lid and are very lovely! Set of 4 for $13.99