Our local markets all have a section where they sell fancy soaps. Frequently, sitting with these soaps, are a bin of bath bombs. My 5-year-old has become obsessed with them. The idea of having something that smells good and fizzes in his bath is really appealing to him. The biggest problem: they’re $5 each.

The high cost, in addition to some questionable ingredients, led me to decide that we were going to make our own bath bombs. I mentioned to a friend of mine that we were going to do this, and she decided to join us.

Her joining us was beneficial for two reasons: one, she’s a lot of fun and she’s great at making things; and, two, when my recipe was failing (it wouldn’t hold together), hers came to the rescue and saved our bath bombs.

I’ll present her recipe below. Unfortunately, I don’t know where she got it. I asked her, and she didn’t remember. So, thank you to some great resource out there! If my friend finds the link, I promise to add an attribution.

Fizzy Bath Bomb Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup citric acid
1/2 cup sea salt, fine ground
2 1/2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other oil of choice; almond works well, too)
3/4 tablespoon water (plus more, if needed)
15 drops essential oil (we used peppermint – energizing – for one batch, and lavender – calming – for another)

1. Place the baking soda into your work bowl.  Add the grapeseed oil and essential oils and mix well. We mixed with our hands.
2. Mix the citric acid and sea salt together, than add those to your work bowl. Mix everything well.
3. Add water as needed until the mixture holds when you press it together. Add only the very minimum water required one drop at a time, or use a spray bottle; otherwise, you will set off the fizzing reaction while you’re mixing, instead of saving the fizzing for the bath tub.
4. Press the mixture into your molds (assorted shapes are also fun). We made 12 smaller bombs (well, assorted sizes – they were pressed by my 5-year-old) with this recipe. You could also make 6 big ones of the size we typically see in the store.
5. Let sit until completely dry (we left ours for at least 24 hours).
6. Store in an air tight container.

To use: Drop one bath bomb into your full bath tub. Enjoy watching it fizz and smelling the aroma it releases.

UPDATE:  Our bath bombs didn’t hold together super well once they dried.  I think next time we’ll add an additional tablespoon of oil.  They smelled amazing and fizzed really well.