More Gifts

Now that all the gifts have been opened, I can show you the brown sugar scrub the kids made for the special people in their lives. Papa, Grandma, Aunt Kathy, their teachers and babysitters all got a jar of it, and let me tell you, it's wonderful. I had to test it. I mean, I couldn't give away untested scrub, now could I. What if it didn't work? Luckily, I works really well and it was a perfect gift for a three year-old and a five year-old to make. Actually, the hardest part (for me) was getting a hold of the supplies. There isn't much call for exotic oils on Mackinac Island, though now that I've tried this stuff I'm going to have to keep a jar of it on hand all the time.

If you'd like to make a batch, you'll need:

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup sweet almond oil
• any kind of essential oil or similar to scent the scrub (if desired)
  

I bought my oil here, though I must admit, I wasn't pleased with their service. When they discovered they couldn't ship to my P.O. box they claim to have emailed me. That email never arrived, while the order confirmation did - so I know they had an accurate address. After a long phone conversation (which made it quite clear to me that customer satisfaction is not at the top of their list) they shipped the oil to me. It arrived in time for the kids to make the scrub, which, in the end, is all that really matters...

Mix the sugar and the oil, put in a tiny bit of smelly stuff (we used a very small amount of almond extract), put it in jars and you're done. One batch made just about three cups of scrub, which for us was three jars - so we ended up making three batches. I wish I could remember where I saw this recipe originally, but I do remember them saying that the recipe was basically a two to one ratio of sugar to oil - and that you could use different oils; olive, and coconut should work as well. In the end I went with the sweet almond oil they used because I try to stick to the original recipe the first time I make something...

We jarred our scrub in pint-size canning jars; dressed up with a pretty fabric circle, a direction label and a coordinated beaded spoon. The spoons were Kitchen Aid measuring spoons which had the "Kitchen Aid" part removed thanks to the help of a Mister Clean Magic Eraser. (I'm still in awe of how handy those little things are.)

The best part was watching the kids' faces as people opened the gifts they made. It was priceless...