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My sister-in-law Katie is getting married this summer and I volunteered to make sugar scrubs as favors for her bridal shower.  Oh, I think they turned out so cute!  Here’s a bunch of pics and step-by-step directions in case you want to make some of your own.

Homemade organic lemon sugar scrubs

I created a basic label to put on the top of each mason jar and printed a sign to frame and display with the favors.  I’m including the label as a free printable below and you can make a sign with your guest of honor’s name in Microsoft Word.  Don’t you just love how it all turned out?!

How to make organic sugar scrubs as gifts

I love cute, thoughtful, and practical favors.  No junky trinkets, please.

I use homemade citrus sugar scrubs on my hands and feet all the time, and I hope the shower guests have fun experimenting with these scrubs at home.  These sugar scrubs are exfoliating, moisturizing, and smell fantastic!

diy-natural-cleaning

If I made these sugar scrubs, you can too.  They only took two hours from start to finish, and most of that time was spent washing and labeling the jars. I had a few little helpers, but I think making these with a friend would be a lot of fun.

sugar scrub ergo

(Love her.)

Here are the ingredients that I used and why…

Coconut oil is moisturizing, healing, and has super powers.  (Kidding, but it is fantastic.)  It’s solid at room temperature and melts at temperatures above 76 degrees F.  I love coconut oil so much that I use it in all of my homemade skincare and beauty products. (Like my homemade coconut oil lotions and chapsticks, and magic coconut oil sticks.)

Sugar acts as the exfoliant in these sugar scrubs.  It’s sweet, cheap, and safe enough to eat.  Enough said.

Lemon essential oil adds the perfect scent to these sugar scrubs.  If you’re new to essential oils, they’re all-natural extracts from the aromatic parts of plants.  I used lemon essential oil in my scrubs because it smells amazing and I thought it would be a crowd-pleaser.  Plus, we were planning a lemon theme for the shower because the wedding colors are navy and yellow!

I packaged all of my sugar scrubs in glass jelly jars. To be honest, they were the cheapest and cutest containers that I could find.

sugar scrub ingredients

I wanted to use high-quality, but affordable materials to make my scrubs.  Here’s a detailed cost breakdown…

  • Organic virgin coconut oil from Amazon.com = $42.17 total for two 54 oz containers
  • Granulated white sugar from Walmart = $1.98 for a 4 lb bag (A 4lb bag contains about 9 cups of sugar and I used 7 cups in this project.)
  • Organic lemon essential oil from my online store = $14 total for 10ml bottles (now available on Amazon)
  • Glass jars from Walmart = $25.41 total for 36 4oz jars ($8.47 for each box of 12)

You can buy your materials wherever you want, but these are the best products that I found for the best price.  (And I spent a lot of time shopping around!)

I spent a grand total of $83.56 to make 36 sugar scrubs.  That works out to a cost of $2.32 per scrub.  I think that’s a great price for a very nice shower favor or homemade gift.   

sugar scrubs one box

If you want to make your own sugar scrubs as shower favors or gifts, here’s everything you need to know…

Homemade Sugar Scrub Tutorial

Yields: 36, 4 oz jars of lemon sugar scrub  (I had a little bit of extra sugar scrub leftover.  I think you could make three more scrubs if you had more jars on-hand.)

Ready in: Two hours (If you want to save time and don’t mind spending extra money, print labels on sticker paper instead of cutting/taping regular printer paper labels to each jar.)

Difficulty: Easy 

Materials

  • Two 54oz containers of SOLID organic virgin coconut oil (If your coconut oil is liquid, store it in a cold place until it turns into a solid because it won’t mix evenly with the sugar if it’s melted.)
  • Seven cups of granulated white sugar
  • Two 10ml bottles of organic lemon essential oil
  • 36, 4oz glass jelly jars
  • Labels for the jars (Make your own or download and print my design: FREE Organic Lemon Sugar Scrub Printable Label)
  • From Kitchen: Large mixing bowl, large mixing spoon, paper towel or towel to clean up messes, small spoon to fill jars, scissors and tape (if using printable labels)

Directions

1.  Wash your jars, lids, and screw bands in hot, soapy water.  Air-dry them or dry with a towel.  (For more info about the anatomy of mason jars, check out my canning for beginners blog post.)

2. Cut out your printable labels and tape to jar lids with a rolled piece of tape.

sugar scrub label tape

sugar scrub jars

3. Combine the coconut oil, sugar, and essential oil in a large mixing bowl.  (Unless you have an insanely huge bowl, you will need to do half at a time and repeat the process when done.)

sugar scrub ingredients with essential oils

4.  Stir until smooth and well-combined.  (Think: mashed potato consistency.)

sugar scrubs

5.  Fill your jars about half-way and pat down with the back of a spoon to evenly distribute in the jars and remove air bubbles.

sugar scrub assembly

sugar scrubs 2

6.  Fill the jars the rest of the way and pat again with spoon to smooth the top.  (You’ll want each jar to be filled to the bottom of the screw lines.)

sugar scrub 1

7.  Add the lids and screw bands.

scrubs with printable labels

8.  Store in a cool, dry place until ready to display and gift.

finished sugar scrubs

Nitty-Gritty Directions (without pics)

  1. Wash your jars, lids, and screw bands in hot, soapy water.  Air-dry or dry with a towel.  (For more info about the anatomy of mason jars, check out my canning for beginners blog post.)
  2. Cut out your printable labels and tape to jar lids with a rolled piece of tape.
  3. Combine the coconut oil, sugar, and essential oil in a large mixing bowl.  (Unless you have an insanely huge bowl, you will need to do half at a time and repeat the process when done.)
  4. Stir until smooth and well-combined.  (Think: mashed potato consistency.)
  5. Fill your jars about half-way and pat down with the back of a spoon to evenly distribute in the jars and remove air bubbles.
  6. Fill the jars the rest of the way and pat again with spoon to smooth the top.  (You’ll want each jar to be filled to the bottom of the screw lines.)
  7. Add the lids and screw bands.
  8. Store in a cool, dry place until ready to display and gift.

Note: If the coconut oil in your scrubs ends up melting, it’s no big deal.  Tell guests to shake or swirl the ingredients or mix together by hand.  I store homemade scrubs in my shower at home and mix and remix them all the time.  

Fun Fact: Sugar doesn’t “melt” until somewhere around 366 degrees F.  Actually, it decomposes at that temperature, meaning it turns into caramel and can’t be changed back into the granulated stuff.  Unless you’ll be boiling your scrubs, I don’t think you have to worry about them melting and re-hardening.

 

My husband’s aunt threw the bridal shower and once I got there I was so glad that I spent so glad that I spent so much time on the favors.  The details blew me away.  Here are some of the finishing touches.

shower

shower 6

shower 3

shower 2

shower 4

How to make organic sugar scrubs as favors or gifts

Wishing many, many years of wedded bliss to Katie and Lindley!

Questions?  Please leave a comment below!

 

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[…] got the idea to make pink lemonade chapsticks when I was making lemon sugar scrubs as favors for my sister-in-law’s bridal shower, but I ran out of time and money and had to put the idea on the […]

julie
julie
7 years ago

cant wait to give it a try

Amy Gilliland
Amy Gilliland
9 years ago

Is there anyway that you could make me some labels that are purple instead?

Tammy Sakony
Tammy Sakony
8 years ago
Reply to  Amy Gilliland

Loved this idea and I’m making them for my future daughter-in-law’s shower. I used 9 cups of sugar to make the scrub a little rougher and bought round sticky back labels at Staples. The labels by Avery were $16.49 for a pack of 96. They have online design templates so you can create your own.

Diana
7 years ago
Reply to  Tammy Sakony

Do you know what # Avery sticker you used? Thanks.

Joanne Kokoszka
Joanne Kokoszka
9 years ago

Love this idea for my bridal shower favors. Bride’s colors are pink and black and was wondering if you could make the labels in pink? Either way, I would like to have them emailed to me so I can print them on sticky paper to attach to the jars.
Thanks for the great idea!!

Jordana
Jordana
9 years ago
Reply to  Kelly McNelis

Would you mind sending me the purple labels too?

Chris
Chris
6 years ago
Reply to  Jordana

I need purple labels too plz

Keeley
Keeley
8 years ago
Reply to  Kelly McNelis

Hi! Do you have the labels in Lime Green, Kelly Green, or Pink? If so could you please send them to me! Thanks!

Natalie
Natalie
7 years ago
Reply to  Kelly McNelis

Hi Kelly! I love this idea for my bridal shower. Would you mind sending me the recipe for the grapefruit scrub and labels? Thanks in advance.

Carol Sakamoto
Carol Sakamoto
7 years ago
Reply to  Kelly McNelis

Hi Kelly,
Awesome site! I just saw this and my daughter’s wedding colors are Silver, Jade teal color and some white.
Do you have something in Jade color for label? Also, if I wanted to do a lavender scrub, what would you recommend?
Thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated.

Jill Petrush Rogers
7 years ago
Reply to  Carol Sakamoto

Carol, Thank you so much! Here’s a recipe for lavender scrub, which includes a printable label (unfortunately, it’s purple). https://thefamilyfreezer.com/2014/05/28/homemade-lavender-sugar-scrub-coconut-oil/ If you want to tackle them on your own, I would suggest finding an Avery label that fits whatever container that you’re using. That way you can eliminate tape and choose whichever color ink you’d like. The labels will have printer settings listed, so it should be pretty easy. Good luck & congratulations on your daughter’s upcoming wedding!

Leslie
Leslie
9 years ago

Just to be sure you mix every ounce of oils etc into seven cups of sugar correct?

Terri
Terri
9 years ago

These are a great idea!!
Would it be possible to substitute the lemon essential oil for your lavender?
Also, how did you make the labels in Microsoft Word? I was interested in making them in a purple hue.

Karen
Karen
9 years ago
Reply to  Kelly McNelis

Can I use any of your essential oils in place of the lemon? I’m looking at the peppermint 10ml on Amazon.

Brittany
Brittany
9 years ago

How long do they keep for? My sister’s shower is in May and I’m due in April so I want to make things in advance if I can so I wasn’t sure how long the srub is good for or if it ever goes bad. Thank you

Mary
Mary
4 years ago
Reply to  Kelly McNelis

My apartment does not have AC and we are about to go through a heatwave. I was thinking of making them over the next few days with the shower happening in 10 days…it would be fine for the week, right? Should I stir them every now and again? Or can I put them in the fridge each evening for about 1 hr to cool them down? Any advice would be welcomed!