Handmade soap bars can make pleasant and thoughtful gifts during the holiday season. Use a variety of soap making supplies to make customized bars for friends, family, or guests. Here are four creative holiday soap ideas:
Getting Started
Pick a Customizable Base
Melt and pour soap bases are key soap making supplies for experienced makers or those new to the craft. These bases are made with a variety of ingredients, including oatmeal, aloe, or cocoa butter, making it easy to pick non-allergenic or plant-based options. Select transparent or opaque white soap bases that enhance added colors.
Stock Soap Making Supplies
Add fragrance oils, molds, colors, and decor to your soap-making supplies to create holiday and seasonal soaps. Focus on ingredients and supplies that enhance the season’s charms, like classic scents and traditional color palettes and images. Plan your designs in advance, so you select the best customizations for your intended gift recipients.
Holiday Soap Ideas
Holiday Scented Soaps
Enhance standard soap bases like goat milk or shea butter with festive fragrances. Using the season’s classic scents as inspiration, stir in fragrance oils like frankincense and myrrh, cinnamon, or cocoa. Or, opt for pre-mixed scents like Christmas Splendor, Cranberry Spice, or Sleigh Ride. Pine-forward fragrance oils can provide a fresh, sweet, and woodsy aroma, and adding pine needles to your bar may elevate its appearance.
Include a variety of essential oils in your soap making supplies to add health benefits to your bars. For winter soaps, add peppermint essential oils to create a candy cane-inspired soap that also has antifungal properties. Fragrance or essential oils should be added to soap in moderation to avoid drying out the skin.
Holiday-Themed Soaps
Use festive soap molds to add holiday character to your bars. Try round bars patterned with snowflakes or fir tree-shaped designs. Some molds may be imprinted with classic holiday images, like gingerbread men or a Christmas sleigh.
Stir in colored soap dyes to add a festive flair to molded or traditional soap bars. For a conventional holiday theme, use all-natural mica colors to create layers of red, white, and green. For solid-colored bars, select soap color bars that can easily be melted with neutral soap bases for vivid colors. If you are working with a standard loaf soap mold, layer colored soaps to create patterns in the bar’s center, such as holly leaves or fir trees, that can be seen when the loaf is cut. Makers could also mix in natural additives, such as turmeric, cocoa powder, or spirulina, that dye and scent soap simultaneously.
Suspended Holiday Soaps
Select a soap base that is capable of suspending particles, including coffee grounds or sea salt, that enhance exfoliation. Add dried spices or leaves, such as cardamom seeds, lemon peel, or linden leaf, for additional scents or skin benefits. Dried seasonal botanicals like peppermint leaves can add festive interest.
Embed small toys or holiday trinkets into the center of soaps for an extra Christmas gift. Transparent soaps reveal what is inside, while opaque bars offer a surprise. These soap-bar surprises can be easily customized to reflect an intended recipient’s interests.
Holiday Soap Packaging
If you are packaging soaps to sell at a holiday market, festive materials or reusable packaging can catch buyers’ attention. Select windowed soap boxes or seasonal-colored organza bags to provide buyers with a way to view and smell your soap. Wrap holiday soaps in an appealing case or gift-wrapped box to enhance your presentation of the homemade gift. Tie cinnamon sticks or artificial holly leaves onto your soaps with festive string or candy cane-striped ribbon. Sell your soap with accessories, such as a wooden dish, soap lift, or loofah, to create a thoughtful gift package. Create custom labels to adhere to soap boxes or label bands to display your company name and a festive message.
Create Holiday Soaps Today
Combine scents, shapes, and colors with a festive theme to craft custom bars of handmade soap for holiday gifts this year. High-quality soap supplies make it easy for new makers to create memorable products. Expand your offers at holiday craft sales by offering holiday shampoos, conditioners, body washes, and traditional bars. Contact bulk soap ingredient suppliers to begin crafting today.
