Holiday Soap Recipes

The holidays are a great time to try new things, and this year could be the opportunity to try your hand at soap making. Beautiful handmade soap makes a great gift that many people enjoy giving their family and friends during the holiday season. A few simple recipes with seasonal scents can help make a dent in that never ending holiday to do list.

"Orange Spice" Foaming Hand Soap

Hand soap is something that we all need and can be a super simple handmade gift for those people in our lives that appreciate practical gifts. Sweet orange, cinnamon, and ginger essential oils combine to make a sweet and spicy scent that suits the holiday season and the rest of the year. Sweet almond oil and vegetable glycerin give the soap a nice slip and help keep our hands moisturized when we are washing them frequently.

Ingredients

• 16 ounce Foaming Soap Dispenser
• ¼ cup Unscented Liquid Castile Soap
• ½ cup Distilled Water
• 15 ml Sweet Almond Oil
• 15 ml Vegetable Glycerine
• 0.5 ml Sweet Orange Essential Oil
• 0.4 ml Cinnamon Cassia Essential Oil
• 0.25 ml Ginger Essential Oil

Instructions

Add all the ingredients to the foaming soap dispenser, replace top, and shake well to combine.

"Three Wise Men" Melt & Pour Soap Recipe

Sometimes you just can’t get better than the classics. The three wise men and their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh hold a strong holiday connection for many people. The classic combination of frankincense and myrrh is balanced out by fresh cedarwood and tangerine for a well rounded holiday scent. Gold sparkle liquid colorant turns the soap into a shiny gold bar. The tangerine oil may also add an orange hue to the soap.

Ingredients

• 1lb Shea Butter Melt and Pour Soap Base
• Approximately 10ml Essential Oils or Fragrance Oils
  • 3 ml Tangerine Essential Oil
  • 2.25 ml Cedarwood Essential Oil
  • 2.25 ml Frankincense Essential Oil
  • 2 ml Myrrh Essential Oil
• Gold Sparkle Liquid Colorant
• 99% isopropyl alcohol in a misting spray bottle

Instructions

1. Chop the melt and pour soap base into smaller pieces and add to a heat safe bowl.
2. Place the bowl on top of a pot with a few inches of water in it. Bring the water to a boil and gently melt the soap, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove the soap from heat and add essential oils and thoroughly stir everything together.
4. Add liquid colorant, a little at a time, until the desired gold color is reached.
5. Pour into your mold or molds and mist the top with 99% isopropyl alcohol to dissipate any air bubbles.
6. Allow to cool and harden at room temperature for at least two hours.
7. Remove the soap from molds and wrap tightly for storage.

"Hot Cocoa" Bar Soap

Who doesn’t love snuggling up and enjoying a nice cup of hot cocoa during the colder months? A warm bath and a bar of hot cocoa scented soap can help invoke that cozy feeling as well. Chocolate fragrance oil creates a delicious cocoa scent while vanilla cream fragrance oil hints to the sweet marshmallow additions. Superfatting this recipe with unrefined cocoa butter adds to the chocolatey scent as well as some extra moisturizing power.

Ingredients

• 8.4oz Olive Oil
• 8.4oz Coconut Oil
• 8.4oz Palm Oil or Beef Tallow
• 2.8oz Cocoa Butter
• 8oz Distilled Water
• 4oz Sodium Hydroxide Lye
• 30ml Vanilla Cream Fragrance Oil
• 30ml Chocolate Fragrance Oil
• ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder

Instructions

1. Weigh and combine your fragrance oils, then set them aside.
2. Weigh each vegetable oil and combine them in a large bowl. Place the bowl on top of a large pot about ⅓ full of water. Bring the water to a boil. Heat the oils until fully melted and blended, stirring occasionally.
3. While your oils are melting, weigh out the lye and water in two separate bowls. Slowly add the lye to the water while gently stirring until the lye is fully dissolved and the liquid is clear.
4. Let your oils and lye mixture both cool to 120 degrees or below, ensuring that they are within 10 degrees of each other.
5. Place your immersion blender into the oils, tapping it on the bottom of the bowl to release any air bubbles.
6. Slowly and gently pour your lye water into your oil mixture. You can pour down the side of your bowl or down the shaft of your immersion blender to reduce the chance of splashing.
7. Pulse your blender a few times, watching as the oils and lye start to combine. Switch between short pulses and stirring with the blender until the mixture comes together to a light trace.
8. Working quickly, stir (do not blend) in the fragrance oil blend.
9. Once your soap reaches about a medium trace, pour the soap mixture into your mold, scraping the bowl to ensure no soap is left behind. Tap the molds on your table or counter to release any trapped air bubbles.
10. Gently sprinkle cocoa powder on top of the soap before covering the mold.
11. Cover the mold and allow the soap to sit in the molds for 48-72 hours at room temperature. Unmold soap, cut into bars, and allow to cure for 4-6 weeks.

More holiday scent blends for your own soap recipe

Take your favorite soap recipe and combine it with these festive essential oils and additives for a seasonal soap.

Orange Spice Soap

• 4 parts Sweet Orange Essential Oil
• 2 parts Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil
• 1 part Ginger Essential Oil
• Ground cinnamon

Don’t add any colorants to this recipe and stir in the ground cinnamon at a medium trace, just before pouring into the molds. This will create a beautiful speckled bar with a light exfoliant quality.

Christmas Tree Soap

• 2 parts Cedarwood Essential Oil
• 2 parts Fir Needle Essential Oil
• 1 part Peppermint Essential Oil
• Green liquid colorant

Create a zig zag or swirl pattern with the green colorant and white color of the soap base to evoke snowy winter woods. The touch of peppermint gives this soap a fresh note.