Birthday Party for 10 year old -- wants soap making at her party!?

[sunnyskies*4*]

My DD has insisted she wants soap making at her party (this coming up Friday) since last year when her older sister did it at her party last year.... BUT I am not totally on board with this since it was a disaster with the older DD's party. I had bought the "Life of the Party" soap making kit last year and it all looked so fun and cute but the results were anything but, the smell was not what we expected (supposed to blueberry smell but it smelled yucky not nice and fruity) and the girls were bored since there were only two trays for pouring the soap and 5 girls at the party.

HELP!  What to do? Suggestions for making this party better? OR any suggestions along this line that are better suited for a party would be most welcome as well.

[MareMare]

Yeah, Life of the Party is usually the only one you can find at craft stores and it is truly wretched stuff. I have a lot of online suppliers to recommend, but not sure if it would make it in time? I think maybe you're on the east coast from your time stamp, if you were on the west coast I would recommend Brambleberry and it would totally get to you on time since they are fast with shipping.

If you are somewhere with a major soap supplier you could probably do a will call and pick up what you needed. But, in general soap making might not be good for a group because of how you said the girls got bored. It might be better for a couple girls at once, I know I only do it with my nephews when just one of them is over.

Maybe something along the lines of bath salts or bath scrubs? For either, try to get cute containers at someplace like Dollar Tree or Big lots, and fun things to decorate with like ribbon or tulle. For bath salts pick up epsom salts from walmart or a pharmacy, they are pretty cheap, and get some soap colorant from the craft store, you should be able to get a couple different colors for $3 or $4 (or maybe you have leftover from your soap kit?).  Maybe some dried herbs like lavender or rosemary to mix in, and some soap fragrance or essential oils (health food store?). Research the essential oil first, not everything is appropriate, but mint or lavender is fine. Or, if you want to focus on decorating the containers rather than the salts you could do something like painting or glass etching with the girls? (not sure if glass etching is age appropriate?)

For salt or sugar scrubs get brown sugar or white or fine sea salt and mix with oil (olive, sunflower, whatever) just until saturated. You could find cute spoons/scoops/spatulas to attach to the containers too!

Ok, hope that helps, my brain is tapped!

[sunnyskies*4*]

Thanks Maremare, that really does help alot. I love the idea of the bath salts and scrubs and yes, decorating the containers would be a way better party project! I have so much crafting supplies that all I would need is some containers! Yay! (sure helps with the budget too, as I'm sure almost everyone can relate to these days!) Also I can do soap making with just my daughter and the one girl who is sleeping over the next morning since I do have left overs from last years party!

Thanks so much for the great idea! This is why I love Craftster! 

[JadedMoonlight]

You could also make it a spa themed type party, and have them make face masks and put cucumber slices on their eyes. As 10 year olds I know they might be bored after a little bit, but it might be a sort of cool "grown-up" thing for them to do. I think it depends on the kids - some think it takes too long, and some think it's what all the older girls/moms do and will eat it all up.

[smittenheart]

I love the spa idea..surprisingly enough my 11yo son loves B&B stuff..anywho,you can also add candles that they could make..like either out of beeswax or container wax pellets..would give to the whole spa feel..

have fun and let us know how it goes..

[MareMare]

The Dollar Tree has fun spa stuff, you could get those little stretchy headbands to keep their hair off their faces and pedicure kits and stuff!

[sunnyskies*4*]

Lots of great ideas here! 

smittenheart, candles would be a great idea too. I think I will keep that one for my other older DD who birthday is in 2 months. (I have 3 girls and 1 boy and they are all close in age...)

I could do the more "spa" stuff as part of the sleepover after the other girls go home since I know there are a few who would get either bored easily or take it to some crazy level (yup, got those in every class!  )

I will take pics of the party and show you how it all went. I am getting excited for this party now and the best part is the the party girl is thrilled with this idea and I have a case of medium sized mason jars to work with that I found in my stash! whoo-hoo this is good! AND I found some cool recipes for bath salts that I really want to try for myself now! It keeps getting better! 

[sunnyskies*4*]

Just letting you all know that the party was a big success  Thanks MareMare for the great idea!

Here's a pic of the jars all done and ready to take home:


The girls literally spent 3 hours on this craft and didn't even want to stop for supper since they were having too much fun with this. It was great to not have to worry about any other entertainment besides the food and the cake ofcourse!

Now the girls are already asking to do this again next year! I would certainly call that a hit! 

[smittenheart]

aaww..sunny that looks awesome..they are probably going to be hooked making beauty stuff now..thanks for the update..and Maremare is quite awesome,right..

[MareMare]

Aw how fun! They look great!