In the retail world, Christmas has officially arrived. There is Christmas music on the sound system, holiday decorations overflow into the aisles, holiday t-shirts are front and center. And that leaves me a little twitchy and itchy over the thought of gift giving. It’s too soon. We haven’t even made it through Thanksgiving yet. I haven’t yet decided on a home made gift to give!!! Last year it was a canister of this Homemade Laundry Detergent – it went over well and was easy to do. This year, I thought what about something pampering for the ladies? Something the boys can use too if they wanted, but it was pretty for the girls? And then while I was at the local Bath & Body Works it hit me – body scrubs! Sugar scrubs to be specific, because salt dries out the skin, and it’s winter, and we are all already dried out. Wait…maybe that’s why I got twitchy AND itchy about the upcoming holiday – because I’m all dried out!!! I searched the wonderful world of the internet and found a recipe that had a cute photo as well as the directions/ingredient list and adapted it for my use. I wanted a deep moisturizing scrub that would help cure that winter dryness we experience once the furnace is on while exfoliating all those dry flaky skin particles. I think this recipe does the trick. And it yields a nice batch – 6 1/2 pint jars, with about 1/2 a jar of leftovers for me to use myself!
I’ll be jazzing these jars up with some shimmery ribbon and a candy cane. What a cute gift that I hope the ladies will love! It takes very little time – I think I whipped this up in about 15 minutes and it’s easy on the budget.
Candy Cane Sugar Scrub
adapted from here
Yield: 6 1/2 pint mason jars
5 cups granulated white sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cups coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoons pure peppermint extract
In a microwave safe bowl, heat the coconut oil until melted, in 30 second bursts. Once melted, add the olive oil and peppermint extract, stirring to combine. Add your sugar and mix until no dry sugar remains. Add to jars up the 1 inch head space mark. Wipe rims, add bands and voila!
If you want to do the layering effect to make it look like a candy cane, take half of your sugar mixture and add it to another bowl. Use food grade GEL food coloring – this works the best. Mix until you have a nice consistent color and then layer it in your mason jars – one layer red, one layer white, and keep going till your jars are full up to the 1 inch head space. The red layers may leave some red coloring on your skin, but it easily rinses off with some soap.
Note: Since this is an oil based scrub, you’ll want to be careful after using it in the shower since it will leave a slick film on your tub. I usually just rub the slippery areas with my foot and it’s all good.
seasonedwithsarcasm 
These look great! I was already planning on making sugar scrub for gifts but I LOVE the candy cane idea!
Thanks Katie! They were so easy to make and smell and feel amazing. I am going to make a half batch, skipping the colored layers and fill a larger jar to have in the bathroom for ME! My little half of a half pint is almost gone!
Nice! As a companion gift, you could make some striped peppermint bath salts.
ooo that is a cute idea! For the companion to the gift I’m making little pots of peppermint vanilla lip balm! If I have room in the tin containers I have for their packaging, maybe I’ll do the bath salts. Know any good recipes?
Well played. Just shared this to my facebook page.
Why thank you, and thanks for sharing! It’s like magic in a mason jar….and if you get hungry in the shower, you can totally eat it too. You know, just in case that’s your thing.
Great recipe & tutorial! How far in advance can one make a layered jar? Doing this for co-workers, but don’t want it to be ruined if I make it too far in advance and the red bleeds. Thanks!!
Thanks so much. It’s a thicker sugar scrub, so I think you are safe on the colors not bleeding. I made mine right before Thanksgiving and it still looks lovely! Making it right now, you should be fine!
Has anyone used the part with food coloring in it? Does it come off/stain on your skin after using it?
Hi Erin! If you go really heavy on the food coloring, it can leave some red residue on the skin. It washes off easily with soap and water though, so no worries about staining the skin. You could do a lighter shade of red and it would still look lovely in the jars, or skip it all together and go for the crisp clean white. It’s still a lovely gift and a great product for dry winter skin!
You can always add crushed Candy Cane to add the color portion. Smells yummy too!!
that’s a great idea!
Reblogged this on The Shoppers Spot.
Thanks so much for the link back to my original post I am so glad you did it yours look amazing. It is such a fun and easy gift, don’t you think!
No problem Alexis! I love it!
I’m going to be trying to make this tonight. I can’t wait!
Awesome! Hope it turns out great and you have some leftover for yourself 🙂
Thanks for the recipe I made them for my kids teachers. I used beet juice to dye the sugar the color is beautiful.
You are so welcome! I would love to see a photo of it with the beet juice!