Do It Yourself Project #5: Soap Shower Favors

Because I didn't have enough on my plate to do already, I just had to make these insanely cute shower favors because they seemed so "us". Because everyone was so busy, the only available day to have my shower was my 24th birthday, February 5th. This also meant that the shower was on the anniversary of the day E proposed to be in Paris in front of the Eiffel tower. This project is really inexpensive, under $10.00 with coupons, and only takes an evening to complete depending on how many molds you have.

Do It Yourself: Soap Shower Favors

Company: Shea Butter Soap Base, Cello Bags Michaels
Coupon: 40% off coupon - check your local paper, it's one per item per person so bring friends!
Cost: $6.00 - Soap, $1.99 - Bags

Company: Eiffel Tower Molds, Amazon
Coupon: None
Cost: $1.99 plus shipping

Company: Essential Oils, My House or Amazon or Michaels
Coupon: None or 40% off coupon
Cost: Free if you have it or $2.25 plus shipping from Amazon or Michaels carries some 

Total Cost: $9.98

First you need your supplies...

Soap Base

Essential Oils, Orange & Lavender 

Molds, you can use any shape you want

Instructions:

Step 1: 

Using the guidelines in the soap base, cut the amount of soap you need for your molds. In this case, one cube makes one tower so we cut 3 cubs for three towers. Put these cubes in a microwave safe bowl, preferably with a spout for easy pouring. 

Three cubes in a pyrex measuring cup

Step 2:

Heat your cubes in the microwave until completely liquid, about 40 seconds. If any lumps remain, continue heating for 10 second intervals into all the soap is liquid. 

Soap in the microwave

Step 3:

Add your essential oils for scent and mix it in so it's evenly distributed. The amount you add depends on how strong you want your scent to be, for mine I used 7 drops of sweet orange and 7 drops of lavender for 3 soaps. If you're using a stronger oil you might use less or vice versa. 

I used a knife to mix so I could scrap the sides

Step 4:

Quickly pour the soap into the molds, filling each shape completely and evenly. You have a short window to make sure each mold is full because once the soap begins to set, you can't add any more without losing your smooth back.

Soap being poured into the molds

Step 5: 

Now you patiently wait about 20-30 minutes for your soap molds to set. While you're waiting, you can design some cute little tags in photoshop. I printed mine out on old pink index cards so they were entirely free. After printing them, I cut them out and used a hole punch to punch a little hole at the top.

Favor tags, about 5 minutes to complete lol

Step 6:

Now that your soap is set, it's time to remove it from the molds. The easiest way to do this is to turn the tray upside down and apply pressure to each soap, one at a time. I found it worked best when I pressed downwards starting with the top of the tower.

                  The soaps are ready!                                                   Soap pressed out

Step 7:

As you can see from the photos, each tower comes out with a little tail that needs to be come off. You can remove it with any straight surface, your finger nail, a knife, a credit card, whatever you have handy. I used the mixing knife.

The completed soaps!

Step 8:

Now that your soaps are all done, it's time to package them up. I chose to put them in cellophane bags and tie them with the black ribbon that came with the invitation kit. I attached the little favor tags with the ribbon and tied a bow. 

The bag tied and favor tag added

Volla!