I wanted to give our three daughters a very special gift for Christmas that would be something we could enjoy together! So I came up with a "Jar of Pampering & Creativity"! These could be given for Mothers Day, Christmas, to a friend going through a difficult time who could use some special pampering, or for a birthday.
I did these for Christmas, and for us to use most of together, a portion of on their own, but it can be done any way you want!
I'll let our daughter Sharnessa, one of my recipients, introduce this gift via her post on Facebook:
"I have the most thoughtful, cute mom EVER. Pictured is the Christmas gift I got from her (and Dad😉), as did my sisters.
It's a "Jar full of pampering and creativity," and there are all sorts of goodies in here: tea, bath salts, shower gel, luxury soap, custom-made nail files, chocolates, candy, and then gift certificates for Glazy Dayz, a massage, a pedicure, and money for lunch, tip for the pedi, and coffee money for two latte's (one before the pedi, one before Glazy Dayz)!!!
The goodies and massage are (obviously) meant to be enjoyed on my own, and the rest is to enjoy on a mom/daughters day out together. Is she thoughtful and adorable or WHAT?!?!!! Thank you, Momma!!"
Which she followed with several cute hashtags:
#bestmomaward #socreativeandthoughful #ilovemymomma #merrychristmastous #sweetestgiftever #seethedailygood #dailygrace #itsallgrace #thebiginthelittle
(I'm not actually the best, most thoughtful or cute mom EVER, of course, but I love that she thinks I am!)
CONTENTS
As the title of this blog post reveals, there are two aspects of this gift:
PAMPERING - The "pampering" aspect was massages, pedicures, espressos, candies, bath oils and salts, mulling spices, Sweet Dreams tea, and going out to lunch.
CREATIVITY - And the "creativity" part was going to Glazy Dayz (Paint Your Own Pottery) to paint whatever they wanted.
You can include anything you want in your jar! What I share is not the "perfect" choice of contents for a Jar of Pampering and Creativity; it's just what I included in mine, knowing what my girls would enjoy! Include whatever your recipients would enjoy!
Here are all the contents laid out...
And coming' right up is a closer look at each of the individual contents (and where you can can get some of them on Amazon), how to make the little spa girls, thoughts on the jar (and a link to the large, 2-quart one), plus a free printable for the Guide and the money tags!
HERBAL TEA
(with a pamperish name)
Any tea is fine, of course, especially if it's her favorite, but I wanted one with a name that went along with the idea of pampering. (And for a busy mom with busy kids, a NAP ~ with or without dreams ~ is the ultimate in pampering.)
TRAVEL
TOOTHBRUSH + TOOTHPASTE
These are so cute and handy!
SPECIALTY
SOAP
Mine is doTERRA, but any nice soap will work! You just need to put it in a bag of some sort. Tie at the top with a bow.
MASSAGE OIL
She could take this to her massage, if she so desired, but it's mostly for use at home.
TEST TUBES
of:
Lemongrass Bath Salts
which I made; here's how!
Bath Pearls
which I purchased in a large jar
and put some into a test tube
Mulling Spices
which I made (combined,
actually) and put into a test tube.
Tell your recipient to
"Just add apple juice!"
GIFT CERTIFICATES
for
Pedicure, Glazy Dayz,
and a Massage
I rolled up two of the gift certificates really small and tied them with a tie or a bow. The massage certificate had a little card attached, so I just folded it up.
MONEY
for
INCIDENTALS
for the
EXCURSION
I didn't want the girls to have to pay for even one little thing for the entire day, so I thought it all through ahead, where all we'd be going, and came up with:
tip money for the pedicures
coffee money for the pedicures
money for lunch
coffee money for Glazy Dayz
I got the correct bills for all of these money packs, specifically requesting "no tattered bills" since these were part of the gifts. Not having to pay for tips or coffees just added to the "pampering" experience.
SPA GIRLS
I made these little cuties out of cotton discs (or rounds), make-up applicators, ribbon roses, and emery boards. (I found this darling idea on this site by Tiffany Michaels, and want to give credit where it's due!)
These are not something you make "precisely"; you sort of wing it as you go. I share my tips for how I made mine...
BASIC
INSTRUCTIONS:
SUPPLIES:
3 flat cotton rounds
1 make-up applicator
1 ribbon rose
10" of narrow white ribbon
2 emery boards
photo of your recipient glue dots + glue
DIRECTIONS:
1) Connect the two emery boards at the top with a few glue dots. (You don't want it to be able to move.)
2) Attach a tiny rose to one end of a make-up applicator.
3) The hard part: Find a picture of your recipient and resize it to fit the head part of your spa girl. (about 1 inch high) Cut it out, allowing extra at the neck to attach it to the emery boards, and enough all around it to be able to wrap a cotton disk around it and still have the face itself show. (Easier: Just find ~ or even have a child draw ~ a face from wherever you can find one!)
4) Attach the head to the top of the emery boards with 2 or 3 glue dots.
5) Wrap a cotton disk around the head to make it look like a towel wrapped around her wet hair. I cut off some of the disk out of the back, and had to use tape and glue dots to get it to stay in place. I didn't care how it looked in the back (which wasn't good!), but as long as the front looked cute, I was happy! This took a lot of trial and error, and I did each of three of my little spa girls differently. So you'll just have to experiment. It's worth the trouble, so don't give up!
6) Wrap one of the cotton disks around the two emery boards like a little robe. I folded the top part down to create a collar. (Tiffany didn't and it's just as cute!) Mine just handled better doing that.
7) Place the ribbon on your work surface, lay the spa girl in her robe in the middle of that, lay your make-up applicator rose on top of the "robe." (The tricky part is holding all this together!) And now tie a bow in the front to hold it all together. (When things don't want to stay where I want them, that's when glue dots come in handy!)
THE GUIDE
I needed a way to explain the contents that was clear, and that they could refer back to, so I created a little guide and gave it a nice cover. (See the photo above.) It was too hard to get the front aligned with the inside contents on the backside, so I printed both separately, cut them out, and glued the cover title piece onto the front! Much easier!
And here's the inside, with a note from me to the girls on the left, and the Event Menu and Planner on the right...
An edited (better) version of this is included in a free printable:
FREE PRINTABLE
of
THE PAMPERING GUIDE:
(editable but not as stable)
(stable, but not editable)
THE CONTAINER
You can use any size jar you want, but obviously the more you put in your jar, the larger it needs to be. A quart-size jar would work fine for just a few items, or a 2-quart jar for twice as much ~ which is what I used for my girls! (If you have a lot of stuff, you could use a gallon jar!) Mine came in a set of six jars, which are twice the size of a regular canning jar, with the same wide-mouth top, including the ring and lid.
Okay! The
blog post itself is
officially "done," but
there's more for anyone
who'd like to see...
US
ENJOYING THE GIFT!
Would you enjoy seeing us enjoying "all the above." If so, here we are on the actual Day of Pampering and Creativity!
Here are the four of us getting our pedicures ~ in massage chairs! (Those phone-look-alikes with blue and green "keys" are actually the massage chair controls.)
Carlianne and Sharnessa (my youngest and oldest) grabbing the lattes!
All four of us at Glazy Dayz, ready to get going on the "creating" aspect of our special day!
Chrissy just starting to work on her fruit bowl at Glazy Dayz! (This was the first ceramic item she ever painted!)
...and with her beautiful finished fruit bowl, which is now ready to be fired!
Carlianne blowing bubbles with the ceramic glaze!
...And here she's applying said bubbles to her pet food bowl.
Sharnessa pulling the (actual) lace off of her bowl... (She first paints the bowl white, then applies the lace, then paints the color over that.)
...and the beautiful, ready-to-be fired finished product!
All four of us at Glazy Dayz, mid-projects!
We also went out to lunch, but the lighting was so low, I couldn't get a good picture. So I'll just say that lunch was yummy and the company delightful!
It was a full and wonderful day! I had a blast blessing my girls, but I was just as blessed myself in doing so! As this saying goes...
Yes, I gave the "rose" ~ pampering and creativity ~ but I was blessed back triple-fold by getting to spend this sweet time with these three amazing, precious-to-me women!!!
I'd love to hear if
you did something similar,
and what you did!
