The Heart of Jesus Jelly Soap Favors

I received my Veggie Ambassador’s “Twas the Night before Easter” kit a while ago. I like putting on events for the kiddos and love promoting VeggieTales.  I like to come up with a craft or something really fun for the kids to do that matches every new video. I was stymied. This was about Easter! I wanted something special and memorable. What to do, what to do?!

Then I came across a recipe on the internet. It was about soap of course, I love most things about soap. Bingo! The Lord led me to a very fascinating idea and it was going to be fun for the kids. Anyone can make this recipe, not just soapmakers. It is very easy to find on the web, just search for Jelly Soap. Here is my take on it.

Ingredients:

•  1 envelope unflavored gelatin (I used Knox)

•  ¾ cup of boiling Distilled water

•  1 tsp salt

•  ½ cup liquid soap (you can use bodywash, shower gel, bubble bath, shampoo. Any liquid soap)*hint: If you are going to scent your jelly soap try to get an unscented soap or very mild scent such as milk and honey.

• 2 drops Myrrh Fragrance Oil

• 2 drops Frankincense Fragrance Oil

• 3 drops red food coloring

• Preservative(at the rate according to your preservative)

Optional:

• small spray bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol

• Skin Safe Glitter

• Skin Safe micas

Instructions: 

1. Make sure your utensils, containers, bowls, molds and work area are clean and as sanitary as you can get it. I spray every time with Isopropyl Alcohol, but you can just a very diluted bleach water.
2. In a 2 cup heat proof measuring cup, add 1 envelope unflavored gelatin and 1 tsp salt. Add ¾ cup of boiling or very, very hot water. Stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.
3. Gently stir in ½ cup liquid soap. Mix well, but try not to whip in too many bubbles.
4. Let mixture cool down to very warm/lukewarm.

1. Add coloring, scent, and preservative
2. Add any other additives such as glitter.
5. Pour into molds or glass pie plate. Put into refrigerator to set.  If you put into pie plate (or other container), take a small heart cookie cutter and stamp out some hearts. Try to get as many as you can, keep scraps and cut into small pieces.

These are really fun. Package in some Easter cello bags, or make your own with snack bags and scrapbook paper. I found that freezing the jelly soap keeps it from melting too much at room temp, but it still is going to melt.

I plan to have the kids help make a batch and then give them the finished products already to go. I figure I can get an object lesson out of this. Such as, Jesus’ heart was so big that He came down off His throne to die for us. His blood washes away our sins. Note, that I used Frankincense and Myrrh fragrances instead of a sweet candy or bakery one. Tie in the gifts from Christmas and let the kids know that besides being very expensive gifts, they were typically used in the burial practices in Jesus’ time.

I hope you like this craft. I wouldn’t mind doing this one year for my Children’s Church for our Easter Celebration.

Links for Fragrance Oils and Preservatives (just a few that I have dealt with)
Mountain Majestic Sage (Great range of preservatives and fragrances and other neat stuff)
Camden Grey (Great for fragrances)
Lotioncrafter (Great for preservatives)

*Note: I feel that you should use preservatives in anything containing water. If you don't want to add it, it is entirely up to you, but since I'm giving these away to kiddos who aren't always the most sanitary, a preservative is a must for me. Adding water to anything (soap, oils etc) is asking for trouble if it is not preserved. I don't want these cute little babies getting anyone sick or growing mold gardens.