Okay, so on to item number 2 in our little motel gift basket—SOAP.
ICYMI – I’m making a little retro motel-style basket for my parents’ house for their guest bedroom. It has all the vintage vibes and has been seriously easy to put together!
You can’t go to a hotel or motel without finding the little personal sized soaps in your bathroom. Perfect way to add a little personal touch and give guests that classic “hotel-feel”!
I know I am the queen of making everything harder than it needs to be, so let me add two disclaimers here:
ONE
Yes, I did look online to see if I could order mini soaps. But they were all soooooo boring. Not at all the look I wanted to go for. Very much “name-brand-hotel” and not “old-Florida-motel” vibes. Also, in the end, it did not end up being much cheaper to order pre-made bars.
TWO
This DIY soap is E. A. S. Y. I’m telling you, my daughter could have helped me make it. Starting with a melt-and-pour base is basically cheating. If I didn’t have to worry about filming/photographing for this post, it would have taken me a total of 15 minutes to make!
Sound fair? Are we on the same page? Great—let’s dive in! ‘Cause these little soaps are just the perfect handmade touch to bring the whole basket together!
HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO NEED:
- Soap base – Any melt-and-pour base should work. I used this goat’s milk one that I already had. Oh, why did I have a 2lb block of soap already? Umm… to make breastmilk soap with my leftover bags of milk. Are we at that level yet? Sorry, don’t judge me. I only used 1lb of soap for this project, and used the second half for the breastmilk soap–it turned out awesome, by the way!
- 2 teaspoons used coffee grounds + ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract (or whatever add-ins you want for your soap!)
- Soap Mold – This can really be any container if you line it with freezer paper, like I did. I do think using a silicone mold is easier, but I wanted to try the lining method so that I could report back. Love a good project where you don’t need to buy new things!
- Freezer paper
- Rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle
- Microwave safe bowl / spatula
So I roughly followed a soap tutorial I found here. She had several different soap scent varieties, but if you google melt-and-pour soap recipes, they’re all basically the same! Everything you need to make the actual soap is in the block, so it’s really just what you want to add to it!
First—choose your mold. Whether you go with silicone or a regular container lined with parchment paper, you need to start by washing it thoroughly and then spraying it with rubbing alcohol and letting it airdry to sanitize.
If you are using a regular container, cut out pieces of freezer paper to line it. I creased the corners so it would stay flat against the container (though I still had some overspill). Place the lining once your mold has airdried.
I started by dividing the block in half, since I was making mini-bars and didn’t need a ton. (Also *ahem* to save some for the breastmilk soap. Lol.) Cube the soap into about 1” pieces and throw them in your microwave safe bowl.
Melt soap in the microwave in 30 second intervals until the soap is almost fully melted. Move to 10 second intervals until you have a smooth consistency.
Add in your scents or flavors! I added just over 2 teaspoons of coffee grounds and ½ teaspoon of vanilla. Lots of recipes call for essential oils. The goat’s milk base has a pretty nice, organic smell on its own, and I figured the coffee and vanilla would give it enough scent without the oils. (Spoiler alert: I used Barnie’s Santa’s White Christmas Coffee and the soap smells HEAVENLY)
Once fully mixed, go ahead and pour the soap into your mold. The soap starts to thicken and harden pretty quickly, so make sure your mold is ready to go!
And seriously—that’s it. Most of the tutorials I read said the soap would be set in 4-6 hours but I gave it 24 hours to be safe. If you’ve used actual soap molds, you can just pop them out and be done. I made mine in a loaf style; so after removing it from the mold, I used a sharp non-serrated knife to slice it into individual bars.
A lot of the coffee grounds DID sink to the bottom of the mold, and I didn’t really consider that when I picked my container. The way I wanted to cut them didn’t end up making the soap look all that great. BUT still turned out so cute and smells so dreamy.
I then wrapped each individual slice in wax paper to keep it fresh while it waits to be used by the next guest at the “Gardner Motel”! I also added in a little sleeve with the logo on it to keep the whole look of the basket cohesive!
I’m seriously so happy with how they turned out! Stay tuned for the final installment of the motel welcome basket—this one might be my favorite!
We were created to be creative, friends—so get creating!
