Summer is finally here! For my family, summer is our favorite time of year. We love spending as much time as possible outside. Sidewalk chalk, playing on the play set, bikes, tricycles and bubbles are some of my kids’ favorite outdoor activities. This year I thought we were all set for summer. The Easter bunny brought my girls plenty of bubbles and sidewalk chalk to last us all summer, or so I thought. The bunny had no idea what he was up against since my 2 1/2 year old is “Miss Independent” and insists on blowing bubbles all on her own. Some battles aren’t worth fighting so we let her and after about a month our bubble supply was gone!
Instead of going out and buying more bubbles I decided to just DIY. The pins that I saw for homemade bubbles all had similar ingredients and the ingredients were all things I had at home. The bubble recipe I used called for liquid dishwashing soap, light corn syrup, and water. That’s it. Just mix them together and store them in an airtight container. I mixed mine together in a big pitcher so that the girls could help make their own bubbles. They thought it was awesome!
When I was on Pinterest looking for pins to make homemade bubbles, I also found several pins for homemade bubble wands. I found an easy one that used paper straws. I had a couple of boxes of those in my pantry that were leftover from birthday parties so I thought I would give that pin a try too. I used seven paper straws and kept them together with tape. The pin I found used washi tape but I didn’t have any of that so I just used regular Scotch tape. It worked just fine.
The homemade bubbles were a big hit at my house. The bubbles were big and smelled great (we used green apple Dawn). Like the pin mentions, they are a little sticky but not bad. Maybe the bubbles were better than store bought ones or maybe the girls just liked them more because we made them together at home. Either way, they were fun and easy!
The bubble wand looked cute but for me it was just okay. I should preface this by telling you all that I am not the best bubble blower! I remember when my oldest went to Gymboree. She loved the bubbles, loved them. One weekend they were having a sale on the bubbles and the bubble wand they used during class. I bought some and couldn’t wait to get home and blow the Gymboree bubbles outside. Turns out it is not as easy as those Gymboree teachers make it look. I had to play around with the bubble wand before I was able to get any bubbles out at all. Maybe it’s just me. But – getting back to the homemade bubble wand, I found that it worked about half of the time. When it did work, it was great and made a lot of fun bubbles. The good thing is that it didn’t cost me anything to make since I had the supplies at home already. If you are a better bubble blower than me (which I’m sure you are), go for it and try the bubble wand.
I’m glad I decided to make these bubbles at home instead of buying them at the store. It was a fun activity to do with my girls and I’m sure we will be making more before the summer is over!
Carrie’s Tips
- The pin I used mentioned that the bubbles will last a week when stored in an airtight container. Our bubbles lasted longer than that. If you don’t use them all in a week, try them out before just throwing them away
- These would make great, inexpensive birthday party favors!
Find these pins on my Well, that was Pinteresting board at:Â pinterest.com
