Candy canes. I'm not sure how they come into my home, as I don't purposely buy them. Yet every year, they enter my home, one by one, ultimately gracing my tree.
I admit they usually go into the trash. I don't eat candy canes as a rule. But this year, things are different. I was inspired by a recipe I'd found for peppermint sugar scrub for the bath and attempted to make it myself.
I ended up making a "poor man's version." No essential oils, no vitamin E. Instead I pounded a package of candy canes into tiny crumbs. (A great activity for a 3 year old with energy to burn and a metal measuring cup, by the way.) Then I mixed it with a cup of sugar.
Rather than add the oil at the time, I'm storing the base as-is until needed, then measure out about 1/3 cup of the mix and adding a small amount of olive oil to make a paste. This way, I don't have to worry about even stickier messes if the kids find it, or if the olive oil goes rancid in case I forget about the mix.
Anyway, I tried it, and it smelled and worked great.
Great idea! I'll have to try that next year, as we only got 2 candy canes this year, both of which ended up in hot cocoa.
ReplyDeletethis is awesome--I got a bunch of candy canes and my kids don't need any more sugar!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. I have made similar scrubs with used coffee grounds and sugar...
ReplyDeleteI made the same candy cane scrub as stocking stuffers this Christmas. I lucked out and found precrushed crushed peperment chunks in the baking isle of the store and whirred those in my blender to make them as fine as I could.
ReplyDeleteI used the rest of the package to make peppermint bark - another stocking stuffer.
Coffee grounds? I like the smell of coffee, but...Wasn't there an overly strong odor to it?
ReplyDeletehow creative!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this timely and fabulous tip! I too always end up with an abundance of candy canes and feel guilty about tossing them in the trash but guiltier still about eating them. This would be a wonderful gift as well! We're glad you joined us this week for Thrifty Green Thursday!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great tip. I like some of the other ideas in the comments, too. I never thought about using candy canes in a scrub or in baking. I just found two candy canes when I was cleaning up. I just put them in the decorations box. I'll hang them on the tree next year, if I have a tree.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this thrifty green Thursday contribution!