Christmas Soaps and Packaging

This year just went by in a blur! It’s 20 days to Christmas and I still have soaps curing. I soaped practically everyday from end of September to October, hoping I’d be done with Christmas packing before December.  I got a bit delayed because I needed to make more than I anticipated, and I also didn’t soap for nearly 2 weeks in November.  I should be able to complete though everybody’s orders and my personal gift requirements before Christmas.

I have not officially started selling soap, but hopefully I can do so next year. Right now it’s just my family and friends who are supporting my soapy passion. I am most grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to soap to my heart’s content and to improve my skills.

As early as August, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law placed their order for a combined  total of 250 3-pack soaps, or 750 bars (they just have that many people to give to!)  I was able to complete their orders by mid-November, all boxed-up and sent to Manila in batches.  My husband and a good friend were my soap mules (thank you!!!) since they fly between Manila and Cebu regularly.

Each pack contains one scrubby, one plain yogurt, and one with design. The soap is wrapped with kraft paper and lined with waxy sandwich paper.

“Wake Me Up” with coffee and oatmeal

I’ve always disliked using tape in my packaging. Thanks to my sister who found in her drawer a forgotten Burt’s Bees soap from ages ago, I now know how to wrap soaps in the same neat way, sans tape!  The best part is you can open the package to see the soap inside and fold it back to its original state.

Here are variations for single, trio and quartet Christmas soap packaging.   Packaging for a 2-bar set is the same as for the trio.

The wife of my brother has a small business manufacturing light-weight wooden containers/packaging for export to Japan. I asked her to make me trays in the style of crates for my soaps.  The smaller tray is stained brown, hence the darker color, while the 4-bar tray is the natural color of the wood.  I am reserving these for my personal gifts to family and friends. 🙂

I’ve made so many different kinds of soaps the past 2 months, I just haven’t had the time to blog about them.  I made 2 Christmas-themed soaps:

1. Peppermint Vanilla Noel – I already made a batch of this last October and loved it so much (click here to see the old version).  I made several more batches but changed the look to a drop swirl design, which I like a lot better.  I left the lower vanilla portion uncolored, leaving the vanillin content to naturally turn the soap tan. The upper red, green and white were scented with peppermint e.o.

2. Winter Wonderland – This has a strong, deep, and intoxicating scent – woodsy, tart, spicy, and fruity – a little bit masculine but can also appeal to women. I really like the way this smells! I used burgundy and green chrome oxides and intentionally used less color so that it looks muted.

12/8/13  Due to requests, click here for a tutorial on how to wrap soap without tape.