Condo Blues: How to Make Nontoxic Blowing Bubble Mix

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

How to Make Nontoxic Blowing Bubble Mix

As The World’s Most Fabulous Aunt (trademark pending) I like to do fun things with my nieces and nephews. Preferably in a way that won’t kill them. Or maim them. Because hoo-boy! Parents can get testy when you return their kid to them with a chunk missing.

Not that I would know anything about that.

When I have kid visitors, I like to have something fun for them to do. One way I keep the older kids from gluing their faces to the hand held video games they bring with them (a little rude, yo) and keep the younger ones from climbing up my walls (taking full advantage of their normally eagle eyed parents being distracted by visiting and chatting with say, me) is to make and blow bubbles! Of course this being The Condo I like to do it green and on the cheap if I can help it. Here’s how.


Make and Blow Green Bubbles!

You will need:

Environmentally friendly dish washing detergent (learn more about them here) (If you don’t have a green dish washing detergent, you can use what you have but your bubble blowing mix may not be very environmentally friendly)\

Water

Cup/jar
(Reusing an empty jar from store bought bubble mix works great for this project.)

Bubble wand, bubble blower, or something like these to blow bubbles with

Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience. 

Make it:

1. Fill the jar/cup with water.

2. Add a liberal sploosh of dish washing soap to the water. The recommended amount is 3 parts water to 1 part dish soap but as a kid (and now as a kid cleverly disguised a responsible adult) I use a liberal squirt of dish soap and it works just fine.

3. Mix the dish detergent into the water using the bubble wand, your finger, or screw the cap on the reused bubble jar and gently shake it.

4. Dip the bubble wand into the mixture and blow!

Variations:
  • Some people add glycerin to their bubble blowing mix. I have never have and mine works great.

  • I keep a small stash of bubble wands from wedding favor bubbles around to use for all of our bubble blowing needs.

  • If you don’t have bubble wands around, try making a bubble blower from twisting wire or bread twist ties (not as good as wire, but will do in a pinch) into a circle or experiment by using anything with holes in it like a plastic berry basket.

  • If it’s too cold or wet to blow bubbles outside (recommended) you can earn Fabulous Aunt Points (I’m thinking about trade marking this too) by allowing the kiddos to blow bubbles in a non carpeted room like a kitchen with an easy to clean floor (and you’re halfway there with the cleanup/mopup – they are dropping soap and water on it the floor!)

  • Some pets like to chase bubbles, which is a great way to keep them from being bored and destroying your furniture for sport.

  • Other pets don’t like to chase bubbles and think you’re trying to trick them into a bath, which they hate with a passion.
Photobucket
Especially if your name is Blitzkrieg.


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This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday.

8 comments :

Kristin - The Goat said...

trademark pending - it makes me laugh EVERY Time! LOL

Bubbles are such a fun and easy way to entertain kids and adults. What is it about them anyway? Good idea to make enviro. friendly ones :) Thanks!

Robj98168 said...

also use an old badmiton rack -makes millions of bubbles- or the evil platic rings from 6 packs on a stick make cool bubbles

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

Kirby3131 - Guilty. I blow bubbles when I don't kid visitors. Perks me out of a bad mood every time. Not sure why but it's fun!

Robj98168 - I never thought about plastic 6 pack rings. We just sliced one up and put it in the recycling - Rats!

Amy said...

My daughter and I have had lots of fun with homemade bubbles. Now I want to find a recipe for edible bubbles. I bought some one time in college as a joke for my friends birthday and they were such fun (imagine a group of college guys jumping around the room trying to eat bubbles before they land on the ground). I'm guessing my daughter would love them, too.

Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom said...

LOL! I tried the glycerin recipe last year and it worked for awhile, I like your idea of the simpler and smaller batch process. My daughter (who also thinks your a rockin' aunt, or at least carpool buddy) loves bubbles!

Lyn Lomasi said...

Love your bubble recipe. I linked to it in this article: Tips for a Green Park Trip with Kids

Have an awesome day!

~Lyn

Anonymous said...

How are bubbles not environmentally friendly? I like to pick up bubbles at my local dollar store, its way easier.

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

Depending upon the dishwashing detergent you use, it could have petroleum based ingredients and those type of ingredients are not generally not very friendly to the environment.

The dollar store version is easier but my homemade version is less expensive and something I always have on hand in case of bubble blowing emergencies. To each their own.

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