FAMILY FUN
HOW TO MAKE
CONVERSATION HEART BATH BOMBS
SPREAD THE LOVE WITH THESE
OUT-OF-THE-ENVELOPE VALENTINES
BY LINDSAY PONTA
T his Valentine’s Day, you could give
your kids a traditional box of tiny
cards to pass out to their friends at school.

Or you could work together in the kitchen
to make the most creative valentines in the
class: conversation heart bath bombs!
Given the hefty price tag of store-
bought versions, bath bombs may seem like
complicated concoctions. Actually, they’re
shockingly simple and affordable to make at
home, and the activity provides the perfect
opportunity to teach your kids about mixing
colors, measuring ingredients and what
happens when you combine citric acid,
baking soda and water. (Hint: It fizzes!)
When you’re finished, you’ll have larger-
than-life conversation hearts that look
good enough to eat but are best enjoyed at
bath time.

INSTRUCTIONS 1
5 2
6 3
7 In a small bowl, mix baking soda and
Spoon mixture into the heart baking
citric acid. Use flour sifter to break up
mold, packing it down tightly. I
any clumps. For scented bath bombs, mix in recommend overfilling the mold and then
fragrance oil.

pressing mixture down with the back of a
spoon, adding more as needed until flat.

In four separate bowls, add assorted
food coloring to a spoonful of baking
Flip mold over and gently bend and
soda and mix with fork or whisk, breaking
tap to release bath bombs onto a
up clumps. Aim for bright, saturated color. flat surface. Let them dry overnight,
Note: Be sure the newly colored baking flat-side down.

soda is dry before moving to next step to
Note: If hearts crumble when released
prevent fizzing.

from mold, return mixture to a bowl, spritz
with witch hazel, mix and repeat Step 5.

Divide the baking soda and citric acid
mixture from Step 1 evenly among the
When bath bombs have dried thoroughly
four bowls of colored baking soda. Mix each
and are hard to the touch, you can paint
bowl thoroughly with fork or whisk.

words on them. Mix a pinch of pink mica
powder with a few drops of vodka or rubbing
Add about 1/2 teaspoon of almond oil alcohol. (Alcohol evaporates more quickly
SUPPLIES to each bowl and mix thoroughly. The than water, which will prevent bath bomb
FOR THE BATH BOMBS
texture should feel dry but resemble damp from activating early and fizzing up.)
❤ 1 cup baking soda, plus 4 extra spoonfuls sand and hold its shape when squeezed.

❤ ½ cup citric acid (available in the grocery
Too dry? Spritz with witch hazel and
Write on surface of each bath bomb
store canning section)
continue to mix. Spray a little at a time to
using mica mixture and a very thin
❤ 10-15 drops cotton candy fragrance oil avoid setting off the chemical reaction!
paintbrush. Test a small dot first. If dot
(optional) Too wet? Add more dry ingredients at a fizzes, your mixture has too much liquid.

❤ Water-based food coloring in four or ratio of 2 tablespoons of baking soda to 1 Add more mica powder or wait until a bit of
more colors
tablespoon of citric acid and mix.

the alcohol evaporates off.

❤ 2 teaspoons almond oil
❤ Witch hazel in small spray bottle
Let words dry for at least two hours
❤ 5 small mixing bowls
before packaging bath bombs in airtight
❤ Flour sifter
containers or bags.

❤ Fork or whisk
❤ Spoon
Please share pictures of your conversation
❤ Heart baking mold
heart bath bombs on social media with
the hashtag #washingtonfamilymag
FOR THE LETTERING
so we can see your creativity. Happy
❤ A pinch of pink mica (available
crafting, friends! ■
online or some craft stores)
Lindsay Ponta created the DIY and lifestyle website
❤ A few drops of vodka or rubbing alcohol
Shrimp Salad Circus in 2009 to inspire busy women
❤ Thin paintbrush
4 8
9 12 Washington FAMILY FEBRUARY 2020
to live perfectly imperfect creative lives. Find easy
DIYs and recipes at shrimpsaladcircus.com.




AT A GLANCE
COMMUNITY BY PJ FEINSTEIN
Local Mom Makes Air
Travel Less Stressful
for Families
If you’ve ever wished for an extra set of hands at
the airport, you’re in luck.

SkySquad (theskysquad.com) is a new
concierge service at Dulles Airport and Reagan
National Airport designed to help families get from
the ticket counter to their gate with less stress.

For $39 an hour, SkySquad assistants can
help with ticketing, preparing for security and
pushing luggage, strollers and car seats through
the airport. They can also watch your bags
as you take the kids to the bathroom or grab
something to eat before your flight.

“Airport employees are so busy doing what
they have to do, they generally don’t have extra
time to help people on an individual level,” says
SkySquad founder, Julie Melnick. “This service
allows us to help people one-on-one and just
make their airport experience much better.”
SkySquad assistants are all off-duty airport
employees, so they’ve already been background
checked, fingerprinted and badged by their
airport to get through security. They also have
childcare experience and are fluent in a variety
of languages.

When Melnick first conceived of SkySquad,
she thought the service would appeal mostly
to single moms traveling with little kids. To her
surprise, many of her customers have been
families with more than one child who simply
need a helping hand.

“This has been a passion of mine for the past
10 years, when I started traveling coast to coast
frequently with my baby and toddler,” says
Melnick, who lives with her family in Bethesda,
Maryland. “I am so excited to help the world
travel happier — starting with D.C.” T
Applications Open for
National Award Honoring
Young Heroes
The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes,
which recognizes public-spirited youth
in the U.S. and Canada, is now accepting
applications for its 2020 awards.

The Barron Prize honors 25 inspiring
Addison leaders ages 8 to 18 who are working in
Barrett creative ways to help their communities
or protect the planet. The top 15 winners
receive $10,000 to support their service
project or higher education.

“The purpose of the Barron Prize
is to showcase young heroes of all
Garyk descriptions, inspiring other young people
Brixi to take action,” says author T.A. Barron,
who founded the award in 2001, naming it
after his mother.

Two local teens were among the winners of the 2019
Barron Prize. Addison Barrett of Germantown, Maryland,
who was 11 when she won, founded Gorilla Heroes to raise
awareness and funds to help save endangered mountain
gorillas. Since 2017 she has raised more than $11,300
through fundraising, including selling homemade cookies
and lemonade, designing and selling T-shirts and organizing
an annual Gorilla Gala.

After learning about the high cost of relief food while
volunteering in Malawi, Garyk Brixi of Potomac, Maryland,
spent five years developing a less expensive option to
address malnutrition that could be produced using local
crops. “My work does not end here,” said Brixi when he won
at 18 years old. “I’ll continue striving to make nutritious food
more readily available to starving children around the world.”
To learn more about the 20th Annual Barron Prize and
apply online, visit barronprize.org. T
Looking to add some nonfiction titles to
your child’s book collection? These new
picture-book biographies take young
readers back in time as they celebrate two
inspiring, yet very different, role models.

“The Only Woman in the Photo,”
written by Kathleen Krull and illustrated by
Alexandra Bye, follows the life of Frances
Perkins, the first woman to serve in a presidential
cabinet and the mastermind behind FDR’s New Deal. A
shy and quiet girl, Perkins challenged herself
to make her voice heard in order to fight injustice and
build programs to protect people across the nation.

“Fred’s Big Feelings: The Life and Legacy of Mister
Rogers,” written by Laura Renauld and illustrated by
Brigette Barrager, tells the story of Fred Rogers through
the framework of his feelings: scared, lonely, playful,
joyful. After testifying on Capitol Hill to save government
funding for public television, including “Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood,” Rogers spent the next 30 years
teaching children that it’s normal to have feelings — and
important to share them. T
WashingtonFAMILY.com 13
YOUNG HEROES: COURTESY OF THE GLORIA
BARRON PRIZE FOR YOUNG HEROES
New Picture Books Tell Inspiring True Stories