Ah ... February has arrived and that means one thing . . . Valentine's Day is coming. Whether you're coupled up or you're doing it solo this Valentine's Day, either way you can celebrate a day of love. The world could certainly do with a little more love. 
When we think of Valentine's Day typically our mind is drawn towards flowers. I mean who doesn't love flowers on Valentine's Day — or any day of the year really? To be honest, when I think of Valentine's Day and flowers, my mind is flooded with images of flowers wrapped in plastic. Hundreds and thousands (if not more) beautiful bouquets are sold across the globe on Valentine's Day . . . most of them wrapped in plastic that will serve its purpose for less than 24 hours.
I try to put aside that thought and think of those florists that are doing it right — and saying no to plastic wrapped flowers. A big thumbs up to plastic free florists. 
If flowers aren't your thing, then how about treating your partner (or yourself) to a nice soak in the tub?
Adding a bath bomb to the bath is the perfect way to relax and unwind. While most bath bombs come wrapped in plastic (to keep them protected), when you DIY bath bombs you can say no to plastic, and yes to some special plastic free "me" time.
DIY BATH BOMBS
INGREDIENTS IN YOUR PANTRY
The fantastic thing about making bath bombs is that for most people, all the ingredients you need will be sitting in your pantry. If not, simply taking a quick trip to the grocery store will provide you with all you need to start making your own bath bombs.
Okay you may be thinking . . . "but I don't have one of those fancy bath bomb moulds how can I make a bath bomb?" Well the great news is bath bombs don't need to be made into a perfectly symmetrical shape, you can just as easily use a silicone mould that you use for cooking or making ice cubs.
For our test bath bombs pictured above we used a heart shaped silicone mould that was kicking around in the cupboard. And a round silicone that was part of a beverage promotion, that's designed for making large ice cubes spheres.
Bath bombs only need to dry for 24 hours so you can make them the day before and enjoy your dip in the bath a day later. The other great news is that you never just make one bath bomb, so you can enjoy the gifts of your labour for days or weeks ahead.
Basic Bath Bomb Ingredients: Baking Soda, Citric Acid, Coconut Oil, Cornstarch, Epsom Salts
SIMPLE BATH BOMB RECIPE
If you do a quick search online you'll find there are many different ways to make a bath bomb. And if you look at some of the ingredients from professionally made bath bombs, you may wonder how you could possibly make them yourself with a few ingredients from your pantry?
The DIY bath bomb recipe below provides several options, most of which should suit what's already in your cupboard, or that you can easily find in the grocery store — so let's get started with making your very own plastic free bath bombs!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup bi-carb soda
- 1/2 cup citric acid
- 1/4 epsom salts (or fine pink sea salt)
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (alternative oils: almond, jojoba)
- 1 tbsp Australian Pink Clay - optional
- 1 tbsp water (or witch hazel)
- 15-20 drops lavender oil (or your choice of essential oil)
- 1 tbsp dried flowers - optional
Directions:
- If using dried flowers add a small amount of flowers to the bottom of your bath bomb mould.
- Add all the dry ingredients (including the remaining dried flowers if you are using them) into a large glass or stainless steel mixing bowl.
- Using your fingers, mix the ingredients together until all the lumps have been removed. Slowly add the oils to the dry ingredients and continue to mix. (If you prefer you can use a whisk for this process).
- It's best to use a water spray bottle to add the water (or witch hazel) to the mixture a small amount at a time, so you do not over saturate the mixture. If you don't have a water bottle spritzer just add a small amount of water at a time.
- Continue spritzing or adding water until you can pick up the mixture with your hands and form it into a ball that sticks together.
- Pack the mixture as tight as possible into your mould.
- Once firmly packed inside your moulds, there's nothing to do but wait for another 24 hours!
- Now that your bath bombs are dry, you can pop them out of the silicone moulds and they are ready to use.
- It's best to store your bath bombs in a dry sealed container to use at a future date.
Enjoy your plastic free Valentine's Day. 
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Author Bio - Catherine Anne Earle
Thanks for reading. I'm Cathy the founder of EORTH Australia, an online store that stocks only plastic free products.
I started EORTH after participating in a Plastic Free July many years ago. A few days into the Plastic Free July challenge I soon became aware of just how damaging plastics were to the environment, and although I was conscious of my consumer choices, products packaged in single use plastic and household products from of plastic materials were still very high on my list of purchases.
After lengthy searches for alternatives to plastic products I soon realised that there were a lot of eco stores that sold some plastic free products, but very few really got down to the heart of the plastics issues and said a big hard "no" to selling products that contained plastics — and that is exactly what EORTH is all about.
I have a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Management and was the owner and founder of Sun Peaks Independent News, a community newspaper based in British Columbia, Canada.
After moving back to Australia several years ago I now reside in Palm Cove a beachside suburb in my hometown of Cairns — the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.
