After Christmas I surveyed the pantry and spied a bunch of leftover candy canes. I had used some of them to make peppermint bark (check out this amazing recipe), and had a few left. My mother also gives the kids these giant candy canes every Christmas and I don’t have the heart to tell her that they just don’t like them quite that much. In years past I would let them sit in the pantry for six months before finally throwing them away. This year I had a better idea – DIY Candy Cane Sugar Scrub! I guess I am recycling candy canes 
. Super easy and fast and would make a great gift.
Here is what I did:
Assembled my ingredients:
Sugar
Candy canes
Cooking oil (I used canola, but any type would work – sunflower, olive, safflower – I think a lighter oil works best)
Peppermint oil (optional)
Yep, that’s it! The essential peppermint oil is optional, but it makes it smell fabulous. You can buy it a health food store and some craft stores carry essential oils.
I used five regular candy canes and that giant one you see in the photo. I was able to make three bathes; each batch is about 1.25 cups of scrub.
First I pulverized the candy canes in a food processor until they were finely ground. There are a few bigger pieces.
Look at that giant candy cane! Finely crush them all.
Then mixed in the sugar, canola oil and peppermint oil.
Filled a jar with the scrub and you’re done!
These would make great gifts, but I kept them for myself . I have one at the kitchen sink and one in the shower. I mostly use it on my hands and feet, but I think you could use it anywhere. I especially love it in the shower because the peppermint is a nice wake-me-up on our cold winter mornings.
The recipe for one batch is below.
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup finely crushed peppermint candy canes
8 drops of essential peppermint oil
So happy to find a home for my leftover candy canes! This year we had candy canes with a chocolate stripe…all the better in the sugar scrub. Thanks for the great idea. You just never know what GreennInspiration will come up with next.
Just got back from a run and this sounds perfect for my feet right now. Alas, no peppermint sticks and, more importantly, no food processor! I will bookmark this for Holiday Ideas 2013! Bonne weekend!
No peppermint sticks? Are they not part of Christmas in Paris or is it just an American thing? If you could find them, you could do it without the food processor – just put them in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin.