After last month’s disappointing attempt to make homemade bubble bath with Zander, I was reluctant to try this, but I am so glad that we did, because it works beautifully!
Zander loves blowing bubbles (what kid doesn’t?), and he usually winds up with the bubble mix all over his body in the process. I like to know exactly what is on my child’s skin, so I’m uncomfortable with most of the store-bought bubble mixes.
On that note, I just googled my dish soap (Method, clementine)–unfortunately after letting Zander blow bubbles with it all morning–and was absolutely horrified to learn that it earned an F on the Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning!! Even Seventh Generation Free and Clear, which was recommended on Baby Savers (see below), earned a C. Needless to say, I will be replacing our dish soap with one of the four brands that has earned an A on the EWG site, and we’ll be making our next batch of bubble mix with that.
It was embarrassing and nauseating for me to realize that I had just allowed Zander to slather himself down in (albeit very diluted) toxic dish soap, but on the bright side, this is a great reminder for me to always check before I buy! I am making almost all of my own cleaning products now, so I’ve relaxed a bit about checking ingredients, simply because I am buying fewer products. I bought a ton of this Method dish soap last year during a huge sale, and I haven’t quite used it all up yet. At least we are down to our last refill pack.
From now on, I vow to be more diligent! OK, moving on…
The recipe, which I found on Baby Savers, is fabulous because it’s inexpensive, super easy to prepare, and actually works! When we make our next batch using a dish soap that is actually non-toxic, I think it will be perfect. The Baby Savers site offers 7 different recipes, along with some useful and interesting information, so be sure to check it out. I used the Crazy Deluxe Bubbles Recipe, and next time, I will try the Non-Toxic, Natural Bubbles–the only differences seem to be that the latter uses a greater quantity of non-toxic dish soap and no sugar, and the mix is best used when allowed to sit overnight first.
I’m willing to bet that no matter what dish soap you are using, it’s probably still safer than whatever chemicals are found in most of those “made in China” bubble mixes. It’s also super-convenient to be able to whip this up at home as needed rather than going to a store to buy more.
Anyhow, without further ado, here is the recipe:
HOMEMADE BUBBLE MIX
*we quadrupled the recipe to make 4 cups of bubble mix so that we could fill our container
Ingredients:
4 cups warm water
8 Tbsp liquid dish soap
4 Tbsp glycerin
4 Tbsp white sugar
Instructions:
Dissolve sugar in warm water, then stir in remaining ingredients.
Store in an airtight container. We used a funnel to pour ours into an empty plastic container from one of Zander’s bath soap refills (photo below).
The bubble mix can be used right away.
Kim McCoy
Vegan Mama 
Good bubble mix, and you know it’s safe.
Sent from Mike & Gloria’s iPad.
This is awesome and I can’t wait to try this for my 5 year-old! I came across your blog tonight and really love it. 🙂
Thank you! I hope your little one loves it! 🙂
Wait a minute — if you were not satisfied with the dish “soap” you used, why didn’t you use your intended bubble BATH mixture (using real liquid soap) for bubble BLOWING, considering it didn’t work in the bath water? That mixture should still be at least pretty good for blowing bubbles, as long as you’re not mixing it with a large amount of additional “hard” water (as you would in a bath).