As my ice breaker in the beginning of the year, I had a social for lip gloss making. It’s a very simple project, and almost all of my residents from my all female hall actually showed up!
I set up the tables with cute table clothes (to decorate and protect the wood from stains) and had a small table with food – chips, salsa, soda (nothing too fancy).
As all of the girls came in, I handed them two plastic cups, two popsicle/craft sticks, a plastic spoon, and two pots for lip gloss (can be purchased at craft stores, or from on line vendors). I got 100 pots for $33.00. You could also use those pill sorters (make 7 flavors then!!) or anything else with a lid (film canisters are really big, but could work if you wanted to double or triple the recipe)
On the table were plastic bowls with the Kool-Aid mix mentioned below, that were labeled so that residents knew the different flavors.
All of my residents made 2 pots of lip gloss and LOVED it. It was a $45 program (including food) with enough supplies to make 100 pots of lip gloss.
It was a huge hit! Many residents saved one flavor for themselves and gave the other to a friend/sibling for birthdays or other occasions!
Lip Gloss Recipe
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon honey
1 PACKET of Kool-Aid (NOT a container-it has to be in pure form from the small packets) mixed with JUST enough water to make it a darker color (not soupy or drink-able AT ALL)
Mix the 2 first items together in a cup with a Popsicle stick (cheaper than spoons for all your residents) then add as much of the Kool-Aid mixture as you want for flavor and color).
Put it into the pot/whatever container you chose.
Submitted by Liz Larson, Resident Assistant, Bloomsburg University