Spa Gift Basket

Bath Basket

Complete the gift with a washcloth
or a big fluffy bath towel.

Long soaks in warm, herb-infused waters can relax tense muscles and relieve stress. So treat the people on your gift list to the pleasures of fragrant herbal bath products with bath tea bags, herbal hair rinse, and green-tea body wash. Make the oversize tea bags from interfacing and fill them with herbs to steep in the bathwater. For your friends who prefer showers, mix green tea with unscented body wash for an invigorating cleanser. An herbal hair rinse to use after shampoo leaves hair smelling fresh and fragrant. Present this at-home spa in a wire basket. Tuck in the hair rinse, tea bags, and body wash, and stitch a bath glove from a pair of washcloths to complete the gift.

Add a little oatmeal to each
mixture for its skin-softening
effects.

Herbal mixes: Shop for dried herbs at health-food stores. Don't use crushed herbs intended for cooking; they'll leak out of the tea bag material.

Stimulating: equal amounts of rosemary leaves, marjoram leaves, peppermint leaves, lavender flowers, and chamomile flowers

Relaxing: equal amounts of lavender flowers, basil, thyme, sage leaves, and rosemary leaves

• 1 yard of 22-inch-wide medium-weight nonwoven interfacing (not fusible-adhesive material)
• Cotton string
• Paper tags (from an office supply shop, or make your own from heavy paper)
• Herbs (see instructions)
• Oatmeal (optional)
• Double-sided adhesive tape

1. For each bag, cut a 10 x 16 1/2 inch piece of interfacing. Stitch the long edges together, using a 1/4-inch seam. Press the tube so that the seam falls in the center of one side (this will be the wrong side). Press the seam allowances to one side.

2. To make the bottom pleat, fold the tube in half, right sides facing, and press; fold each half again 1 inch away from the center fold, creasing in the opposite direction so the open ends of the tube meet. (The seam will now be on the inside.) Using a paper funnel, fill each side of the bag with about 1/4 cup of the desired herb mixture.

3. Align the edges at each end of the tube and fold the corners to the center, making a point. Fold the points down, then fold one point over the other. Staple a loop of string over the folded points.

4. Staple a paper tag to the top of the loop and attach a piece of double-sided adhesive tape to the back of the tag. (Don't remove the backing on the side of the tape facing you.) On the tag, write the ingredients in the herbal mix and include instructions for using the tea bag: Hang the bag over the faucet by the loop. If necessary to keep the tea bag in place while water runs through it, peel off the back of the double-sided tape and press it to the faucet. After bathing, rub the tea bag over your skin for extra soothing benefits.