I was a women’s studies minor in college, and during that time I developed a rather fierce conviction that boys and girls should be treated equally. As a mother, this has served me quite well, as all my kids have equal (yet age-appropriate) responsibilities and expectations within our family and home. When they were babies, I tried not to steer them in any particular direction when it came to gender-specific toys and games…

…but, then I had kids. Two boys and two girls. And, sure enough, the boys are all “boy” and the girls are all “girl.” While my boys love hitting things with sticks, peeing next to trees and shooting fake guns, my girls prefer to spend their time on American Girl dolls, clothes selections and artistic endeavors. Of course the kids play together – sometimes they are all wrestling on the sofa and sometimes they are playing tea party – its nice to see their interests overlap and I really don’t care what they are playing as long as they are being sweet to each other.

When I saw a recipe for homemade Jello lip gloss, I knew my girls would be all over the idea. Sure enough, they couldn’t wait to work on the project. I invited the boys to join us in the kitchen, but Mack could not have cared less about it, and Ben was happy to squish his hands in melted coconut oil and swipe it all over the counters (thanks, buddy!). No surprise to me, the girls played along with the recipe quite nicely.

This was an easy project for little and big kids to do. Aside from the warm oil, there really isn’t anything dangerous about it, so I kinda stepped back and let Evie take the lead. The final product is a rosy hued lip balm perfect for little girls. Not too much tint, but plenty of strawberry flavor they love!

Note: we got these handy little containers in a delivery from Home Chef, one of those delightful meal prep services. The moment I saw them I knew we would put them to good re-use…and, sure enough, they are PERFECT containers for homemade lip gloss! And, decorating the containers gave the girls another little project to work on.

Homemade Jello Lip Gloss (adapted from 733 Blog)

1/8 cup coconut oil

1/8 cup petroleum jelly

2 tablespoons Jello mix, any flavor (we used strawberry)

In a small bowl, combine coconut oil and petroleum jelly. Microwave in 20 second segments, until both are melted and can easily be stirred together. The mixture should be warm enough to dissolve the Jello.

Pour Jello mix into melted oils and stir well.

Pour into containers and set overnight in a cool spot.