Ginormous Bubbles

So you guys…I know you want dinner recipes. I hear you. It’s on my brain (in fact, it was on my brain at 4:30 in the morning when I woke up in a cold sweat…between 3 birthdays, Father’s Day, writing a cookbook, and leaving on a 3-day-each-way road trip to Utah, I have, in fact, many things on my brain.) I was going to post a dinner recipe today. And life got in the way. I was overly stressed and under-ly slept and sometimes you just need bubbles.

We have an awesome basic giant bubble recipe, but I saw these awhile back and wanted to take things to the next level. Once we got the hang of things, they were huge–like some of them were 15-20 feet long.

You’re going to need a few supplies that you probably don’t have lurking in your cupboards:

*Original Dawn dish soap (not concentrated, Ultra, or anything–just regular, original Dawn. Supposedly you can get it at Walmart; I just ordered mine on Amazon with the other, stranger supplies.)

*Glycerin. You can find it in the cake decorating supplies or ask a pharmacist–they often have it behind the counter. I also just ordered mine from Amazon.

*J-Lube. This is both the most…unusual as well as important ingredient. It’s a polymer that helps make those giant, sturdy bubbles. It’s a veterinary obstetrical lubrication and can be difficult to find. You can order it from farm supply stores (if you live in a farming community, you may be able to find it locally) or you can order it from Amazon (the price is slightly higher, but it may offset shipping costs from other sites. Warning: some of the Amazon reviews/suggested products are a little graphic because, believe it or not, some people use it for things other than assisting in the birth of baby animals and other veterinary care. If this is something that potentially concerns you, just go to the order page and don’t scroll much further.)

*Baking powder. This improves the longevity and strength of the bubbles.

*2 wooden dowels

*About 6-7 feet of 100% cotton yarn (the thicker the better)

*Optional: A weight to help the yarn from getting tangled. We used a paperclip, but ended up having better results when we removed it, we just had to be more careful not to get tangly.

Tie one end of the yarn tightly near the top of one of the dowels (you can notch it with a knife first to make it more secure. Run a line of yarn about 1 1/2-2 feet to the same spot on the other dowel and tie it securely. Tie the remaining end near the original knot, so you have a taut horizontal line on top and loose, drapey yarn on bottom.

My son was decidedly not thrilled to be a part of this.

In a large, very clean bucket or container, combine the J-Lube and the baking powder. Slowly whisk in a gallon of warm water and mix until combined. Add 1 cup of Dawn and 2 tablespoons of glycerin and stir to combine completely.

Dip the yarn sticks (is that a thing? I just made it up) in the water. When you pull them out, keep the sticks as far apart as possible and start walking backwards. You’ll kind of get a feel for it and what works for you, but we all eventually got the hang of it!

Remember the grump from the pre-bubble experience? Yeah, that didn’t last long. It was the perfect thing for all of us.