You don’t want to return grubby kids to your brother or sister after the end of a sleepover visit. If your nieces and nephews stay overnight, you’ll want to have a plan in place for getting them to take a bath or shower. Especially if you’ve had them out for adventures in the park, at the beach, camping or other ways for them to get sandy, muddy and wonderfully dirty. Bathtime is a nice calming transition to bedtime, and a ritual you will want to develop if you have your nieces or nephews overnight fairly often.
Some kids are reluctant to take baths and might try to argue with you. I try to make bathtime really fun so they look forward to it.
It can be difficult to take a bath or shower and relax at someone else’s house. Here are some essential elements that will add to the kids’ comfort:
- A clean, well lit bathroom.
- Plenty of soft, clean, warm fluffy towels.
- A rug to step out onto when you’re done so you don’t slip.
- Privacy (and a lockable door) for older children; constant supervision in the bathtub for younger ones.
- Kid-friendly soaps, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, etc.
- Music playing softly in the bathroom might make the process more attractive to some kids.
Here’s a peek at some of the enticements I provide at bathtime:
Make soaping up more fun with these giant Lego minifigure shaped soaps.
Here are Lego brick shaped soaps, too.
Nieces, being girls, are generally easier to convince that it’s time for a bath. Still, it doesn’t hurt to be able to offer them a Frozen bubble bath. In warm water, of course!
You can always try to sweeten the pot with this Olaf bath bucket.
I keep a set of these Cars shampoos and body washes around – both girls and boys like them!
After her bath, your niece can look forward to wrapping up in this Frozen hooded towel.
Got any little Star Wars fans around? Entice them into the bathtub with promises of this Millennium Falcon soap. The seller also offers a soap shaped like R2-D2.
It wouldn’t hurt to keep around some Star Wars bath ttoys too.
Your niece or nephew could then dry off with their own Star Wars towels you keep handy for their visits.
I was excited to discover these bath bombs with a prize inside – how ingenious! I’m certainly not going to let a niece or nephew use up one of my expensive, beloved bath bombs from Lush. But bath bombs are a great way to entertain a kid as you’re drawing the bath water.
These robot soaps are so pretty – I might keep a basket with a few of them stashed away in my bathroom cabinet.
I have one silly nephew with a great sense of humor who would just crack up at the sight of this funny chicken nugget and fries shaped soap set. He’d cheerfully hop into the bathtub if presented with these!
But I’ve saved the biggest weapon in my arsenal for last – here’s a color changing showerhead! Kids love it! They will be fighting over who gets to take a shower first. Obviously, this is a more exciting appliance at night time in a darkened bathroom. It doesn’t show up very well in daytime.
The other trick I do is turn off the bathroom lights, snap open several glow sticks, in different colors, and throw them in the bath water. They float, and the kids like the eerie way the glow sticks make the bathroom look.
