I came home from the store with socks, rice, and ribbon. Here are the questions I heard from my boys when they saw the supplies for this project:
- Are those socks for me? (No, they are for a gift for your basketball coaches.)
- You bought our coaches socks? (Yes, but it’s for a craft project.)
- Why did you buy such a huge bag of white rice? (To put in the socks for your coaches.)
- You’re putting rice in socks for our coaches. Why would you do that?
I have no idea why none of this made sense to my boys. It is so self-explanatory.
I quickly had to explain that we weren’t going to cook the rice before putting it into the socks. Still, I don’t believe the idea made sense until they saw the finished product, and even then, I think they thought it would have made more sense to just make our coaches a plate of cookies. I’ll admit, this is kind of a silly idea. But it’s a useful gift, so hopefully they’ll like it at least a little bit. :)
If you, like my boys, have never heard of this lovely Rice Heating Pad idea, allow me to share one of the easiest gift projects on the planet. There are many ideas for these out there, many of which include fabric, a sewing machine, and a pattern. This one though? It only involves socks. The clean kind. New is preferred.
What You’ll Need
- White Rice (raw, non-instant)
- Essential Oil (optional)
- Socks
- 3/8″ Ribbon
- Scissors
- Tall Drinking Glass
How To Make No-Sew Rice Heating Pads
Fill the glass with dry rice. Add 1-3 drops of essential oil if you like (peppermint is a great choice). Fit the opening of the sock over the top of the glass filled with rice, as shown in the picture above, then turn the cup over to fill the sock with rice. Continue this until the sock is full, leaving 2-3 inches of empty sock at the top. (The rice in the drinking glass idea was the best way I figured out to fill the socks since using three hands was not an option that day.)
Tie a ribbon (grosgrain works best) securely at the top. If you want to be very sure the sock won’t open and spill, feel free to use a needle and thread to close the sock with a few stitches before tying the ribbon. We could just call that version “Barely-Sew” Rice Heating Pads.
Because I used large men’s socks, 5 pounds of rice only filled three heating pads. I have no idea what I will do with the odd sock. Maybe I’ll just add it to my laundry and let my dryer eat it. Or perhaps I should buy more rice and make more cool gifts.
How To Use Your Rice Heating Pad
If you have/use a microwave, you can heat this up for 1 1/2-2 minutes, then put it around your neck to keep warm or use it to relieve pain from sore muscles. Don’t want to use a microwave? Place your heating pad in a baking dish in a 300° oven for 10-15 minutes.
If you prefer ice to heat, store the rice pad in the freezer for cold therapy. Then you can call this your Rice Heating Cold Pad, which makes no sense but is fun to say.
Download a page of Rice Bag Gift Tags
Since I’m making these for our boys’ basketball coaches, I bought socks in our team colors and basketball ribbon. Here’s football, soccer, more soccer, volleyball, softball, and baseball. You could also look for ribbon with your recipient’s favorite sport’s team.
Or, skip the sport idea altogether and pick fun socks and ribbon that fits any person on your list. From Hello Kitty to Duck Dynasty, I’m pretty sure you could tailor make these heating/cooling pads for just about anyone.
I figured this gift costs just a little over $2 each. Not too shabby!
Ever used a Rice Heating/Cooling Pad?
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Those lamb slippers-wow!
Wow this is such an amazing giveaway!
Thank you!
Peppermint essential oil can keep you awake so don’t use it in your rice bag and then use it late in the day. Lavender is a good choice for relaxing and winding down.
One other thing–we do rice pockets. Cut the pockets off an old pair of jeans all the way through the two layers. Fill and sew the top up. These are great for earaches. I have also done rice bags with the legs of jeans if you would like a large rectangular one.
brilliant!
What a great giveaway. Thanks Laura!
CAnt wait to see who wins the giveaway !! Would LOVE the slippers for sure !
Laura, Why the non instant and organic rice? What is I used “regular” rice that wasn’t instant would that work too?
The rice I suggested is white rice (raw, non-instant) – which is exactly what you are describing too! I used the word “raw” to remind readers that the rice is dry, not cooked. :)
I would hesitate to use my good, organic rice for a project like this because I’d rather save the good stuff for eating! :)
I do this with flannel pillowcases to make rice blankets. On the sewing machine, I sew strips up the middle from bottom to top. I make about 6 vertical strips (lines), depending on the width of the pillowcase. Then I put a little rice into each strip, let it fall to the bottom and sew a perpendicular line (side to side on the pillowcase) to kind of lock the rice into that place. Repeat and repeat until there are squares from the bottom to the top filled with rice. Seal the top of the rice blanket with a good line or two of sewing. It takes longer to warm this up, but having that amount of “square footage” covered with warmth is a wonderful experience.
These “rice bags”, as we call them in our family, make great means of soothing a child who just doesn’t feel well (sometimes it’s just the placebo effect, I think). They are helpful for tummy aches (helps break up those little gas bubbles!) and earaches. To avoid burns, make sure that you check your rice sock every 15-20 seconds as some microwaves are different and the rice will continue to heat after you remove from the microwave. My microwave takes only 30 seconds to heat the sock to a tolerable heat for topical application!
Neat idea!!!!
I make these for my husband using our odd socks. It may not look as pretty, but I always tie a knot in the sock at the top to keep it closed. It’s a great no-sew solution, and I’ve never had them leak!
I’m so glad to find a way to still use these in the oven!! I’ve had them stored in the bathroom closet since we got rid of our microwave :(
Thanks!!
I’ve been using these for years and found that an easy way to fill them is by using my canning jar funnel in the top of the sock. Once you get a little bit of rice in it you can rest it on the table which makes the job a lot easier. BTW I tie mine shut too and have never had leakage.
Silly question, but how long do they stay warm? We do not have a microwave, so to heat up the oven, I’d like to know it would be worth it! Thanks.
I used my rice pads while I was nursing. They are great for clogged ducts, mastitis, or just to help with let down. They would be a great baby shower gift!
Brilliant!
The only thing more brilliant would be to make a bunch of these now and have them ready for Christmas next year without having one more thing to do at a busier time of year.