Want to amaze your guests and family this festive holiday? Fill their senses with beautifully festive smells and fragrances in your home simply, cheaply and most importantly naturally.
Most people will clog their homes full of chemical filled plug-ins, toxic air freshener sprays and candles filled with paraffin. These are just some of the ways people try to give their home a beautiful aroma – but in reality these store bought products are merely contributing to the toxic load present in our homes.
We want to share with you how you can make your home smell like Christmas by making your own all natural, cheap, wonderfully scented products, such as reed diffusers, Christmas scented sprays, candles, and so much more.
Holidays are the perfect season to start making your own scents for the home, with cinnamon, nutmeg and pine all being firm favorites this time of year. So impress your friends and family with a wonderfully scented home, creating the perfect scene for any Holiday occasion, whether that be a family get together, a formal dinner party or a cozy night in by the fire.
1. Natural Room Scents
These simmering water jars are infused with natural herbs, spices and fruits. They are so simple to make, all natural and a real treat for the senses.
Materials:
- Jars with lids. Preferably pint Jars (Such as these ones on Amazon)
- Your favorite Fruits, Spices & Herbs
Instructions:
Combine the ingredients in a 2 cup (pint) jar or container, or in a pan on the stove top. Cover them with water and heat.
This is our favorite festive combination:
Oranges, cinnamon & cloves (allspice and anise are optional). It’s got a wonderful aroma and great staying power. This scent carries into multiple rooms better, and it can be reheated to scent your rooms for several days.
Other scent combinations can be found over at The Yummy Life.
2. Make Your Own Reed Diffuser
Reed diffusers gently perfume the air but they can also be incredibly expensive and often not made with natural ingredients. Not many people know just how easy they are to make, by using just a few ingredients and a few dollars, yours could turn out better than the store bought versions. Here’s how…
Materials:
- A reed diffuser bottle
- Essential oils (Christmas favorites include Clove, Pine, Mandarin, Cedarwood and Cinnamon)
- Reeds or bamboo skewers
- Vodka
- Water
Instructions:
Fill the reed diffuser bottle with water, add a few tablespoons of vodka and an essential oil of your choice. Use the ration of 12 drops of essential oil per 1/4 cup of water. Mix the ingredients together.
Place one end of the reeds into the solution, allow to soak and then reverse the reeds so the opposite end is submerged. You’ll need to rotate the reeds weekly.
3. Make Your Own Christmas Inspired Potpourri
Potpourri not only makes your home smell incredible, it can also act as a lovely focal point, adding to you Festive decorating efforts. These simple steps will make a Christmas inspired Potpourri, making your home smell and look lovely.
Materials:
- A few small pine cones
- A couple of whole cinnamon sticks
- Around 6 Star Anise
- 6 slices of dried orange
- You can buy these, alternatively you can cut thin slices of fresh oranges yourself, blot with kitchen roll to get rid of excess juice then place in the oven for 3 hours at 140°C (280°F), or 120°C (250°F) if fan assisted.
- Keep an eye one them and let them dry completely before placing them in the arrangement.
Instructions:
Simply place all the above ingredients into a bowl and arrange. You can also make this as a gift, if so why not arrange in a small basket and wrap in plastic cello-fame and tie a festive ribbon around the top.
4. Make Your Own Herbal Incense
Incense can be a wonderful way to add a beautiful aroma to your home, especially around Christmas time. This fantastic video shows a tutorial on how to make your own homemade incense with herbs. But first, if you’d like to make your own incense at home, then get yourself some plain incense sticks – like these on Amazon.
5. Spray Your Christmas Tree
Make your tree have that just cut aroma by combining a mixture of 1 cup water and 6 drops of essential oil of pine and adding to a glass spray bottle. This could be sprayed on either real or fake trees. You can have the authentic smell without the mess if you opt for a fake tree. Alternatively, when sprayed on real trees it emphasizes the smell and festive feel.
6. Christmas Infused Logs In The Fire
If you have a crackling fire and want it to perfume your home with more than just wood burning, why not infuse the logs for a festive scent!Use only one drop of essential oil per log, one infused log per fire to give an aromatic boost to your fire. We would suggest using any of the following firewood oils: Sandalwood, Frankincense, Cypress, Cedarwood or Myrrh – all of which are available to buy from this page on Mountain Rose Herbs.
7. DIY Festive Candles
Put a drop of Bay essential oil right next to the wick in any un-scented candle that has just started to melt to create a truly romantic, festive atmosphere. Not only does this method beat those expensive candles on offer in the shops, but it is far better for you too, as no harsh chemicals will be filling the air your breathing in.
8. Make Your Home Smell Heavenly Like Vanilla
This is a brilliant trick if you are in need of a quick DIY for a festive scent. Put three tablespoons of vanilla extract into a coffee cup, place in the oven at 300 degrees for around an hour, within minutes your home will smell delicious. A simple but ingenious trick that will have your home smelling incredible. Why not do this just before you have guests round – they will think your home smells amazing!
9. Christmas House Spray
This recipe and method was taken from ‘The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy’ . It’s quick, simple and can add a touch of Christmas instantly when needed in any room. A no-fuss option for making your home smell incredible!
Dilute the following in 1 ¼ cups of water in a glass spray bottle:
- Pine – 4 drops
- Mandarin – 2 drops
- Cinnamon – 1 drop
10. Burn White Sage Smudge Sticks
Not only does the smell of white sage make you think of the stuffing in your Christmas dinner, it has also been celebrated as a herb that cleanses, purifies and heals the body. By burning white sage, you can expect to see and smell white smoke billowing out from it creating a festive and herbal delight. You can buy natural white sage bundles from this page on Amazon.
BONUS IDEA:
Pick an orange from your fruit bowl and a handful of cloves and stud the orange to make a sweet and festive scented center piece, perfect for any table.
