Five DIY Christmas potpourri ideas made using natural fruit and spices
Bring the scent of Christmas into your home this season! I’m all for natural botanicals, so here are five ideas for a Christmas scented home with a natural twist. You can buy everything you need from daisyshop.co.uk – just follow the link below!
Decorate with your home with natural Christmas botanicals
Natural Christmas items include pine cones, cinnamon sticks, dried oranges and Christmas spices such as cloves and star anise. All you have to do is add fragrance to make great DIY Christmas potpourri. If you want to go 100% natural you could use essential oils (these are oils distilled directly from the plant) but I like the hit of festive scent you get from home fragrance oils in orange and cinnamon.
1. Chunky orange and cinnamon potpourri
Take some dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks, a few drops of orange and cinnamon home fragrance oils and a sprinkle of whole cloves and whole star anise. See potpourri making tips at bottom of page for help. It’s easy to make dried orange slices (or you can just buy them in!).
- Display in a bowl – you’ll need about 200g for one small bowl depending on the mix you use.
- Bag up the potpourri for homemade gifts.
2. Natural Christmas potpourri in small pieces
Mix some Christmas botanicals that come in small sized pieces – these are really handy for filling little potpourri bags. These are often available to buy from your local spice shop or get them from daisyshop.co.uk of course! My favourite mix is orange peel, cinnamon chips, whole cloves and star anise. I like to put the mix into little organza bags. The whole star anise glimpsed through the sheer fabric is very pretty I think. When I make these I keep them 100% natural so don’t add any scented oils but you could do that if you wished.
- Put the potpourri in little organza bags use to as scented tree decorations.
- Or use the filled potpourri bags as stocking fillers.
3. Cinnamon cones
Place some clean pine cones in a plastic bag with a few drops of cinnamon fragrance oil and shake well together. Leave overnight to soak in. Dab off any excess oil with kitchen roll before displaying.
- Add wire before adding to wreaths, garlands or the Christmas tree to add festive fragrance all around the room.
- Dot about on the mantelpiece, shelves or table tops.
4. Scented Cinnamon sticks
It’s a shame that the scent of cinnamon sticks isn’t as strong as you’d expect! Get around this by painting them with cinnamon home fragrance oil, or use the method given above for cinnamon cones. Display in a jenga-style stack as a modern alternative to traditional Christmas potpourri.
- Use a glue gun to add these to mixed Christmas wreaths and garlands alongside pine cones, foliage, baubles and ribbons.
- If you use short cinnamon sticks you can thread them together with twine in chains or stacks to make cinnamon garlands and hanging cinnamon decs.
- Wrap the cinnamon sticks in raffia to make scented cinnamon bundles which can be wired onto the tree, garlands and wreaths. Cinnamon bundles can also be used as table place settings and gift toppers.
- Similar suggestions apply to dried orange slices too.
5. Simmering Christmas fragrance from your kitchen
This one is more of a recipe than a potpourri make, and you can vary it to include spices from your food cupboard.
Follow my recipe to fill your home with Christmas scent from your hob!
Tips for making Christmas potpourri using home fragrance oil
- Use a plastic bag or tupperware to make your potpourri. If using a plastic box make sure you don’t mix it up with your food storage!
- Choose a good quality home fragrance oil. I’m often contacted by people asking why their homemade potpourri doesn’t smell of much – if you buy a 99p fragrance oil it’s not going to be great quality. Don’t forget the cost of the bottle and the seller’s profit have to come out of that price! I use Hassett Green fragrance oils which are reliably great quality: I particularly like the ones called Cinnamon and Just Orange for festive fragrances.
- Add a the fragrance oil one drop at a time to stop the potpourri becoming too wet.
- Use a plastic dropper / pipette (really cheap from the pharmacy) to control the oil if the bottle isn’t fitted with a dripper.
- Give the oil a good shake with the botanicals and leave them in the container overnight, or until needed, to let the fragrance sink in.
- Check the potpourri is dry before displaying and dab off any excess of oil if necessary.
- Display in you favourite bowl but avoid contact with painted, polished or synthetic surfaces.
- Read any safety information on the oil bottle and avoid contact with skin.
- Keep the oils, botanicals and finished potpourri out of reach of children and animals in case they think they’re food!
DIY Christmas potpourri variations
- For traditional red and green potpourri colours, try dried red rose buds, rose hips, pine needles and eucalyptus leaves.
- Add a Christmas twist to all year round scented products by adding Christmas colours, an example being the lavender bags shown above.
- Visit some more of my blog pages to see lots more festive makes!
- Or cheat and buy the whole lot ready-made from daisyshopUK!