For me, the smell of orange and cinnamon just means Christmas and I love anything that brings the lovely fragrance to my home.
In this blog post, I wanted to share with you my tips on how to make your own potpourri at home and ways in which you can use them.
Christmas Potpourri is a great gift, especially if you wrap it nicely in a festive bag and add your own gift tags with Christmas wishes. You don’t even need to make it just for Christmas, this homemade potpourri is perfect for any time of the year and it’s particularly good for eliminating cigarette smell from your home, especially if you make a large batch and leave a few potpourri bowls arranged around your home.
I’ve included two different versions of Christmas Potpourri – one is traditional – dry version and the other is instant on the hob potpourri version, which fills your home with cinnamon fragrance in next to no time.
Ingredients for dry Christmas Potpourri
- dry orange slices
- dried apple rings or slices
- dried small crab apples
- dried rosehips
- dried acorns
- small pine cones (painted or sprayed gold)
- whole cinnamon sticks
- whole star anise
- Sparkly, red or gold decorations
Tips on making the Christmas Potpourri
Make sure that everything is perfectly dry before you start mixing the ingredients together
As the natural fragrance starts to fade, add a few drops of orange oil to the mix or sprinkle some water over the mix. This refreshes the dry potpourri and carries on releasing fragrance.
To make the Christmas potpourri extra special, add few small Christmas tree ornaments, baubles or some glitter.
Christmas Potpourri made on the hob
This is a great way to introduce some festive fragrance to your home and it’s much quicker and cheaper than candle! Just add few slices of oranges, mixed spice, cinnamon and cranberry in to a sauce pan of a simmering water and you have an instant Christmas fragrance.
More Christmas Inspiration
- Mini Apple Pies Recipe >>
- Melted Snowman Water Bottle Printables >>
- Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow Snowman >>
- Christmas Tree Brownies Recipe >>
Stay in touch
Hope this post inspires you and of course, I’d love to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below or find me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and add the hashtag #practicalfrugality so that I can see your post.
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Magdalena
Homemade Dry Christmas Potpourri
Materials & Ingredients
- 2 medium sized oranges
- 2 red small apples
- 12 small pine cones
- 12 whole cinnamon sticks
- 12 whole star anise
Instructions
To dry oranges & apples
- Slice the oranges and apples int to medium to thin slices (5-7 mm)
- Place the slices on a cooling tray set over oven baking tray and dry in the oven for 2-4 hrs on about 100C. If you are not in a hurry, you can add them to the oven after you finish baking or cooking your dinner to save on energy.
- If you are happy to plan ahead, the oranges and apples will dry on (or next to) warm radiators. Just make sure you place them on something like a thick paper towel or baking cooling tray.
- To speed up the drying process, turn your orange and apples slices regularly.
To Make the Christmas Potpourri
- Gather all the potpourri ingredients and mix them carefully together
- Place in a decorative bowl and display in the room.
- Extra tip – if you have a golden colour spray, you can paint the cinnamon, orange or the star anise in gold to add a festive colour.
- If you’re giving your Christmas potpourri as a gift, arrange it in a pretty cellophane bag and tie with a red ribbon and your personalised Christmas tag.
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