If you're having guests over for festive drinks, or just love the Christmassy scents and want your house to smell great, creating your own Christmas potpourri is a great way to fill your home with festive scents.
Perhaps you have a favourite Christmas memory that a smell evokes, whether it's creating gingerbread with your grandma or going for a wintery walk - yes you can buy the cosy wintery candles or get a festive refill for your diffuser, but creating your own is so much more personal. Ingredients like pine, cranberries, oranges and cinnamon are just some of the things you can add, it's fun to play with the recipe and create your very own bespoke Christmas scent.
It's also a good way to disguise cooking smells, if you've been busy cooking Christmas dinner. Some potpourri mixes are dried, in fact most that you can buy from shops will be, but you get a much better smell from fresh ingredients heated on the hob, and it's so easy to do.
Here's a simple stovetop recipe to get you started, but don't be afraid to get creative with it and make your own additions!
You will need
Saucepan of water
Fresh cranberries (about a cup is plenty)
Two oranges (sliced)
Two cinnamon sticks
Cloves (Tsp)
Nutmeg (Tsp)
Method
1 Combine the orange slices, cranberries, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg in the pot of water.
2 Simmer over a low heat - as the water warms the smell will be released.
3 Make sure to add more water if it gets too low.
Christmas potpourri also a great last-minute gift idea - simply pack the ingredients into a mason jar and attach a gift tag with the instructions