Homemade Christmas Gifts: Potpourri
Homemade potpourri makes charming and sweet-scented Christmas gifts for anyone on your list. Potpourri is a fragrant collection of dried herbs, flowers, roots and other nature-inspired items. Make the potpourri using all-natural, high-quality fragrances, rather than headache-inducing synthetic versions. You can place your handmade potpourri into decorative sachets or jars prior to presenting the gifts. Recipients can use potpourri sachets to freshen closets, suitcases or drawers, or display it in glass bowls in their living rooms.
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Things You'll Need
- Dried natural items, such as flower and herbs
- Large glass or metal bowl
- Potpourri fixative, such as dried orris root
- Spoon
- Essential oil
- Paper bag
- Wax paper
- Clothes pin
- Small drawstring bags or glass jars
Instructions
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Gather dried natural items such as flowers, herbs, seeds and spices. Add variety by using any combination of dried orange and lemon peels, rose petals, red clover blossoms, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, bay or peppermint leaves or fennel seeds. Combine items featuring complementary, rather than clashing, fragrances.
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2
Place the dried mixture into a large metal or glass bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of a potpourri fixative, such as powdered orris or calamus root, per cup of mixture. Use your hands to stir the items together.
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3
Add essential oil drops one by one, stirring the mixture with a spoon as you go, until you reach the desired fragrance level. Use lavender or rose essential or to create a soothing blend, or use pine or cinnamon oil to make a festive Christmas-inspired scent.
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4
Line a paper bag with wax paper. Pour the potpourri blend into the paper bag and seal it with a clothes pin. Store the bag in a cool, dark location, such as a closet, for two to four weeks to allow the blend to "season." Keep the bag away from direct sunlight.
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5
Scoop the potpourri into small cotton, silk or muslin drawstring bags to create sachets for gift-giving. Place the potpourri into glass Mason jars as an alternative option.
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