Festive Mini Makes With our Favourite Essential Oils

We all know that during the festive season, we associate different scents with memories, places and people.  From the warm spiciness of home baking in the kitchen, to the fresh, camphorous scent of a real Christmas tree, there are unmistakable fragrances that will instantly make your home feel super-Christmassy!  We’ve come up with three easy home-made gifts that will be fun to make and heart-warming to give.

Plaster of Paris Hanging Essential Oil Diffusers

Making these plaster ornaments is so simple – it’s a great little activity that won’t break the bank or involve much mastery and it will result in beautiful ornaments that also make lovely festive presents!  You can also make these with children of most ages – it’s a lovely family project to get you feeling seasonal.

You will need:  Plaster of Paris, Water, small moulds, string/ribbon, decorations ie. Leaves, flowers, glitter, paint and water-based dye etc.

1. Set up your equipment and gather anything you may want to decorate your ornaments with.
2. If you want to hang your ornaments, make sure you choose a mould with a hole in, or use a glue gun to adhere a small piece of dowel or a pencil upright which will then act as your hole to thread ribbon into when the plaster is set.
3. Make your plaster mixture by combining 1 part water with two parts plaster – ideally use something disposable to mix in like a plastic cup.  These ornaments look amazing in their natural snow white colour, but you can colour them too and now’s the time to add your dye if you wish.  Mix swiftly and try to ensure you have no lumps – stir carefully so you don’t add air to the mix – air bubbles can get trapped and cause uneven surfaces on your decorations.
4. Pour your plaster into the moulds until they are about a cm deep – any deeper and they will become a little too heavy to hang on a tree.  Tap the moulds gently to release any air bubbles.
5. The plaster will now cure and should be set within half an hour or so in a warm environment, but we suggest leaving for a couple of hours.  If you want to add something to leave an indentation pattern on the ornament such as a leaf, add these on top of the wet plaster now – don’t use anything too heavy or it will just sink into the plaster.  You can then peel these off when the plaster is set.
6. When the ornaments are dry, they can be carefully removed from their moulds, leaves and berries used for pattern can be removed, and then string with yarn or ribbon and decorated or kept plain.
7.  The plaster is porous so you can then pop your Essential Oil(s) on the back of the ornament and they will diffuse and last a few days – just add a few more drops of oil when they need refreshing.
8. If you’re giving your decorations as a gift, pop them in a little box with some tissue paper, and Essential Oil of your choice – Our Christmas blend Noel is the perfect choice with it’s warming notes of Clove, Frankincense and Myrrh and Cinnamon.

TOP TIP  If you have an artificial Christmas tree, popping a few drops of Scotch Pine Essential Oil on the ornament will fill your home with that fresh, forest-like scent we all associate with Christmas.  We sustainably source our Pine Oil from Serbia where it is steam distilled from the needles, young twigs, and cones of the pine tree – what could be more Christmasssy than that?!  It’s also a great oil to combine with Eucalyptus and Lavender, so try out some combinations to keep your home smelling gorgeous.

A Modern Take on Pot Pourri

You will Need:  Foraged, natural items like pine or fir cones, acorn shells, twigs, moss, and naturally scented items like dried cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and dried slices of fruit, paint, spray paint, glitter.

1. Part of the fun of this project is in the collection of your items.  A forest or beach walk can provide you with wonderful finds and could be a lovely family or social experience too.  Once gathered, sort your items – make sure you don’t have anything too small or fragile as these will get lost or broken in the mix.  Painting or spraying a few of your finds in light catching metallics like gold or silver can add a lovely dimension to the finished look of your mix too.
2. If adding dried fruits, choose citruses or apples and slice them thinly.  To dry them quickly, pop them on baking parchment in the oven at 100°C and bake for roughly 90 minutes.  If they need more time, turn the heat right down and keep checking them until they are fully dried and their colour has deepened but not charred!
3. Combine all your elements in a display bowl or vase and add other items too if you like – we love collected driftwood, shells and pebbles, or you can also use your plaster of paris decorations to add a mixture of colour and texture to the mix.
4. Now for the fragrance – classic combinations are Sweet Orange, Clove Bud and Cinnamon for a rich fruity scent, or try Ginger, Cinnamon and Benzoin for spicy sweetness, or Cedarwood, Pine and Lavender for an earthy, outdoorsy scent.  You only need 2-3 drops of each oil and make sure they are evenly distributed in your mix.
5. If giving your scented mix as a gift, choose a cellophane bag as this will retain the scent.  Close the bag tightly and decorate with ribbon and sprigs of fir or mistletoe for a gorgeous, personalised gift.

Little Box of Hygge

You will need:  Gift box, shredded paper or tissue, little gifts, ribbon and tag.
If you’re a regular reader of our blogs or social media pages, you’ll know we are huge fans of the Danish philosophy of Hygge here at Absolute Aromas, as scent can be a huge part of achieving the feeling.  Hygge is all about achieving a sense of cosiness, simplicity and gratitude and a little Hygge gift box can be a lovely way to show you care and is a unique and personalisable present.  This isn’t about making the content as such, but is more about compiling thoughtful little items that will support a Hygge feeling in its recipient.

Soft socks, a cosy (preferably scented with some Essential Oils) candle and a book or journal are ideal items to include, as well as some lovely self-care pieces – our ready-blended massage oils are a lovely idea.  Relaxation Massage Oil is a great one to help you unwind and it also doubles as an amazingly relaxing bath oil for those chilly nights.  Another lovely idea is our Nourish Face Oil – a Winter must have and an amazing natural skin saviour.  Nourish contains a complex blend of 11 Essential Oils to regenerate, balance and replenish chapped skin.  Applying any of our skin oils is a great excuse to take a moment of ‘me time’.  Other little treats for your box could include one of your home-made hanging plaster diffusers, a teabag (warm drinks are essential to the Hygge philosophy…so consider including a little jar of hot chocolate powder or some posh coffee!) and some sweet treats to nibble on.

Enjoy and take pleasure in the decoration and the presentation of your little box of Hygge, adorn it with ribbon, dried cinnamon sticks and foraged fronds of fir for a naturally festive feel.
We hope you’ve enjoyed these little makes, we have lots more to come on our social media pages in November and December so follow us for lots more festive inspiration in the coming weeks!