Filling your home with a warm, sumptuous smell over Christmas is, for us at least, the dream. While we all crave scents of wood spice and deep, green forests come December the reality is that our homes can end up smelling more like sellotape, cleaning products and last night’s dinner.
Making your house smell incredible over Christmas is achieved by layering a series of scents, each released in a different way.
We’d like to say that a scented candle can fix all odour woes this Christmas but, sadly, it takes a little more than that if you want a house that smells magical and welcoming from the moment you wake up until the moment Santa arrives.
Here are three ways to scent your home for Christmas that use ingredients you probably already have at home. And, if not, just add them into your Ocado basket.
Three ways to layer a Christmas scent in your home:
Oranges and cloves? Make Pomanders with the family
This scenting technique has the added bonus of being a real joy to do. If you’ve got young kids or pre-teens it can be a great way to while away an hour or two.
The tradition of studding a firm orange with cloves has been around since the Middle Ages. It takes neither great skill or artistic flair, all you need to do is stud cloves into the orange, covering a decent amount of the surface area. The smell released at the time is incredible and, once finished, the pomanders will continue to scent the room they’re in for weeks to come.
You can leave them to dry out completely and make a lasting decoration but after that first few weeks the scent will be much more background.
Apple juice and cinnamon? Heat up a batch of mulled juice
A simple combination of apple juice, cinnamon sticks and a couple of star anise can yield delicious results when slowly mulled over a low heat. The resulting smell of your mulled apple will linger in your kitchen, and throughout your home, for hours or even through to the next day. Plus, you get a festive drink to sip while you wrap presents.
Try putting a large jam pan on, filled with the mulling mixture, and letting it simmer on low all morning. You can help yourself to top ups throughout the day and enjoy the luscious scent of spiced apple as you go.
Evergreens in the garden? Gather some foliage
If you’re lucky then your garden will have a crop of gorgeously scented foliage just waiting to be brought inside. If you’ve got a Eucalyptus tree then you’ve hit the jackpot. Cut a bunch of long stems (Eucalyptus is usually fast-growing so don’t worry too much about taking a hefty amount), tie them together with a ribbon or some string and hang them up on the back of a door or on your mantelpiece. The incredibly green, reviving, scent of eucalyptus will permeate through your home, over a couple of weeks, as the stems dry.
You can also hang a bunch of eucalyptus just beneath your shower head to add a luxurious touch to your showers over the Christmas period. The steam from the shower will help release the plant’s natural oils, filling your bathroom with a strong wash of eucalyptus scent.
If you can’t come by any Eucalyptus (it’s worth looking at online nurseries as you can often buy huge bunches, intended for florists, for £20-30) then try sourcing some pine or other coniferous greenery.
All three of these techniques will contribute to a ‘base layer’ of festive scent. They form the foundation on which you can then add stronger moments of scent, across different rooms. For example; a reed diffuser in a small bathroom or a scented candle ready to light when you’ve settled down for the night.
Our original scent recipes are filled with such a high percentage of essential oils that our candles will fragrance the room they’re in even when they’re not lit. Another brilliant way to create a lasting, welcoming scent all throughout the Christmas season.
Here’s to a merry, wonderfully-scented, Christmas.