DIY Christmas Cheer Potpourri
Are you looking for an easy, festive, and fun gift to give to neighbors, family, friends, teachers or anyone else to bring some Christmas cheer? I've got you covered, plus bonus, you can make some for your home too and enjoy the lovely Christmas aromas!
This easy, DIY Christmas potpourri gift is so fun to make and is the perfect holiday gift or add-on gift! If you need something more, throw in a gift-card, cookies, or chocolate candies and you just took this gift to the next level!
A friend of mine gave me this idea (I'm looking at you Elizabeth!), and I loved it so much I had to try it out this year and share it! This has now become one of our new Christmas traditions: making a pot of Christmas potpourri and letting it simmer as we wrap presents, bake cookies, or enjoy a Christmas movie! The aromas fill our home with lovely holiday fragrances and bring me to my Christmas happy place!
If you want to give this as a gift to be used right away or use it in your own home, you can take out the dehydration/baking step and just use fresh ingredients. With this easy, quick version, just use fresh cranberries and include an orange with directions to slice the orange and empty the potpourri ingredients into a pot of water and simmer for the smells of Christmas!
If you want to make a gift that lasts a little longer, take the extra step of dehydrating the orange slices and cranberries. Since I didn't have a dehydrator, I used an oven! Just cut the oranges in even, same-width slices, then blot with a paper towel to absorb the extra juice and moisture. Then place the orange slices on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and bake them at 200°F for 3-4 hours (or until done). Turn the oranges over every hour to speed up the process.
Quick tangent, my mom bought me some fun colored sheet pans which I am now a big fan of. When you cook a lot of cookies and sheet pan dinners, this does make the cooking process just a tad more fun and coloful! They also make a great gift! Check some out HERE.
For the cranberries, I placed them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and baked them at 200°F for 5-7 hours (or until done). You can bake them at the same time, the cranberries will just take longer.
To add some greenery and Christmas tree fragrances, add a few branches of fir, evergreen, spruce, or rosemary to the potpourri mix. We found this winter wreath / centerpiece at Trader Joe's for $9 which was perfect for cutting off some branches to use for the potpourri.
Another tip, buy the cinnamon sticks at Costco if they are still available as we bought the whole container for $7 which beats $9 at the grocery store for a container 1/3 the size!
One more tip, you can also add a note to add a splash of vanilla on the gift tag or you can add a little vanilla in these cute bottles that I found at the Dollar Tree!
Combine all the ingredients into a clear bag, container, or mason jar:
cinnamon sticks
cloves
dried orange slices (or fresh whole orange)
dried cranberries (or fresh if using in a timely manner)
evergreen, fir, spruce, or rosemary branches
vanilla (optional)
anise (optional, star-shaped spice)
Add a festive ribbon and cute note to the jar with directions and enjoy spreading Christmas cheer!
You can use clear bags or any size jar or container. I used some pint and some quart size mason jars. Just make sure that the jar opening large enough to fit the orange slices.
Here is a FREE PRINTABLE gift tag to use for your potpourri jars!
Easy peesy! Hope you enjoy this as much as we do!
