Easy Simmering Potpourri Recipe and Gift Idea

C.J. Braden     •      3 Minute Read

Easy Simmering Potpourri Recipe and Gift Idea

Potpourri is cool again, thank goodness! Another Mother’s Day has arrived and so another inspiring gift idea has landed itself in my brain. When I traveled to the Kentucky and Indiana area to stay with family during my 4-month Hurricane Ian evacuation, I visited two local businesses that inspired me in many ways. Both businesses, Little Mount Lavender and Sukhino Float Center and Salt Cave each had a version of potpourri that you either received as a gift with membership or had some you could buy.

Orange Clove Simmering Potpourri

One was a simmering potpourri and one was potpourri for room display. The room display version of potpourri gave me big 80’s and 90s vibes, as I remember it being in many homes during my childhood. It would be used to scent a room in a natural way. The simmering version reminded me of holidays in the 80’s when many people would boil cinnamon sticks in water to scent their home. Both are wonderful natural home scenting methods, which are perfect for people that have sensitivities to fragrances.

Easy Natural Potpourri Recipe

Many don’t realize that artificially scented plug-ins can put some people into an allergy attack mode or make eyes water or make lungs become irritated. This can happen with certain natural fragrances too, so you have to find scents that work for you and for those you are around often. It definitely should be taken into extreme consideration for the people and animals you live with.

You can alter your natural potpourri recipe to suit your fragrance needs

I found out how chemically devastating a popular store-bought plug-in fragrance bulb was when it leaked onto my vintage leather jacket many years ago. I set the bag containing the bulbs onto my jacket in the car as I drove home and one seal was unknowingly broken. When I arrived home and discovered it, it had already begun to eat through my jacket. I had to have it professionally cleaned, which was very costly.

See how I made last year’s Mother’s Day gift, which has been quite a hit with my friends and my Pinterest community. Follow my creations there @carolynjbraden!

Natural home fragrances can be better for your health

I stopped using those fragrance bulbs at that moment because I wondered what it could be possibly be doing to my lungs or my pet’s lungs too. Our fur babies have very sensitive eyes and noses, so I have to think of them too when I use home fragrances. This occurrence caused me to go on a mission to find better ways to naturally scent my home.

See me make this giftable potpourri recipe in my one minute video tutorial below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:

Simmering potpourri is a natural way to scent your home

Over the years, I’ve dabbled in incense, which can also be irritating if it’s heavily scented. I do like small matchbook sized incense sticks, as they do the trick in a shorter amount of time. I experimented with adding some drops of natural oils onto my home’s air filters, and that did a good job. See that DIY by clicking here. I’ve moved onto using more natural based fragrances, naturally scented candles, and have been experimenting with natural reed diffusers and more.

Make sure your home scents are healthy for your family and pets

The kind people at Sukhino Float Center and Salt Cave gifted me one of their Holiday Potpourri packets after learning about our hurricane experience. They are truly a wonderful wellness center that I would travel many miles again just to experience the calming energy their space has. When I returned to my home on Sanibel after many months, my home had very little airflow due to all our air systems being destroyed.

Luckily it didn’t smell too bad, because I always keep my home very clean, but it still had a little bit of a stuffy scent. I popped the gifted simmering potpourri packet into some water and a saucepan, and my home smelled delicious again within 15 minutes.

Orange and clove is a comforting home fragrance

I held onto their packet branding knowing it was going to inspire me at some point, and it did. Wanting to share my love of natural scents with anyone interested, I created a version of their simmering potpourri, which can be altered as much as you wish. I hope my recipe inspires you as much as Sukhino’s inspired me. It makes for a great last-minute gift idea for Mother’s Day or for the holidays, or whenever you want to naturally scent your home. One batch can be reused a few times and can scent a home for a full day or two.

Potpourri is cool again

Here is my recipe for Orange Clove Potpourri Simmer, but as I said above, feel free to experiment and find a scent combination that works for you! I choose this scent combination because it reminded me of a natural body wash (one that Lush discontinued, as they commonly do, unfortunately) I used right before I married my husband. This June (2023) will be our 20th anniversary so the scent will always hold a special place in my heart. Scent memory is powerful. I purchased all my ingredients for this recipe either at a local or national grocery store chain or on Amazon.

Time to Put This Recipe Creation Together: < 5 minutes

Suggested kitchen tools: tablespoon, small mixing bowl

 Orange Clove Potpourri Simmer Recipe:

Directions:

  1. Place all ingredients into a medium-sized saucepan

  2. Bring to a boil on medium high heat (covering the pot with a lid will bring it to a boil faster)

  3. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered

  4. Simmer it all day if you wish, but add water as needed, as it will reduce

Tips and Tricks:

  • You can alter this recipe with different natural oils, dried berries, dried flowers and more to create your own custom natural potpourri.

  • I was able to simmer one recipe 3 times and it still smelled fantastic. After a while though, mold can grow on it, so it’s best not to use the same batch too many times.

  • The scent lingered in my home for 2 full days. You may become “nose-blind” to the scent if you use it often, but I smelled it after leaving the home for a few hours after simmering it for a few hours. Coming home to such an inviting scent is wonderful. Many realtors use this smell concept to sell a home.

  • I placed one recipe in a wax lined paper bag, with a direction label attached and gifted it to friends. I encourage you to do the same, as I love sharing my creations with special people and have done so my entire life.

This would make a great DIY wedding favor too!

Simmering Potpourri Gift Idea

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C.J. (Carolyn) Braden is a regular contributor and editor for Carolyn’s Blooming Creations. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.