This simple, homemade Christmas potpourri will make your home smell like the holidays. Plus, it makes the perfect gift with our printable tags!
Christmas Stovetop Potpourri – The Perfect Homemade Gift!
Homemade Christmas potpourri is one of my all time favorite things to make AND to give each holiday season, and it’s SO simple to make!
This potpourri mix is made of easy kitchen ingredients and simmers right on the stove to make your home smell perfectly festive. It takes just a few minutes to assemble (and it’s easy enough to get your kids involved assembly line-style!) to gift or keep a big batch for yourself all season long.
Each year, I’ll bundle some together to give as gifts to friends, neighbors, or as teacher gifts. You can easily add a handwritten card and gift card to the ribbon if you’d like!
Homemade gifts like this are such a fun way to tell folks you’re thankful for them, and I love how it makes your home smell like the holidays, too. To make it even easier, grab our free printable gift tag!
I’d give anything to “take a picture” of just how yummy this one smells, but since smell-a-vision hasn’t been created yet, just imagine that it smells like the Christmas season walked right on into your home today.
Ingredients Needed:
- Clementines or oranges
- Whole cloves
- Cinnamon sticks
- Fresh cranberries
- Ground cinnamon
- Fresh rosemary sprigs
Stovetop Christmas Potpourri Recipe
If you’re making this for your own home, the prep for this homemade potpourri is SO easy. Gather all your ingredients together and slice the citrus (you can even leave the peel on – even easier!).
In a pot or small slow cooker, combine about 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1-2 tablespoons whole cloves, 1/2 cup cranberries, 3-4 cinnamon sticks, 2-3 sprigs of rosemary, and 1-2 clementines or 1 large orange.
Add about 2 cups of water and simmer on low. If you’re simmering all day or during a party, just keep an eye on the water level and add more water as needed.
I usually leave mix mixture in for a couple of days and remove from heat & cover overnight.
Christmas Potpourri
Materials
- 1 - 2 clementines
- 1 - 2 tbsp whole cloves
- 2-4 cinnamon sticks
- ½ cup fresh cranberries
- 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- ½ tbsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Slice your citrus, then combine all ingredients on stove top in a small pan.
- Add 2 cups water.
- Simmer uncovered over low heat.
- Add water as needed to freshen.
How to make Homemade Christmas Potpourri for Gifts
If you’re making as gifts, you’ll assemble everything together except the water. I’ve been using icing piping bags because I love the fun shape. You could also use these treat bags or even mason jars.
You’ll want to prop your bags open. (I’m biased but our bag stand is truly the best for this!)
Add your messier ingredients first: cinnamon in the bottom, then cloves, on up. You can stick the rosemary sprigs in with the cranberries for easy placement, and finally the cinnamon sticks and clementines on top.
To secure the bag, I’ve learned the hard way not to rely on ribbon alone! I used tiny hair elastics to seal the bags.
Then, print your free gift tag! I love how sweet this design is and you can easily write a custom message on the back. Add your favorite ribbon and you’re done. The sweetest and oh-so-heavenly-smelling homemade gift!
When you buy your ingredients, you can buy enough to make just a couple gifts, or buy in bulk to make as many gifts as you want to distribute. I found everything at Walmart was pretty affordable and makes the cost-per-gift less than if I were trying to buy something premade for my loved ones.
I just love this Christmas gifting tradition and I hope you will, too! Do you have another stovetop potpourri recipe you like? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
How to Pack Christmas Cookies for Gifts
What size bags did you use?
These are piping bags! She bought a pack of them at Walmart. You can find them here! We’d love to hear how they turn out if you make them! 🙂 https://walmrt.us/4q20GEF (AD)
Please send me link for gift tag
Here is the link Heather! https://passionatepennypincher.com/christmas-checklist/ 🙂
Link for tags doesn’t work.
Hi Sheila! Please enter your email when you click the tags to get them. I hope that makes sense! Please let me know if you need more help.
How do you dry the oranges before packaging?
How do you dry the oranges before bagging?
Hi! Novice here. Does everything gets dried out in oven before bundling up in bags? A bit confused with topping up with water to freshen? Thank you.
Hi Molly! So sorry for the confusion. You just bundle the ingredients in the bag. While cooking, you can add water as needed to freshen and to keep the water level where it started. I hope that helps! 🙂
That clementine in the pictures bag doesn’t looked dried and you can’t slice a dried fruit easily. Confused.
Nothing is dried. Slice the Clementine and add all into a pot with 2 cups water.
I’m not sure if this is a not so smart question but when I bag everything do I leave water to the bag also? I’m confused
Hey Loretta, so glad to have you here! Once you have all your items bagged you can just tie them up dried. They have a delightful aroma! Let us know if you try it.
Silly question but where do you get the pine cones? Can I use some I find at Hobby Lobby? Thanks for sharing this cute and fun idea!!
They are just the cutest! You can find the cinnamon scented pine cones at Joannes or Michaels!
Where do you purchase your greenery?
Hi Kim ~ Here’s the link! https://www.bloomsbythebox.com/greenery/
Any garden shop will have greenery (Pikes, Lowe’s, Walmart, etc.)
Thanks for the tip! 🙂
I make this every year using oranges in a small crockpot from Target! I love it!
The tag link didn’t take me to the tag.
Hi Linda, it should take you to a page to put in your email and then you will get them emailed to you so that you can print. If it isn’t working right for you, email us at shop@passionatepennypincher.com and we will get it to you!
Cannot find the place to print the tag
Hi. I tried clicking on the link for the printable tag and it takes me to the free christmas checklist instead.
I’m sorry Steph, can you email us at shop@passionatepennypincher.com and we can get that to you?
Link to printable tag us not working
Hi Gina, it should take you to a page to put in your email and then you will get them emailed to you so that you can print. If it isn’t working right for you, email us at shop@passionatepennypincher.com and we will get it to you!
Been wanting to try this as gifts to teachers and friends. Can you tell me if it needs to stay refrigerated before use? Because of the orange and cranberries? Or is it shelf stable?
I’ve kept it on the counter for a few days and been fine – hope that helps Courtney (since the oranges aren’t sliced you could definitely leave those in too and skip the cranberry if you want it to last longer). Hope that helps!
Do you use plan pine cones or the cinnamon scented ones?
For the greenery I use fresh thyme. It smells amazing!
Thanks so much for the suggestion Amy! 🙂 Love that!
I have a coffee warmer burner type thing you can put a coffee cup, jar on to keep it warm. I use it to melt candles to get the scent without burning them. it lasts for months or years if you add essential oils when the scent starts fading.it was like $3 at the craft store. Anyway, wondering if it would be warm enough to use it for this?
Hi Susan, I am not sure if it would get hot enough but I bet you could give it a try and see! Let us know if that works though, great idea!!
I bet it would work if you heat the water up in the microwave first…
Do you dinner this in the stove in your regular pans you cook with? Didn’t know if smell would stay in pan.
It should be okay Melissa, but you can always purchase a small inexpensive pan at Walmart or grab one at a thrift store specifically for simmering if you like! 🙂
This may sound like a silly question but do you add the pine cone to the pan as well or is it strickly for decoration?
You can add the pine cone too Mendy! 🙂 Hope that helps!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I can’t wait to try it out with lemons and vanilla, too. I guess this will give my candles a rest for a while.
I love that idea Tonya – so fun!
Hi thank you for this recipe! I can’t wait to try it! I was wondering if there is a certain amount of time that it lasts? Like how long is too long to keep adding water to freshen it up? Thank you!
Thank you for posting this “recipe!” I just found a little potpourri crockpot at Goodwill that looks EXACTLY like the one my Mom used to have. I can’t wait to try your recipe and start enjoying the smell of Christmas!
Thanks so much for sharing – I need to hunt down one of those crockpots too! 🙂
Yes! Mom was doing this for as long as I can remember
What was your mom’s recipe? What did she use?
We use the same recipe but add in 1 tbsp. Vanilla ~ 🙂 Its Perfect ~
My Momma was doing this before they had all the good smelling stuff. I loved waking up to a simmering pot of cinnamon- lemons or oranges on the stove. Great idea!!
I need to try adding lemons and vanilla Terrie & Patricia – thanks for sharing! 😉
Do you peel the orange or use it all in tact
I just slice it! 🙂
Hi, which type of greenery do you use in this recipe ?
Any type of evergreen! I usually use arborvitae!