13 Festive Ways to Fill Your Home with the Essence of Christmas

1. Create a Citrus Garland

Kristen Pumphrey, co-founder of the home fragrance brand P.F. Candle Co., recommends a crafty approach to infuse your home with a warm, festive scent. "One of my favorite holiday DIY projects is creating orange garlands. Slice oranges—or limes or grapefruits—thinly and bake them in the oven at 180 degrees for several hours." She mentions that this process can take up to four hours, so check them periodically until they reach your preferred level of crispiness. "Afterward, use a tapestry needle and thread the slices with twine. The orange slices symbolize prosperity and bring a touch of sunshine to the shorter winter days."

2. Light a Festive Candle

One of the easiest ways to bring the holiday scent into your home is by lighting a candle with your favorite seasonal fragrance. Think cinnamon, sugar cookies, pine trees, ginger, peppermint, vanilla, and mistletoe. A candle that smells like a Christmas tree—typically featuring pine, balsam fir, and cedar—carries notes of fresh woods and crisp winter air, evoking memories of walks in the frosty forest.

3. Place Cinnamon Sticks Near a Vent

Here's a great tip from Nicole Eckels, CEO and Founder of Glasshouse Fragrance: "Fill your home with the warm, festive aroma of Christmas by attaching a small bunch of cinnamon sticks to your heat vent," she suggests. "Start by gathering four to five cinnamon sticks and tying them together with fire-resistant twine. Then, use a binder clip to secure the cinnamon bundle in front of a heat vent, and just like that—the scent will spread throughout your home like a cozy holiday embrace!"

4. Repurpose Leftover Wax into "Fire Starters"

Got some leftover candles? Pumphrey recommends putting them to work by crafting your own wax fire starters. "Wax fire starters are perfect for your fireplace and help use up the remnants of leftover candle wax," she says. "To clean out candles, place the jars in the oven on the lowest setting until the wax becomes liquid, then pour it into a Pyrex pitcher (make sure to use oven mitts for safety). Use paper muffin liners in a muffin tin as your mold. Insert a wick trimming—or a pre-tabbed wick—into the muffin liner, along with sprigs of rosemary, cloves, or cinnamon sticks, then pour the melted wax over it all."

5. Simmer a Pot of Festive Scents

Whether you're using cider or just plain water, fill a pot with oranges, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Let it simmer on the stove to fill your home with the comforting aromas of the season. Just keep an eye on the water level and add more as needed to keep it going.

6. Use Essential Oils

Essential oils offer a simple way to fill your home with delightful holiday fragrances. Add a blend of warm, soothing essential oils—such as frankincense, orange, cinnamon, rosemary, or pine—to your essential oil diffuser in the evening to infuse the air with festive aromas. Alternatively, create a room spray by adding a few drops of your favorite holiday scent into a spray bottle filled with water.

7. Bake Some Holiday Cookies

Is there a more delightful scent than the sweet aroma of vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon filling the air? While you could use a diffuser, you wouldn't get to enjoy a tasty treat afterward. Why not bake a batch of some of the most beloved Christmas cookies in America instead?

8. Switch Out Your Hand Soap

This is one of the simplest ways to bring the holiday scents into your home. Just refill your soap dispenser with a liquid soap that evokes your favorite seasonal fragrance, whether it's pine, cloves, or vanilla. It doesn't need to be extravagant—even peppermint liquid hand soap will add a festive touch!

9. Infuse Your Shower

Here's another way to make the most of steam: Hang a small bundle of dried herbs above your shower head to transform your daily routine into a holiday-inspired experience. Consider using herbs like eucalyptus, rosemary, or lavender. Eucalyptus, in particular, is known for its ability to reduce stress, relieve nasal congestion, and lower blood pressure.

10. Try Using a Sachet

Though it’s an old-fashioned tradition, hanging a sachet filled with festive herbs in your closet will do more than just scent your clothing. The fragrance will drift out each time you open the door and follow you throughout your home. Place sachets in every room to create a unified scent throughout your home this holiday season.

11. Craft Some Pomander Balls

Eager to dive into some Christmas DIY? Pomander balls are a delightful and easy way to bring a citrusy fragrance to your holiday home. These charming ornaments are made by studding oranges with cloves, releasing a pleasant aroma. While traditional pomander balls are lovely on their own, adding white glass pins can elevate their design. Here’s how you can create your own pomander balls:

1. Before inserting cloves or pins into your citrus, plan out your design to avoid over-piercing the fruit.
2. Insert cloves and pins into the oranges or clementines, one by one. Display the finished pomanders in clusters, adding sprigs of evergreen to a bowl or tray. (Pro tip: If the cloves are difficult to insert, gently pierce the fruit's skin with a toothpick first.)

Craft developed by Blake Ramsey.

12. Bring in Fresh Greenery

Incorporating fresh greenery is a simple and cost-effective way to infuse your home with the fresh aroma of a Christmas tree farm while also adding a festive touch to your holiday decor. Consider using pine, boxwood, magnolia, and cypress as your greenery choices. You can even enhance the scent by adding citrus fruits to your arrangement.

13. Create DIY Holiday-Scented Pine Cones

Although you can purchase scented pine cones from stores, making them at home is a simple and rewarding process. Start by washing and drying the pine cones you’ve collected. Next, mix water with a few drops of your favorite essential oils—cinnamon, orange, or pine are great choices—and add this solution to a spray bottle. (Bonus: you can also use the leftover solution as a room spray!) Lightly spritz the pine cones with the blend, then place them in a zip-top bag for 24 hours so the scents can fully absorb. Afterward, place them around your home wherever you need a little extra holiday spirit!