Pomanders and other Christmas smells......

[BadTasteFlump]

I was thinking of making some Christmas pomanders this year - the ones where you stick cloves all over an orange. But I can't find cloves anywhere apart from in the little spice jars which I would need loads of so that's put me off a bit.

What does everyone else do to make their house smell nice and Christmassy? I don't want to have to light candles because of the small DC - and don't really like synthetic 'air freshener' type smells....

You might possibly get a big bag of cloves from an asian supermarket, they sell spices in bulk if you want to do the oranges. Cinnamon sticks are good to add to pot pourri.

I have a natural essential oil blend of orange, cinnamon, clove, pine, frankincense and myrrh made by a company called Absolute Aromas Ltd which is not as pungent as a lot of commercially made stuff, but is really festive on Christmas pot pourri or dropped onto pine cones. It might be worth looking around the alternative fairtrade ethnic type shops for something like it. Or look at their website [email protected]

Thanks for posting this, I was thinking the same! I keep meaning to try the 'exotic foods' aisle in supermarket for similar.

Does anyone know how to actually hang the things? I seem to remember tying ribbon round, but doesn't it just slip off?

You need to pin the ribbon on the oranges to stop it slipping.