Christmas scent

[Cornishprancer]

Having a look at my 2022 "what was annoying / what went wrong" list and it seems that we struggled with having a nice smelling house last Christmas.

Strong fake scents trigger migraines but I am keen to try less intense methods or products.

Or.... can anyone recommend a homemade version?

(Its an issue for us specifically because our house is newish to us and sadly still, on rainy days, smells like the previous owners dog 😭 despite shampooing many times and redecorating (due to replace carpets with laminate in 2024!)

We are getting a real Christmas tree but they're never very scented!

Any ideas welcome!

Following cause although no wet dog smell here, I also can't do strong perfumed scents.

Mulled wine on the stove maybe? Merry Christmas and all that 🤪

I remember last Christmas we actually baked gingerbread frequently. Which was fab but I put on half a stone 😂

I’ve seen people doing things like lemons, or oranges and other Christmassy things in water in the slow cooker

essential oils on a cotton pad and hidden in places like in bins

i think a gingerbread house looks and smells lovely for a couple of days

you can burn scentless candles for atmos and I think they help with bad smells

and fresh flowers, bunches of lavendar or sage or anything else that smells lovely and doesn’t give you a headache

I am usually the first to throw out candles, air fresheners as really sensitive to fragrance but have a few Melt candles and the Christmas one is amazing - keep it in the hall so you smell Christmas when you walk in the house…
https://www.themeltco.com/scented-candles/christmas/

Have you tried scentsicles? They are a fake smell obviously but I do find they give a mild scent as opposed to a strong air freshener.

I have the neom well-being pod and last Christmas I used one of the Christmas scented oils in it. It was wonderful. All natural so it only really stays smelling whilst the pod is on but it stays on for hours and is quick to refill with a bit of water and a few drops of oil.

If you have an air fryer maybe dehydrated orange and lemon slices then add orange oil. I'm going to try this this year.

I love the ESPA Christmas candles, it’s all essential oils so don’t trigger migraines for me like more “fake” scents do.

Oil burner with a favourite oil.

Oil diffuser with one or two drops of Neom Christmas oil. Doesn't trigger my migraine and is subtle.

I was going to suggest these. They're strong when you're right up close but give a lovely pine-y smell through the room. We use them because we have a fake tree.

So many good ideas! Thanks everyone.

My first plan is to get that Neom Christmas scent. And go from there! I had no idea it even existed 😊

(I love essential oils!)

Stick cloves into oranges and hang up, lots of online help.

Have a pan with water, orange, cinnamon stick etc etc boiling

Whitr company winter candle isn't too artificial and smells lovely

Just be careful with putting essential oils on a pad and hiding them around the place. I once taught a small group of children with behavioural difficulties. I was happy to try anything that might help to keep them calm and decided that lavender oil on a pad was the way to go. I happily put the oil on my pad and hid it overnight on top of the radiator. Unfortunately, it smelled the whole school out! It was quite pleasant in Reception at the opposite end of the building, but the closer you got to my room, the stronger it got! We had to open all the windows to get rid of it, which rather defeated the object!

I also suffer from fragrance induced migraines, bees wax candles have been a revelation! They have a subtle honey like scent and look beautiful :)

Electric diffuser with essential oil? Pine if you like "green" scents, or something spicy.

The neom Christmas scents (perfect peace especially!) are amazing.

I love a simmer pot - it's a large pot of water on the hob simmering away, with cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, orange slices, lemon slices etc in, it smells absolutely incredible.

I like the Lakeland Lights Christmas candle- smells just right to me - not too overbearing.

They other nice candles as well- named after places so useful as gifts, and they do a melts advent calendar if you dont want to commit to just one scent

https://www.lakelandlights.co.uk/products/lakeland-lights-wax-melt-advent-calendar-2023?variant=43342203715783

This & baking. Also if it doesn't trigger you, get the frankincense out!

I put a few drops of essential oil on a muslin cloth and put those on top of or behind radiators but if that's too strong a scent for you, you can wipe the essential oil cloth over the front of the radiators too for a more subtle scent when they warm up.

I mix up baking soda with a few drops of clove and cinnamon essential oils (using ground cloves and cinnamon works too), and use it to clean our soft furnishings (sprinkle on rugs and sofas, leave for as long as possible then hoover). It helps with the stinky dog smell too.