DIY Stovetop Potpourri Gift for Christmas

This stovetop potpourri gift is a perfect homemade gift to give during Christmas! The simmering spices will fill the house with Christmas spirit.

Who doesn’t love all the wonderful smells of Christmas?

The aroma of simmering spices for Christmas, like orange, apple, cinnamon and cranberry can make the whole house feel comforting and warm. 

This potpourri recipe has been one of my favorite mason jar Christmas gifts to give.

We even included a special printable with the potpourri simmer pot instructions to include on the lid of your jar to complete the gift.

Supplies Needed for Stovetop Potpourri Gift

We used easy to find ingredients for our potpourri recipe. You can get all of these items in the grocery store.

If you are making these to give as gifts, you’ll need the following for each jar you plan to make.

• 1 pint-size jar
• 1 orange, sliced thinly
• 1 apple, sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
• 3 cinnamon sticks

So, if you plan on making 4 jars to give as gifts, you’ll need to times the ingredients above by 4. 

You’ll also want to grab our free printable gift tags to put on the top of your mason jars and maybe a bit of ribbon to finish each jar off. 

You can find the printable gift tag in our printable library!

Lastly, you’ll need a baking sheet and a wire rack to dry your fruits. 

Simmering Spices for Christmas

When making homemade potpourri for Christmas, you’ll want to include spices that remind everyone of the holidays. 

Even though we only used cinnamon in our stovetop potpourri, you can include other simmering spices that smell like Christmas. 

Some of the most recognized spice smells for Christmas include:

• Cinnamon
• All spice
• Star Anise
• Cloves
• Nutmeg
• Vanilla
• Rosemary
• Cedar Sprigs (Like from a Christmas tree!)

You can add more of these spices to your potpourri recipe, or just keep it simple and use our recipe.

I will say, I love the idea of cutting off branches from your own Christmas tree to include as a gift. 

What a personal and special way to give a bit of your Christmas spirit to your loved ones.

How to Make a Christmas Stovetop Potpourri

Time to Make: 4 hours 10 minutes

To make homemade potpourri, you first need to dry your fruits. To do this, start by slicing your apples and oranges very thinly and placing them in a single layer on your wire rack. 

Place the wire rack on top of your baking sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 3 to 4 hours. 

Once you remove your dried fruit from the oven, allow them to cool completely before putting together your Christmas gift jars. 

Putting Together Your Stovetop Potpourri Gift

Once your fruits are completely cooled, start assembling your potpourri into the mason jars.

We layered our potpourri to make it look nice visually as a gift.

First, we layered some cranberries, then the apples and oranges, placed the cinnamon sticks in and relayed more of the fruits until the jar was full, but not overcrowded.

Once your homemade potpourri jars are finished, now you can start to decorate them. 

Print out the printable Christmas gift tag and cut out around the edges. 

Put the gift tag on top of the mason jar lid and screw the outer ring into place to secure it down. 

Lastly, decorate your jar with a bit of Christmas themed ribbon. You can wrap it around the jar, or wrap it around the lid like we did. 

Trust me, Anyone who gets this Christmas scented potpourri from you, will love it! I know i sure would appreciate such a sweet handmade gift.