DIY Simmer Pot Gift Ideas For Christmas (easy recipe)

When it comes to the scents of the season, I love to DIY a simmer pot! It’s such an easy way to bring in the natural smells of Christmas. This DIY simmer pot also makes a great gift for Christmas! I don’t know about you, but I love receiving handmade gifts for Christmas. Additionally, I also love giving handmade gifts. Whether it be sourdough bread, a crocheted blanket, or handpainted art, I think handmade means a lot more than something store-bought.

dried oranges and rosemary in plastic bag

So, I know these DIY simmer pot kit gifts will be a hit for the holiday season. These are great because they’re made with all natural ingredients and you can also get these FREE printable gift tags! Whether you need teacher gifts or great hostess gifts, these are the perfect gifts for any occasion.

How To Make The DIY Simmer Pot Recipe

With this stovetop potpourri gift recipe, I’ve made it super simple to make a house smell wonderful with only a few ingredients. While there are many variations to this recipe, I am using dry ingredients since they are gifts. You can use fresh ingredients if you don’t want to do the whole process of drying certain items.

dried oranges and cranberries on cutting board

Simmer Pot Ingredients:

Dried orange slices (For this, I will be making dehydrated orange slices to place inside. You can use fresh oranges, you would just place the whole orange in instead of slices. )
Dried cranberries (or you can use fresh cranberries)
A few cinnamon sticks
A teaspoon of whole cloves
Teaspoon allspice
Rosemary (fresh or dried)

So, there are many different variations you can use. You can add essential oils, apple slices, or other citrus fruit that smells good that you like. You can also add homemade vanilla extract or vanilla beans.

The amount of the contents all depends on the type of container you’re using to gift these in. You can use cellophane bags or a mason jar. However, what I like to do is go to the thrift store and pick out unique jars to give.

Once you’ve obtained all of these ingredients, throw them into a small pot with 2-3 cups of water on low heat on your stovetop. Let simmer for hours and if the water gets low, refill! This will last for hours and hours, maybe even days. It’s such a natural and wonderful way to make your home smell wonderful without the additional cost of candles.

sliced oranges and rosemary on cutting board

How To Dehydrate Orange Slices

To dehydrate orange slices, all you need to do is preheat your oven to 175. Once it’s been preheated, line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Then, slice the orange into 1/4” slices and use a paper towel to gently soak up some juice from the slices. If you don’t want to do that, I let my orange slices sit out on the counter for a day on paper towels before I dehydrate them.

Place them into the oven for 3-4 hours and flip them every 30 minutes. Once you have finished that, place them on a wire rack to cool.

Simmer Pot Gift Container Options

So, as I mentioned above, you can use cellophane bags, mason jars, or thrifted unique jars. Or, you can thrift small baskets to place everything in. Here, I will be showing you how I’ve placed mine!

I’ve placed about 5 or 6 dried orange slices in this cellophane bag, a few cinnamon sticks, and the rest of the ingredients. It doesn’t matter how the spices go into your gift container, when you have all the ingredients loose, it makes it easy just to dump all of the contents of the jar into the pot of water.

Here is option one! I’m using a cellophane bag I got from Amazon, they come with a cute little twist tie. It makes the most beautiful gift! After I’ve put all of the dry ingredients in, I twist tie it shut, and add on my instructions label. You can tie it through the twist tie or you can tape it on with festive washi tape.

diy simmer pot gift for christmas in cellophane bag

Now, here is the mason jar option. You won’t be able to fit as many orange slices in your mason jar as you can in a cellophane bag but it is still a great way to give your thoughtful gift. I’ve put all the ingredients in and used twine to add my Christmas simmer pot label. You could also use a festive ribbon to tie it off as well.

Once you’ve placed your homemade potpourri, into your container of choice, don’t forget to add your free printable labels! You can find the full sheet of different sizes here.

Let me know how you bring the Christmas aromas into your home!

These simmer pots are a beautiful DIY Christmas gift and even a great simmer pot for your own home. I thoroughly enjoy these in the winter months and during the Christmas season, and I hope you do too!