Make Your Own Holiday Potpourri

Description

Cinnamon smelling potpourri a beautiful Fall or Christmas decoration. Add some fragrant orange peels, kumquats, pine cones and cloves to make your own holiday potpourri. Use small metal cutters to create pretty shapes.

Home made cinnamon potpourri with orange peels, cinnamon sticks make a pretty decor for Christmas.

Materials for Potpourri

  • Cinnamon Dough Recipe Here

  • Small Cookie cutters or small metal decorative cutters. See below for some of our suggestions.

  • Lime or Tangerine peels
  • Kumquats(6-7)
  • Whole Cloves
  • Star Anise (10-12)
  • Cinnamon Sticks
  • Artificial berries and leaves or flowers for additional color
  • In the Fall you can add: Acorns, Pine Straw, Sweet Gum Balls, Colorful Leaves

Other Materials

  • Toothpick
  • Container for the potpourri such as small bowl or clear glass vase
  • Orange or Lemon Peels add color but will be need to be cut by an adult. Tip: Use a small wooden block on top of your cutter and press to cut shape out. This will keep your hands from having to press down directly on the metal cutter.

Steps

  • Follow Cinnamon Dough Recipe and roll out onto wax paper or parchment paper. Roll until it is about 1/4 inch thick.
  • Cut out your cinnamon potpourri pieces using cookie cutters or molds.
  • Bake at 175-200 degrees F for about one hour, turning every 15 minutes or let air dry for a couple days.
  • Press metal cookie cutters into tangerine peels. Be sure to work on a cutting board to protect your counter.
    • Make holes in kumquats with a toothpick, this will allow for the whole cloves to be inserted easily. Press 3-5 cloves into kumquats.
  • When cinnamon pieces are dry, arrange it all in a small vase or bowl. When not in use, wrap cinnamon pieces in tissue and place in a freezer ziplock. This will keep them nice for the next year. The cinnamon pieces retain their smell for many years if stored properly. You may want to cut some new orange peels for more color.
holiday potpourri

Tips and Suggestions

  • Change cutters according to holiday/season.
  • Cloves are a preservative and the fruit may turn brown where they are place but that is part of the drying process.
  • Anise stars can be glued to the cinnamon cookies or just added to the potpourri mix
  • Pour into a small lacy bag, tie with ribbon for a sachet.
  • Have child close eyes and see if they can identify the different smells.

Educational Benefits

  • Helps develop fine motor skills.
  • Explore sense of smell.

Some Seasonal Cutters we Found