It is always best to get as many gifts put together ahead of time as you can for the holidays. These “Tis the Season” Homemade Sachets would be fun for the kids to work on over Thanksgiving break. Place them in a sealed container or plastic bag after they are made to keep the scent fresh and then they will be ready to give to their teachers or to anyone for a wonderful little gift.
These homemade sachets are nice to tie to a package under the tree. They also add a nice touch if you place a few in a Christmas box you are sending in the mail to someone. The minute they open the box they get the smell of Christmas.
If you want to make them early, they would be good for little party favors to send home with your guests on Thanksgiving day or for any holiday party.
“Tis the Season” Sachets
1 qt. fir needles
2 cups coarse salt (not iodized)
2 – 4 bay leaves, coarsely crumbled
1 cup rosemary
1/2 cup basil
1 cup dried oranges, lemons, cranberries, thinly shredded (any combination)
Mix and pour into little fabric bags. Place wherever you’d like some scent. Makes 5 cups.
From Dining on a Dime
photo by: three_french_hens
Love this! Where would we find the dry ingredients though, besides our backyard for the needles? :-) Thinking to the pouches would be fun to make throughout the year, maybe in seasonal themes so they can be given year round!
Allison if you don’t have a any fir trees in your yard you could try a tree lot where they sell fresh trees and if that doesn’t work you could ask at a floral shop if they have any scraps or pieces you could use. It also doesn’t have to be fir it can be any kind of good smelling needles.
For those of you who have it we have more recipes for sachets and potpourri in Dining on a Dime if you want to check them out and they have other ingredients which don’t call for pine needles.
around christmas the hardware store sells pine needles and cedar by the bag full.
But living where we do I can’t figure out why. almost every street in town has at least one house with a pine tree and walking anyplace they are in all the green areas.
Hard to get rid of them around here.
But try the craft shops and even the grocery store sells pine branches for decorating and they are tossing them out as they start to dry.
What would the size be for the finished project? I have some textile cloth that could be used, but not sure how large or small to cut. Thanks!
It doesn’t matter Sue. You can make the bags as big or as small as you want. You can put 4 Tbsp. of potpourri in them or a cup and everything in between. If you have potpourri leftover you can let it set in a bowl or basket or you can just make 1/2 a batch. It is what ever your needs are.
About 13 years ago, my daughter was living as an exchange student in Japan. She wouldn’t be home for Christmas for the first time. I had found a little silver plated punched tin canister with a tight fitting lid at the thrift store. We cleaned it up, and filled it with the pine needles from the trees in our yard. We mailed that canister in with her Christmas package. Christmas isn’t quite the celebration in Japan as it is here, and they don’t have live trees in their homes. She said that the smell of Christmas that came from that little can was the best part of her parcel. Your potpourri recipe made me think of that time.
What a nice idea for gifts. If you can’t find fir needles, you could always use cedar needles. They smell like Christmas. So does cypress or pine. Check out the Christmas tree farms in your area. You might be able to get the trimmings for free.
If you don’t have fabric, you can always use the little organza tulle’ bags to make the sachets. I buy them at the Dollar Store, 6 in a package. The white ones are beautiful at Christmas. I hang them on the tree or attach them to gift bags.