This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Christmas Potpourri in a Jar is like bottling up the scent of the holidays. With fresh cranberries, oranges, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg, these DIY Christmas gifts is a simple stovetop potpourri that everyone will love.
Highlights
Looking for unique and beautiful DIY Christmas gifts? Grab the free printable below and get all the details to make a few of these Christmas Potpourri in a Jar Homemade Christmas gifts for family, friends, neighbors and teachers!
I’m really excited about this Christmas Potpourri, because it’s a great non-food gift that I can give to my kids’ teachers (I mean, they get tons of candy and cookies already!) and I LOVE how the free printable tag turned out!
I love to fill my home with amazing scents during the holidays, and there’s no better combination than citrus and cranberry mixed with cinnamon and spices. This is a simple recipe that you can simmer on your stovetop or in a crockpot to help fill your home with these delicious scents of the holidays. All of these ingredients are combined in a small pot on the stove and simmered for hours.
This Christmas Potpourri in a Jar comes with a free printable and is crazy easy to put together. It looks stunning, and it’s not just another food gift.
Potpourri Ingredients
These are the ingredients you’ll wrap up for your gifts. You can also just simply drop all of this in a pot of water and simmer it for yourself!
- ½ cup fresh cranberries – make sure they are really fresh. You’ll start seeing these in the produce department around early November, maybe even late October.
- 1 small orange – The size you purchase will determine what type of vessel you can use to assemble the gifts. Larger oranges won’t fit through the mouth of the jar, and you don’t want to slice the oranges. Clementines are great for smaller jars.
- 4 cinnamon sticks – These seem to come in varying lengths, but are usually about 3-inches long. You can always find a large bottle of these at Costco.
- Whole cloves or allspice (or both) – I’ve used both with fantastic results. But you can choose to use just one of whichever is your preference.
- Ground nutmeg
How to Make These DIY Christmas Gifts
For the assembly, you’ll also need:
- Wide-Mouth, Quart Jars or cellophane gift bags – The jars are obviously more expensive, but they do have the biggest impact. As you can see in the images, I fit a small navel orange inside.
- Kraft paper or wrapping paper – Kraft paper is stronger, wrapper paper tends to rip, so choose wisely.
- Ribbon or twine – I like the rustic look of twine, but use whatever you have on hand.
- Scissors
- a Printer – if you don’t have a home printer, you can have these printed at your local office supply store for a few dollars.
- Paper/Cardstock – I tend to prefer cardstock because it holds up better. But it’s your call.
Bag Instructions: Place the ingredients inside the jar or cellophane bag and tie a ribbon around the top, attaching the tag with the ribbon.
Jar instructions: Top the lid of the jar with brown kraft paper, wrapping paper or any other paper you like, secure with the jar lid band, then tie on the free printable gift tag with a ribbon or twine. The gift tag doubles as the instructions!
A Few Things to Note
- You want to make sure that the vessel you choose is large enough for the oranges. If you plan to use small navel oranges, or maybe fresh oranges from your backyard tree, I suggest using cellophane gift bags that would be able to accommodate the larger pieces of fruit. There’s nothing worse than having to jam that orange through the mouth of a jar and the recipient not being able to get it out!
- If you opt for mason jars, be sure to use the wide mouth mason jars ones, for the same reason as above.
- You’ll note that on the recipe card it says “cloves” but in the image I used allspice. While these two spices do have different scents, they each blend nicely and one can be swapped out for the other based on what you have available. Or you can use both.
- For the spices, it’s easiest if you place them in a small bag so they don’t just fall to the bottom. I simply cut the corner of a ziploc bag, poured the spices into that corner piece, then tied it with a small piece of twine. (See the video for the visual). You could also just pour them into the bottom of jar if you like.
- I recommend printing on cardstock for the best results.
- Be sure to make one of these cute Christmas gifts for yourself – trust me, these smell amazing and you’ll be glad you did. This recipe works beautifully in the slow cooker, too!
Make Ahead Instructions
You can make these jar gifts about a week in advance.
Assembled jars should be refrigerated and gifted within a week to maintain freshness of ingredients.
Please note – all printables on this site are free for personal use only. They are protected by copyright and not to be sold, altered or redistributed in any way. Thank you for keeping the items we share free for all!
Download
More DIY Christmas Gifts and FREE Gift Tags
Holiday Tips and Gift Guides
- How to Host the Holidays Like a Pro
- Holiday Hot Chocolate Bar with free printables
- Planning a Christmas Movie Night with Free Printables
- Holiday Gift Guide
- Stocking Stuffers for Kids
- Stocking Stuffers for Teens
Christmas Potpourri
Equipment
- Quart Size Ball Jars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
- 1 small orange clementines work great
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tablespoon whole cloves or allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Slice the orange Into thick slices or quarters. Place all of the Ingredients In a 3-quart (or larger) pot on the stove. Pour in enough water to cover the Ingredients by at least an inch.
- Simmer on low heat, uncovered, checking periodically and adding more water If needed.
- Slow Cooker: Add Ingredients to the pot and cover with water. Set to low and leave uncovered.
Notes
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of “Yellow Bliss Road” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Is the crafting paper for decorative purposes or necessary for keeping?
It’s just decorative.
Thank you! I’m excited about putting these together for some gift baskets I’ll be delivering this weekend! Already have all the ingredients and the tags!
Ty soooo much for sharing!
You are so welcome! Thanks for stopping by.
I love all of your amazing ideas! I am having a hard time finding the free printable for this…. is it still available? thanks!
Yes it is. Scroll down to to the bottom of the post. Yellow box/graphic says “download.”
How far in advance can you make the Christmas Potpourri before you give it to someone?€|~
I wouldn’t do it more than a few days in advance and store them in the fridge.
Hi Kristin, do you think this would come out ok if I use little clementine oranges (cuties), since I already have some wife mouth jars and want to use those? Thanks!
Those work perfectly!
Thank you! You are marvelous@!
You are so welcome Meg! thank you so much for stopping by.
Where do you find the cinnamon sticks?
You should be able to find them in the spice aisle of your grocery store.
Where can I get the printable tag?
Scroll to the big yellow graphic that says “DOWNLOAD”
Hello Kristin, when you make the potpourri, mason jars, how long does the cranberries last in the jar. How soon, should I make the jars?
They will last 1-2 weeks, I usually don’t recommend making them more than 3 days in advance. If you want to make them further in advance, be sure to store them in the fridge.
I made these last Christmas and they turned out wonderful! I used clementines/cuties; I just sliced them up when I heated up the potpourri. These gifts were definitely a hit! I made a few and put them in the refrigerator if I wasn’t gifting them right away. I put mine in a small crockpot and was able to reheat it for several days. Your tags are the best! They really dress up the gift! Thank you for an awesome gift idea!
You are so welcome Stephanie, thank you so much for taking the time to leave some positive feedback.
Where do I find the printable tag, I want to make these this year but can’t seem to find it!
Scroll down to the yellow image that says “download” and click it to go to the download page.
I am concerned about using a fresh orange. How long is the mixture good for? Will the orange spoil?
Oranges will last quite a while, at least 1-2 weeks. I do recommend making the gifts no more than 4-5 days in advance of gifting though.
How long will these keep in the jar?
I wouldn’t make them more than a few days in advance to give the recipient time to make it.
CANT WAIT TO TRY THESE NOW.
This is so cute, thanks for the printable tags!
Hi Kristin
I am having troublr finding your printable stove top potpourri tags for Christmas. Please let me know how I can upload to print. Thank you
There is a yellow and white graphic towards the end of the post that says “download.” Click that to print the tags.
I love this idea. Seems so simple to do for those who aren’t so crafty! Thank you for sharing your ideas with this group!
Thank you for stopping by.
I have been searching for this for a while and I’m glad I finally found your site. How many times can it be used before it should be thrown out? I want this for myself and to gift.
I usually throw it out after the first use.
Hello.
Can I use dried cranberries instead of fresh ones?
By the way, I love your ideas!
Thanks for sharing.
Sure, I think that would be ok.
I can’t find the link to download the tags.
Hi Kendra, it’s the large yellow box that says “Download” towards the bottom of the post. But you can find them here: https://www.yellowblissroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Christmas-Potpourri-Gift-Tag.pdf
Did you print the gift tags on regular paper, card stock or something else?
I always use cardstock for printing!
How long will the scent last? How many times can you re-heat it?
A couple of hours at least. I usually throw it out and start with a fresh batch each time.
These were a great hit at a fund raiser auction! Thank you Kristin!
Thank you J.Sacco, So glad it worked out for you.