There are several great ways to make your own air freshener to add a new aroma to your house or even your car.
I’ve assembled my favorite do-it-yourself air freshener ideas in the list below. Some of these ideas will make great crafts for kids to enjoy, whereas others are more simple and can be done in just a minute or two.
Let’s take a look at how to make your own affordable, fun, and unique air fresheners:
1. Make Your Own Air Freshener Spray Bottle For Instant Aroma Anywhere
This is one of the easiest craft projects ever, because it only requires a minimum of two ingredients, with an optional third one.
All you need to do is combine scented essential oil with water in a spray bottle. It’s that easy!
You can choose any fragrance you want, and at any strength of scent that you want. Just add more drops of scented oil to the spray bottle until the fragrance is as strong as you want it.
If you want your spray bottle to freshen the air, then get a mist spray bottle. But if you want to use the spray bottle to clean hard surfaces while leaving its scent behind, then use a heavier spray bottle. Also, when using the aromatic spray bottle as a cleaning solution, be sure to add our third ingredient: rubbing alcohol.
Adding a bit of rubbing alcohol to the mix will give your spray some germ-killing power.
I recommend the following ingredients for creating your own air freshener spray bottle:
- 6-scent Value Pack Of Scented Oils – A great starter pack of scented oils – Click here to view.
- Small Mist Spray Bottle – Use a mist spray bottle for using your air freshener in the air, not on surfaces – Click here to view.
- Large Heavy Spray Bottle – Use a heavier spray bottle with added rubbing alcohol to clean hard surfaces – Click here to view.
- Rubbing Alcohol – Add rubbing alcohol to your scented oil and water mixture to give it germ-killing power – Click here to view.
- White Vinegar – If rubbing alcohol is not available, you can use white vinegar instead – Click here to view.
2. Make Your Own Hanging Air Freshener For A Car Mirror
We’ve all seen the hanging pine tree air fresheners that are popular in car windows. But why can’t we have more than just a tree design? It turns out that you can, if you make your own.
This is a really simple arts and crafts idea that young kids will love. It will also save money on buying new pine tree air fresheners for your car, and will even give you an interesting conversation piece when somebody steps into your vehicle for a ride. I’d call that a win-win all around.
The process is very simple: Since felt fabric easily absorbs scented oils, all you have to do is cut out any shape you want in a felt fabric of any color. Use a hole punch to poke a hole in it, then tie a string or ribbon through the hole. Now just add as much scented oil as you want to the felt and let it soak in, and viola!
In just a few easy steps, you’ve got your own homemade hanging air freshener that can decorate your car window or anywhere else you want to hang it.
I recommend the following supplies for making this craft project happen:
- 6-scent Value Pack Of Scented Oils – My recommended starter pack of essential oils – Comes with 6 different plant-based scents – Click here to view.
- Colored Felt Fabric Pads – For cutting into any shape you desire – Click here to view.
- Hole Punch – For adding a string hole to your air freshener design – Click here to view.
- Stencil Shapes – Use these to draw your lines on the felt where you plan to cut it with scissors – Or just eyeball it if you think you won’t mess it up! – Click here to view.
- Colored Ribbon – For hanging up your air freshener – You could also use any kind of string – Click here to view.
3. Make Your Own Clip-on Air Freshener For A Car Vent
Clip-on air fresheners that attach to car vents are hugely popular today. People generally say that their scent tends to last longer than the scent of the hanging tree air fresheners.
Typically, a clip-on air freshener comes in a device that holds scented gel that is not able to be refilled, so you have to keep buying new devices every time the scent runs out. But did you know that you can create your own scented clip-ons to use in a car vent for super cheap?
This is perhaps the simplest do-it-yourself project in the world. All you have to do is take a wooden clothes pin, set it in a bowl, and soak it in your favorite scented oil. Yes, it’s really that easy!
Because wood is absorbent, it will suck up the scented oil, then slowly emanate the fragrance from the wooden clip-on. All you have to do is attach it to your car vent, or any other place you want a fresh scent, and you’ve got instant aroma at a tiny fraction of the price of a real air freshener.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the more oil you add, the stronger the scent will be. Also, when the scent runs out, you can just drip some more scented oil onto the wooden clip to refresh the scent.
- 6-scent Value Pack Of Scented Oils – Comes with 6 different plant-based scents – Click here to view.
- Wooden Clothes Pins – Can absorb scented oil to make a super easy and cheap air freshener clip-on device – Click here to view.
4. Make Your Own Decorative Jars Of Scented Plastic Beads Or Colored Gelatin
You can make beautiful jars of decorative scented gel or air freshener beads by following the guides I’ve already written about them.
With air freshener beads, you mix a craft item called “water beads” together with scented oi, food coloring, and water. The plastic beads soak up the scented oil and water and make a decoration that looks kind of like jars of marbles, except with a fragrance coming out of them.
Click here to see my complete guide on how to make your own air freshener bead decorations.
With air freshener gels, you mix gelatin together with scented oil and food coloring to produce jars full of colored, scented gelatin. You also add a bit of salt during the process to prevent any mold from growing on the gelatin over time.
Personally, I think the air freshener beads end up making a more beautiful decoration than the gels, but both are fun craft ideas for kids or for adults who want an interesting new decoration for their home that smells nice.
Click here to view my guide for making decorative air freshener gel containers.
5. Get Creative In All Sorts Of Weird New Ways
There are a lot more weird air freshener ideas that you can make yourself. I’ve assembled some of the most interesting ones here:
- Scented Rice Bowl – Pour rice into a small decorative bowl. Then drip some scented oils onto the rice. The rice will absorb the oils, then slowly diffuse them over time. This is an extremely easy air freshener that you can make in 1 minute and set out on a coffee table or dining table before company shows up.
- Scented Decorative Mason Jar – Get a mason jar, put some baking soda in it, then drip some scented oil into the baking soda. Put a piece of cheesecloth over the jar and hold it on with a rubber band. You can finger paint or draw on the outside of the mason jar, or put decorative food items inside it like cinnamon sticks.
- Scented Decorative Party Favor Baggies – Get some colored porous fabric and some scented cleaning pellets. Put the pellets into the cloth, then tie it into the shape of a baggy with a piece of string or ribbon. Instead of putting scented pellets into the bag, you can also use the scented air freshener beads that were mentioned in #4 above. Set the baggies out anywhere you want to decorate with your new aroma, or give them away as low cost party favors.
- Scented Wooden Cubes – Since wood absorbs scented oil easily, all you have to do is soak some small wooden cubes in a bit of essential oil. Once they dry, put them anywhere you want your new scent to be. These are a good option for freshening up small enclosed areas, such as cabinets that smell foul. You can also soak essential oil into almost any wooden shape or object imaginable and use that instead.
- Scented Plaster Air Fresheners – Mix some Plaster of Paris up with scented oil. Stir well until it is thoroughly mixed. Pour the plaster into a cute plaster mold of your choice and let it harden.
- Scented Cotton Balls – Add a few drops of scented oil to a cotton ball or cotton pad and stuff it anywhere you want for an easy, soft aroma. Use more drops for a stronger scent.
- Scented Toilet Paper Roll – Drip just a few drops of scented oil on the inside cardboard area of your toilet paper roll. Viola! You’ve now turned your toilet paper holder into a homemade air freshener. Amazing.
