DIY Diffuser Ornaments

I signed up to do the craft at Kevin’s class Christmas party. And let’s be honest, I got to the sign up too late to sign up for plates and napkins…but my kid LOVES crafts so I wanted it to be something the kids would be excited about. I made a test batch of these before the party and my own kids loved them and decorated a ton of them, so I figured it would be a win with the kindergarteners too! And anything we can add oils to make me happy, so these were a win-win!

I learned a few things in the test batch, and I’m hoping my mistakes can make your first round a success!

First things first, the recipe! Keep reading for the tricks I learned after my first batch!

1 cup of baking soda

1/2 cup of cornstarch

3/4 cup of water

Essential oils of your choice. Kevin loves Christmas Spirit so that’s what we went with, but other great options are Peppermint, Orange, Cinnamon Bark, Pine, and Northern Lights Black Spruce.

Heat all the ingredients, except the essential oils, in a saucepan over medium heat, keep stirring and stirring!! Remove the pot from the heat as soon as the dough has the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a tea towel until cool enough to handle. The cooler the dough, the cleaner the cookie cutting goes!! So give it plenty of time to cool!

Add the oils onto the dough and knead the dough by hand. I used 10-15ish drops of oil, but you can decide how strong your want your ornaments to smell! Then roll out the dough, keeping it fairly thick to make the ornaments stronger, and use cookie cutters to create the shapes you want. Use a straw to make a hole in the top for a string to hang.  I made a double batch for the class and got about 28 thick tree ornaments. 

Let air dry on a cookie sheet for a white, sparkly, natural look. I let them dry for about 12 hours, then flipped them over to make sure they were very dry and more durable! It will take about 24 hours for them to air dry completely.

You can also bake them (they will turn a darker color) for about 1 hour at 75 degrees. Flip ornaments over at 30 minutes.

I used a toothpick for these holes and it was too small for the twine to go through! Be sure you use a straw to make the hole while cookie cutting!!

The last step is to PAINT!! My kids loved this part!  I used these finger paints from Amazon and they applied and washed off my kids easily!  Keep wipes close so they don’t mix and match all the colors, but just let them dip their fingers and add “ornaments” or dot paint however they want! Then add a string or twine and you’re done!

These make such cute gifts and they smell so good!! The kids loved them! I brought tissue paper and brown paper bags to the Kindergarten party to help get them home safely in backpacks!