How cool would it be to give away hand-crafted gifts you made yourself to all of your family and friends this year during the holidays?

What if those gifts were all-natural, beneficial, and—this can be our little secret—dirt cheap?

When you give the gift of an essential oil product that you’ve made yourself, you’re not just giving the recipient that thing. You’re potentially opening them up to explore the world of essential oils and natural alternatives. Your gift might even be the catalyst they needed to leave behind chemical-laden store bought products.

Now that’s a great gift.

In today’s post, you’ll learn how to make:

• A fresh-feeling peppermint body lotion, perfect for putting into 4 ounce containers
• A body wash so good that you’ll want to use it year-round
• The best roll-on blends to prepare as gifts

Excited yet?

Let’s get started with the peppermint body lotion… you don’t want to miss this one!

Invigorating Peppermint Body Lotion

This DIY peppermint essential oil body lotion recipe is, in a word, phenomenal. Be sure to follow the amounts in this recipe pretty closely, because if you’ve worked with peppermint essential oil before, you know that there certainly can be too much of a good thing. This recipe uses just enough peppermint to give you a delightfully gentle tingly feeling wherever applied.

This lotion is best applied after taking a shower or essential oil infused bath.

To begin, collect the following:

• 6 ounces organic vegetable shortening (about ¾ of a cup)
• 4 ounces coconut oil (about ½ of a cup)
• 5-7 drops peppermint essential oil (or 3-5 if you have sensitive skin)

Soften your coconut oil by soaking its container in hot water for about five minutes. Place the coconut oil and the vegetable shortening in a bowl and mix thoroughly. It’s not so bad to do by hand, but if you have an electric mixer, feel free to use it—the mixing will go by much faster.

Apply peppermint essential oil drops to the mixture and continue to stir/blend. Once the recipe reaches a creamy, buttery consistency, you’re done!

Tip: you can add a few drops of organic pink food coloring to this recipe to give it a super fun “candy cane” appearance.

DIY Orange Essential Oil Body Wash

This orange essential oil body wash is the perfect way to refresh yourself with that classic holiday citrus scent and it feels really great—if you’re preparing this as a gift for someone else, you might want to make some for yourself too.

You’ll need:

• 10 tablespoons unscented castile soap
• 2 tsp. sweet almond oil
• 2 tsp. Vegetable glycerin
• 1 tsp. Liquid vitamin E
• 40 drops of orange essential oil

As with many of our soap recipes, the base is unscented castile soap. The vegetable glycerin may be a new ingredient to you. It can be picked up at any health supply store and is responsible for allowing the soap to become bubbly and foamy. The soap will work without it quite well, but it won’t lather quite as much.

Don’t skip the vitamin E either, since it’s great for your skin.

Put all of these ingredients together in a mixing bowl, whisk until thoroughly combined, and place into a container. It’s going to smell so good you’ll want to try it right away!

The Best Roll-On Essential Oil Blends

Roller bottles with your own unique blends are a fantastic holiday gift. They’re small, easily transported, and really useful for anyone who you think would benefit from essential oils.

Obviously, you’ll need some roller bottles. Make sure they’re securely designed and have a stainless steel roller instead of a plastic rollerball (they’ll last much longer). Our cobalt blue glass roll on bottles are extremely popular and look beautiful.

If you really want to impress the recipient of your gift, pick up some of our gemstone rollerballs. Absolutely gorgeous and classy, you get a set of 13 in each order. Stones included are Tiger Eye, Sodalite, Rose Quartz, and more.

Coming up with your own blends is a lot of fun and we suggest you try it! If you’re pressed for time and want something holiday-themed that smells great, give this classic holiday blend a shot:

• 2 teaspoons Jojoba oil
• 5 drops frankincense essential oil
• 5 drops peppermint essential oil
• 1 drop lavender essential oil

Or this one:

• 2 teaspoons jojoba oil
• 4 drops lemon essential oil
• 4 drops orange essential oil
• 3 drops tea tree essential oil

Happy Holidays From Aroma Outfitters!

We hope that you’re as in love with this time of year as we are. There’s no better time to work and play indoors with making your DIY recipes. If you give out any of these ideas as gifts this year, we’d love to hear about how it goes.

But since there’s still time before the holidays, be sure to check back in with us in December for even more ideas and holiday-themed essential oil goodness! In the meantime, let us know if you have questions about any of our products, and, as always, we’d love to hear from you on Facebook.