Unschooling

Make Your Own Perfume Activity (With Printable Instructions)

What do you do when one of your kids asks for perfume for Christmas and there’s no way you want to buy them something full of hormone-disrupting ingredients to spray on their growing bodies?

Make your own!

Why Make Your Own Perfume?

Most perfumes that you buy from the shops have a host of unwanted ingredients that have been linked to a long list of health risks. I won’t go into all the details here because there is tons of information out there! If you google you will find it easily. Fragrance is the new second-hand smoke and it’s in almost everything, not just perfumes. That’s why we make our own cleaning and skincare products with some simple ingredients and essential oils, or buy natural brands without the bad stuff.

There is no way I want this stuff around me, let alone have my kids spraying it on their bodies. Instead, I set up a little perfume making activity for them, where they each got to make their own custom scents!

What You Need

The list of supplies is very short for this one! All you need is some roller or spray bottles, some essential oils, and a carrier oil.

I got our little perfume bottles here.

Essential oils I already owned. If you don’t have them yet you can shop online for them here (read my recommendations for the best oils to start with here). Bonus, if you get them through my link you also get a bunch of info and DIY toxin-free recipes.

For our carrier oil we used Jojoba, which I found at a health food shop near me.

And then you just need the instructions! I made a little printable so they could read it themselves.

Now you’re ready to make your perfume! I just set everything out on the table and let them go for it.

Some Tips

If you don’t have all the oils you need, do it with friends and each bring what you own to share!

These recipes are not for toddlers and very young children. Best for older kids!

You can also add dried botanicals to your bottle. They look really pretty! Some of my girls chose to for their perfumes.

Look up the properties of each oil and choose them based on the mood your going for! This can be really fun to think about. Do you want a calming blend? Energising? Even a spray that’s good for sleep or nightmares? You’re going to get the benefits of the oils you choose anyway, but you can have fun looking these up and choosing things specifically.