Why Don't You Make Orange Pomanders?

We've (I've) been very busy and over extended this holiday season. As such, I've been looking for some easy, fun craft projects that my family, and more specifically my son could enjoy in our periods of quiet and downtime. Remembering one of my favorite projects as a child, I decided that we would make orange pomanders this year. Making these is a memory I have from preschool, and it proved successful with my own 3 year old.

Orange pomanders date back to the Victorian times, when people used them to scent their homes, closets, and bathrooms.

Ours were not "true" orange pomanders, as we didn't roll the oranges in the traditional spice mix of nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and ground orris root powder to cure them. Rather, they were a quick project, done yesterday afternoon while my family came to visit while we sat around the table talking. As they weren't cured, they may not last very long, but for now the scent is heavenly.

You'll need:

Several navel oranges or clementines
Whole cloves
A wooden skewer, pin, or other sharp, thin, pointy apparatus.
Ribbon if you wish to hang your oranges.



Using your skewer, make a small whole in your orange. This makes pushing the whole cloves into the thick flesh so much easier. Push a clove clear in until only the head is visible. I like to cover my entire orange with cloves, others in my family made gorgeous designs - hearts, stripes, stars.

Once your orange is covered in cloves, take a length of ribbon several times the width of your orange and wrap it around the flesh, crisscrossing at the bottom - dividing the orange into 4 segments. Hopefully the photo is helpful. Knot the ribbon tightly at the top near the orange and then again a few inches up to create a hanging loop.


Orange pomanders are beautiful, natural, delicious smelling ornaments and decorations to have in your home.

Creating memories with simple crafts,

Simple Mama