An easy tutorial for making DIY Citronella Candles with herbs for your summer outdoor entertaining. They smell wonderful, and repel mosquitoes + flying pests naturally.
You all know how I feel about herbs…I love them. I love candles too, and these citronella herb floating candles are the perfect blend of both. Not only do they keep the bugs away, they look and smell just lovely, and no candle making skills are needed! I can’t decide what makes me happier…their scent, or how pretty they looked lined up on my table. They make spending time outdoors pleasant and bug-free.
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Supplies For 4 Candles
- Gather 4 quart size mason jars and 4 floating candles. It’s best to use wide mouth mason jars because they allow room for a bigger candle. Any kind of clear bowl or pitcher can also be used.
- Harvest fresh herbs. Rosemary, basil, thyme, mint, and bay leaf are perfect. Eucalyptus and lavender are good additions as well.
- Cut one lemon into slices and one lime into quarters. (Each jar gets two slices of lemon and one lime wedge.)
- The best essentials oils to use in these citronella candles are citronella oil, lemongrass, peppermint oil, and eucalyptus.
Assembly Instructions
- Herbs. These go in the bottom of the jar.
- Add water. (Fill to an inch below the lid rings.)
- Add 20 drops of essential oil.
- Gently stir the water and essential oil together.
- Add one lime wedge.
- Add two lemon slices.
- Place the floating candle on top. (Double check that the wick is in good shape before adding the candle to the jar.)
How Long Do These Candles Last?
These DIY homemade citronella candles last for about 3 days before the herbs and citrus start to go bad. If you make them up on Friday, they will last for the entire weekend.
How Do You Dispose of These Candles?
- Pour the jar contents down the garbage disposal (a little at a time) and put the glass jars in the dishwasher. (Not the candle of course!)
- Remove the candle. Drain the water from the jar. Place the remaining jar contents in the trash. Put the jars in the dishwasher.
These mosquito repellent candles add the prettiest ambiance to any outdoor deck or patio, and they take just a few minutes to put together. The natural ingredients in these candles let you avoid bug sprays, and they keep the insects away. If you don’t have herbs of your own, just pick them up in the produce area of your grocery store, when you’re shopping for the lemons and limes!
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More Ideas for Using Fresh Herbs
- Rosemary Parmesan Chicken
- Oven Roasted Crispy Potatoes
- Simple Arrangements Using Herbs & Garden Flowers
Can’t wait to try these.Do you think if you wanted to use indoors you could use lemon oil plus herbs? I have recommended your blog to many of my friends,love your style & affordable ideas. Wishing you love & laughter.
Oh yes that’s a great idea! Any other essential oil would work for indoors. Rosemary would be amazing. Thanks so much!
Oh I must try these…thanks for the recipe! We are getting eaten alive on our second story deck. Didn’t think mosquitoes flew that high! ;)
Made them for outdoor wedding and they are gorgeous! I did have to pull the basil that I included in the jars because it began to brown within the hour. Maybe lemon or essential oils in the water??
I can’t wait to try these! They have got to smell better than the oil I’m burning in my Tiki torch. And they are a whole lot prettier.
Hi Anne!
I love this idea! Simple yet so useful!! Thank you!
I luv your blog and all your posts so much! Everything’s is classy, simple, and yet so useful and very helpful! Your added suggestions and directives are so helpful in finding/gathering all of the items needed to complete the project! I get very excited waiting for your next post! I have recommended you to all my family and friends!! Thanks again and keep them coming!!! These are an awesome idea!!!
These are amazing…..truly the meaning of beautiful and functional!!! Thanks for the tutorial/recipe Ann!
These are lovely. Our herbs are doing spectacular this year too. I just added a few to a flower arrangement last night. I used sage and savory. I even used the sage to help relieve a headache. Just running my fingers over the leaf and releasing the oils, the smell was SOOO soothing. I need to get some floating candles so I can make these next weekend. They’d be great for a party!
These are beautiful, and I love all those scents – rosemary, basil & lavender! We’re not spending much time outdoors this summer, but when that changes, I will definitely pull out this “recipe for outdoor candles”! These would actually look lovely on an indoor dinner table too!! Thank you for this inspiration!
This is a wonderful idea, thank you for sharing it. They look so pretty and I know will look and smell fantastic on my porch! I have old candle lantern jars from Keepers of the Light I can’t wait to use!
Thank you for sharing. You’re the best????
Great idea. Great to use the herbs we’ve n growing. You can always save the wide mouth mayonnaise jars. They make perfect containers.
Thanks for sharing