diy citronella candle

by christina on May 18, 2012

We’re getting ready for our first camping trip of the summer, and one of my biggest jobs is keeping the bugs (mosquitos and ticks especially!) at bay.  I mixed up a batch of deet free bug spray earlier in the spring, and today my focus was making up some citronella candles to burn while we’re hanging out at the campsite.  It’s a bit time consuming (all that grating!) but they are easy to make, and very effective.  The following recipe is for one large candle.  I like to make camping candles in a tin can so they are not breakable (I saved my can from chickpea brownies for this one!).

First, grate about 4 cups beeswax. Yes, it’s a lot of grating- think happy thoughts as you grate like how awesome you triceps will look from all of this candle making. :)

Take a bit of wax and use it to stick the base of your wick into the can.

Next, melt your wax in a double boiler.

Remove the melted wax from heat and add about 60 drops of citronella essential oil (not fragrance oil).

Pour into your tin can and let cool.

That’s all there is to it!  All that’s left to do is light it, and enjoy a bug free game of uno at the campsite. :)

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

sunnymama May 18, 2012 at 8:35 pm

This is such a great idea! :) It would be lovely if you’d like to share it with the summer carnival: http://sunnydaytodaymama.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/all-year-round-blog-carnival-summer.html

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christina May 19, 2012 at 8:36 am

thanks! i’d love to share it for your summer carnival :)

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sunnymama June 26, 2012 at 9:31 pm

Thank you so much for linking up at the summer carnival. :) Just calling by again to let you know that I featured your post here: http://sunnydaytodaymama.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/all-year-round-week-nineteen-7-summer.html

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