How To Make DIY Scented Pinecones (4 Methods!)

Enjoy that warm cinnamon aroma that just makes fall and holidays come alive by making your own DIY scented pinecones for your home. It’s an easy project, and I’m even giving you 4 different (easy) ways to make them!

Do you know how that first whiff of cinnamon scented pine cones makes you feel every fall – warm and a little excited, with thoughts of crisp days, family gatherings, and holiday decorations?

Well, it always does that to me, too. And I think that feeling is even better when I make those special scented pine cones myself and use them wherever we like to add a bit of that warm feeling in our home.

If you love to fill your home with that special cinnamon aroma, try making your own cinnamon-scented pine cones along with my festive snowflake Apple Cinnamon Dough Ornaments!

4 Different Methods for Making Scented Pinecones

I’ve included 4 different ways for you to make scented pine cones at home so you can meet your own particular needs (allergies to fragrance chemicals, anyone?) and satisfy your own personal crafty interests at the same time.

Maybe you want really quick and easy. Essential cinnamon oil dropped onto store-bought pine cones will give great results in almost no time.

Stop stressing over the holidays and start planning (and having fun) with this free planner checklist!

Maybe you’ve always wanted to try a melted wax project. Here’s your chance to have some fun with that and get the bonus of a wonderful smelling result.

Happily, scented pinecones, made using any of the 4 different ways here, are easy, kid-friendly, reasonably quick, and oh, so festive! The smell of cinnamon pine cones gets me in the holiday mood even more than Christmas lights do.

Try one of these recipes and enjoy this favorite holiday scent in your home.

Rocky Mountain Oils – Essential Oils You Can Trust

Before I jump into the different methods, I want to take a moment to mention Rocky Mountain Oils. Some of these recipes use cinnamon essential oil to embed the cinnamon scent into the pinecones.

When it comes to using essential oils, I ONLY recommend high-quality, independently tested oils. But they also have to be affordable (and not an MLM sales model).

Rocky Mountain Oils checks ALL the boxes. When you order their products, you can be assured you’re getting nothing but the best – at a terrific price!

Sure, you can buy various essential oils on Amazon or in your local store, but can you really trust the brand and the quality? Check out Rocky Mountain Oils, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll never look back!

Scented Waxed Pine Cones

Love melting wax? Here’s how to use this method to make your favorite holiday scent explosion! This approach takes a little longer than the others, but it’s fun to do and the scent lasts 2-3 months, like scented candles.

Materials You’ll Need

• Pine cones
• Foil
• Cookie sheet
• Candle wax
• Cinnamon candle scent
• Double boiler
• Glitter or other decorations you may want to add
• Plate, coaster, or some pretty base to protect your furniture from wax

How to Make Scented Pine Cones With Melted Wax

Isn’t melting wax a fun activity? Well, put it to good use and have fun too with this method.

Step 1

If you collect pinecones yourself, you’ll probably want to avoid any tiny hitchhikers in your kitchen. Best to clean and debug first off.

Step 2

Start the cleaning by soaking them for 10 minutes or so in warm water. Rinse well.

Step 3

Put them on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 30-45 minutes. When you take them out of the oven they should be dry and nicely opened out.

Stop stressing over the holidays and start planning (and having fun) with this free planner checklist!

Step 4

If you have candle wax scraps left over, collect a good amount – enough to do 2 or 3 dippings of all the pine cones in your stash.

If buying wax, cheap candles from a dollar store work just fine. White wax tends to look like snow on the dried pine cones, but choose any color you like.

Step 5

Melt your wax in a double boiler – a large metal can (like a coffee can) placed inside a larger cooking pan of water works great and avoids any clean-up woes. Add a few drops of cinnamon essential oil to the melted wax.

Let your nose be the judge of just how much is perfect for you.

Step 6

Using tongs, dip each pine cone into the melted wax, making sure to get the wax all over the cone. Remove the pine cones from the wax and set them upright on foil to harden. When the wax has hardened, after several minutes, you can re-dip. Do this 2 or 3 times to get the look you want.

Step 7

After the final dipping, if you want to add glitter or other decorations, this is the time, while the wax is still wet. Let the pine cones dry thoroughly. If you’d like an even bolder scent, just drop a bit more candle fragrance directly onto the cones.

Step 8

Set your waxed pine cones on coasters or some other base anywhere around your house to release a surprising bit of scent wherever you like.

Note: If you have a wood-burning fireplace, these also make great fire starters and may release a bit of scent as they burn.

Ground Cinnamon Pine Cones

Have you ever thought of simply gluing ground cinnamon onto pine cones? It works!

The scent will not last as long as the waxed pine cones (probably about a week or so), but you can easily sprinkle on more cinnamon whenever you need it. And kids love to paint on the glue and sprinkle the cinnamon. 😉

Materials Needed

• Pine cones
• Foil or heavy paper
• Cookie sheet
• Craft Glue or Mod Podge
• Small Paint Brush
• Ground Cinnamon
• Plate, coaster, bowl – something to protect your furniture from any loose cinnamon

How to Make Scented Pinecones With Ground Cinnamon

1. As always, clean and debug any materials collected from outside, just as described in the waxed pine cone directions.
2. Use a small paintbrush to apply white craft glue or Mod Podge to your pine cones. This can be watered down a little if it seems easier. Get it on the “leaves” of the cone and down in the crevices. If you’re using a very large cone, you might want to do it a section at a time.
3. With your glued-up pine cones standing upright on foil or paper, sprinkle cinnamon all over them.
4. When the glue is dry, shake gently to get off excess cinnamon, and put your pine cones
   on a plate or coaster or in a bowl or basket to have that wonderful cinnamon smell wherever you want it.

Pine Cones Boiled with Cinnamon Sticks

The fragrance using this method lasts several days to a week, especially if you leave some cinnamon sticks sitting with the pine cones and rub the sticks together once or twice a day.

Materials Needed

• Pine Cones in varying sizes
• Gallon size sealable bag
• Cinnamon sticks
• Cinnamon essential oil
• Foil
• Large cookie sheet

How to Make Scented Pine Cones Boiled With Cinnamon Sticks

1. Simply put your pine cones, gathered or bought, in any good-sized pot. Add a cinnamon stick for every 2 smaller pine cones or 1 for every larger cone. Add enough water to cover the pine cones, and essential oils, and heat to a boil.
2. Cover and boil for 5-10 minutes. Turn off the heat, leave the cover on and let them sit for 1-2 hours.
3. Set the newly scented pinecones out to dry on paper or foil and enjoy.

Essential Oil Infused Pine Cones 

One of the most popular ways to make scented pine cones is to infuse essential oils into them.

Materials You’ll Need

• Pine Cones
• Gallon sized zippered bags or other sealable container
• Cinnamon essential oil
• Orange essential oil
• Foil
• Cookie sheet

How to Make Scented Pinecones Infused With Essential Oils

1. Preheat oven to 200℉. Line a large cookie sheet with foil. Spread the pine cones evenly across the foil. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove and let cool completely. (little bugs and critters can be hiding in the pine cones, so baking them is a good way to keep the critters from spreading in your house)
2. Once the pine cones are cooled, place them in a large gallon size sealable bag. Add your essential oils to the pine cones. I used 10 drops of orange, and 10 drops of cinnamon. You can try different combinations until you get the desired scent you like.
3. Seal the bag, and shake the pine cones around so that they absorb the oils. Remove excess air from the bag, and seal tightly. 
4. Place the bag in a cool dark place to set for one week. This will allow the oils to fully absorb into the pine cones, and provide you with the strongest lasting scent. Once they have set for a week, remove and place in a bowl for display.

FAQs: Tips For Making DIY Scented Pine Cones

Projects like this one often raise questions. Check to see if your questions about making scented pinecones are answered below. If you don’t see yours, ask it in the comments section at the bottom of the post so I can answer it for you!

Where Do You Get Pine Cones?

I think the best place is on a hike or in the backyard – they’re free and you get to spend a little time outside! Otherwise, you can buy cleaned and ready-to-use pine cones in local stores and online in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Open or closed….both work. Just don’t use green ones.

How to Clean Your Pine Cones

Soak them in warm water for 5-10 minutes. Then swish them around in the warm water to release any dirt and rinse.

Bake them in the oven 30-45 minutes to make sure no little critters invade our home. Make sure to put foil under the pine cones to keep sap off your cookie sheet.

How Long Do Scented Pinecones Last?

That depends on the method you used.

• Waxed pine cones tend to last the longest, just like regular scented candles. Two to three months is likely.
• Those made with ground cinnamon last about a week.
• Scented pinecones boiled with cinnamon sticks last several days to a week.
• Essential oil infused pine cones maintain their scent for about 2 weeks.

The pine cones themselves will last for years (and you can use them repeatedly, year after year!). However, the heavenly smell only stays strong for about 2 weeks. But good news – you can easily refresh the scent!

Stop stressing over the holidays and start planning (and having fun) with this free planner checklist!

How Do You Refresh Scented Pine Cones?

Once the smell fades on your scented pinecones, simply add a bit more of the original scent.

Sprinkling a few drops of essential oil or a few shakes of cinnamon directly onto the pine cones themselves will provide an instant refresh.

It won’t last terribly long, but it will smell wonderful, is easy to replicate, and you get the added benefits of diffused essential oils.

Can You Burn Cinnamon Scented Pine Cones?

If you don’t want to keep your pine cones and use them again next year, one option is to burn them in your fireplace. You may see that they smoke a little more than other kindling at first, but then they will start to burn and will help to ignite larger pieces of wood.

They are safe to burn and you may even get a little bit of the residual scent, and they will leave no residue.

What’s the Difference Between Essential Oils and Candle Fragrance?

Essential oils are natural extracts from different parts of plants. They’re valued for their natural scents and used as natural remedies and aromatherapy for numerous complaints.

Candle fragrance is a synthetic scent made specifically for its desired fragrance. That’s why you see it in a huge variety of mixtures – Apple Pie Spice, Ocean Breeze, or Evergreen Forest.

Both contain chemicals that can be unpleasant for those who are allergic, while most of us don’t have any problem with – and even enjoy – them.

Final Thoughts

I think it’s wonderful that any one of these quick and easy projects can be fun for both you and your kids. These heavenly-scented pinecones will continue to tickle the senses with their beauty and fragrance for as long as you wish to enjoy them!

More Holiday Inspiration

If you love these DIY scented pinecones, be sure to check out these other posts for holiday joy too!

• Must-Know Holiday Safety Tips Every Family Needs
• 7 Essential Ways to Avoid Overspending During the Holidays
• How To Prepare Your Home For Holiday Guests: 9 Hacks
• How to practice self care during the holidays
• The Importance and Joy of Family Holiday Traditions

Stop stressing over the holidays and start planning (and having fun) with this free planner checklist!