My car has recently had the scent of teenage boys. My son is training for a mini marathon and I have hauled him and his friends back and forth to practice. I honestly had no idea boys could smell that bad. So, to help make the car smell better I decided to make this DIY car vent air freshener.
I love using my essential oils as an air freshener, so I figured I would try to make something with them. I immediately thought of the air vent fresheners and wondered how I could make one of those. I came up with the idea for these decorative air fresheners. They are not only cute but because they go into the vent they make the car smell better than the hanging air fresheners. Plus they only cost a dollar or two to make.
I started with some large bobby pins. Depending on the size of your vents you might be able to get away with regular sized bobby pins, but these worked better on my vents.
I used some old cardboard to make sure the bobby pins didn’t get hot glued together when I was gluing on the ribbon. I just placed the bobby pins on the cardboard.
Next, I cut some ribbon to the length I needed to cover the bobby pins. I added an extra finger spacing in so I could slip in a cotton ball.
I then used a hot glue gun to glue on the ribbon. If you don’t have a hot glue gun, you can use any glue that will work on both fabric and metal. I placed the glue on the bobby pin and then I pressed the ribbon onto the bobby pin.
Once I had given it time for the glue to dry I removed them from the cardboard. I cut a cotton ball in two and added 4 drops of essential oil to each cotton ball. I used a sweet orange, but you can use whatever scent you would like in your car. Vanilla may be a great one to try too. I am not brand picky with essential oils, but I do love Fabulous Frannie essential oils. I have noticed that they are just as good as the more expensive brands but cost much less. You can head over here to grab one of their gift sets or just buy one bottle. They are usually less than $5 a bottle.
Then I slid the cotton ball into the space at the end of the bobby pin.
You can now just slip the bobby pin over one of the vent flaps and let the car fill up with a great scent. The best part is you can use them over and over. When the scent starts to disappear, just add another couple of drops of essential oils to the cotton ball. If you want to try a new scent just throw out your old cotton balls and add some new ones.
I love how easy these are to make, plus I like the decorative ribbon instead of plain black air vent freshener. It adds a pop of color and scent to my car.
Linked Up at Waste Not Want Not Wednesday Link Up
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Stephanie says
April 27 at 3:21 pmWhat a great idea!!! My car also suffers from boy stink every soccer season. I am going to give that a try!
Julie says
April 27 at 3:23 pmBoys really stink, don’t they! 🙂
megan @ NoSmallLife says
April 27 at 9:23 pmThis is such a great idea! Pinning for later. Thanks!!
Julie says
April 28 at 8:37 amThanks for pinning!
Carrie Groneman says
April 27 at 9:46 pmVERY clever!!! Stopping by from Two Uses Tues. Link Up Party. Carrie, A Mother’s Shadow
Julie says
April 28 at 8:37 amThanks for stopping by!
Crystal Storms says
April 28 at 10:57 amJulie, what a creative idea, and I love that the ribbon adds a pop of color. : ) Visiting from Titus 2sDay.
Julie says
April 28 at 12:13 pmThanks for stopping by!
Becca @ The Earthlings Handbook says
April 29 at 3:32 pmCute and much healthier than purchased air fresheners with weird synthetic fragrances! I love essential oils for deodorizing.
Julie says
April 30 at 1:31 pmAren’t essential oils just wonderful for deodorizing?
Margaret says
June 15 at 10:07 amMs. Julie, I’m a full-time caregiver to my husband whom is a wounded warrior. My caregiver group just had an Essential Oils demonstration. Your little idea is huge! I’ll share this with my ladies. There are oils that calm and with Posts Traumatic Stress Disorder a soldier can really have problems riding in a car. So thank you.
Julie says
June 18 at 6:31 pmSo glad I could help. Thank you to your husband for his service!
Julie @ Logger's Wife says
April 30 at 1:30 pmThat is seriously such a great idea! I’m going to be trying this as soon as I get my car cleaned out from our long winter here. 🙂
(visiting from Thrifty Thursday)
Julie says
April 30 at 1:32 pmGlad I am not the only one with a dirty car! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Bonnie says
April 30 at 3:10 pmHaha Boys totally stink! lol This is a great idea to unstick the car. I haven’t gotten into essential oils but this idea makes it worth checking them out.
~Bonnie
Audrey says
May 1 at 12:24 pmCute… I wonder what scent my hubby would let me put in his car? Stopping by from #sitsblogging
DebWV says
November 3 at 5:40 pmSomething pine? And use camo ribbon! If he doesn’t want it seen, maybe clip it under the seat where the floor vents are?
Julie says
November 8 at 2:48 pmGreat suggestion! Thanks!
Susan says
May 4 at 7:45 pmWhat a brilliant idea! I’ll be making my own tomorrow. Thanks for sharing at the This Is How We Roll Link Party on Organized 31.
Elise @frugalfarmwife.com says
May 4 at 9:58 pmWhat a brilliant idea! Aren’t essential oils amazing?
Thanks for sharing at Waste Not Want Not Wednesday!
Danielle @ Poor and Gluten Free says
May 5 at 5:39 pmWhat a great idea! I hate synthetic air fresheners (they’re so bad for people with asthma and allergies!!), but I love using essential oils in my home diffuser. Thanks so much for sharing this on Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, I’m featuring it this week 🙂
Julie says
May 6 at 7:11 amThank You! 🙂
Lorelai says
May 5 at 8:31 pmThanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty – We hope to see you again next week!
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
Julie says
May 6 at 7:11 amThanks for hosting!
Laci Carlson says
May 5 at 10:41 pmI am so doing this !!!! asap now this i really love ! #homemattersparty
Pulan says
August 23 at 6:34 amHow often do you put in drops of essential oil?
Julie says
August 24 at 1:56 pmI try to put new drops in about every 2 weeks.
Darin says
September 8 at 7:04 pmThis is a neat idea, but I was just thinking…what you made is almost the same as a bandaid (except more classy with ribbon 🙂 I think I might try using a bandaid then you can stick it on a vent much like how you positioned your pretty air freshener. Less work, but we’ll see how it goes!
Julie says
September 9 at 7:29 amI hope it works for you. Let me know if it does.
Lisa says
January 18 at 2:06 pmI was thinking about using washing tape
Lisa says
January 18 at 2:06 pm*Washi
Julie says
January 18 at 6:50 pmThat’s a great idea! I would love to know how it works.
Shirley Fenstermaker says
September 27 at 12:06 pmLove this. My hubby always spends way too much on air fresheners.
Loren says
November 6 at 10:31 amAbout how long would the scent last with the initial 4 drops?
Julie says
November 8 at 2:51 pmMine usually lasts for about 2-3 weeks. It depends on how strong you like the scent to be.