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Make Your Own (Even Better) Citronella Candles

June 25, 2014 By Dusty Rogers 14 Comments

Mosquitos and I have never gotten along.

I smack them with my hand every time I see them.

They swarm me like thirsty vampires meeting their first human in decades, and leave welts all over my body every time they see me.

They win.

Every time.

Guess what, vampire insects – I have a new secret weapon. DIY, super-powerful, mosquito repelling, made ’em myself, citronella candles!

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

Here are the supplies you’ll need to take your next backyard BBQ from “bug buffet” to bug free:

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

Supplies
Candle Wax
Candle Wicks
Glass jars
Young Living Citronella Essential Oil
Young Living Purification Essential Oil
Double boiler or pot and glass measuring cup
Woodsies Craft Sticks
Tape
Super Glue

I repurposed my Wildtree spice jars for this project, but you could clean out and use glass containers from old candles or Mason jars.  Make sure your jars are clean and completely dry before you begin.

To start, put a dab of super glue on the bottom of the wick tab and secure it to the bottom center of your glass jar.  This will prevent your wick from floating up once you add the wax.  To keep your wick centered while the wax dries, secure it with two sticks taped together at the ends.  I used craft sticks that I had on hand, but you could also use chopsticks or wooden skewers.  Trim your wick just above the sticks (for now).

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

Once your wicks are secured and trimmed, place jars on a cookie sheet and put them in your oven at its lowest setting (mine was 170 degrees) until the wax is ready to pour.  Warm jars will help your wax cool evenly and will be less of a temperature shock to your glass when you pour the hot wax in.

I don’t have a double boiler, so I made my own out of a sauce pan and Pyrex glass measuring cup.  Fill your cup with wax flakes and place inside a saucepan of water to heat the wax.  Bring water to a boil over high heat and then reduce to medium-low and continue simmering until wax is completely melted.

I started out with 2 cups of wax flakes, which reduced (once melted) to 1 cup of melted wax.  Once the wax was melted I added 10-15 drops of Young Living Citronella Essential Oil and 5-8 drops of Young Living Purification Essential Oil (per one cup of melted wax).

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

Two cups of wax flakes melts to one cup of wax.

Once your wax is melted and the oils are stirred in, use a hot pad to remove your candle jars from the oven and your Pyrex from the sauce pan.  Carefully pour the wax into your candle jars, filling them up to the lip of the jar.  Ensure that your wick is still centered after your pour (adjust as needed by gently moving the sticks).

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

Cool your candles on a cooling rack.  This might take a while depending on how large your candles are.  I made several little candles and found that a one pound bag of wax flakes filled about 10 ounces worth of jars.

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

DIY Citronella Candles in varying stages of cooling.

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

All cooled!

Once your candles are cooled, trim the wick to 1/4″ – 1/2″, light ’em up, and watch those annoying, bloodthirsty mosquitos flee your backyard!  (Apologies to your neighbors.)

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

Now let’s talk about these oils – the magic ingredients!  My friend Beth from Unskinny Boppy introduced me to Young Living Essential Oils.  We’ve been using them around our home for about two months, and we’re hooked!  The thing I like about Young Living Essential Oils versus other brands is that they are guaranteed to be undiluted, free of synthetic chemicals and 100% pure.  These oils are powerful and effective and a little goes a long way!

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

Young Living’s Citronella Essential Oil is more powerful than “citronella-scented” candles you might buy in the store to repel mosquitos.  These candles are made with synthetic chemicals and mimic a citronella scent, but do not disperse actual citronella oil – THAT’S what really keeps those bugs away!  To give those pesky pests the one-two punch, I also added Young Living’s Purification Oil.  Purification is an oil blend that cleanses and disinfects that air, neutralizing mildew, cigarette smoke and disagreeable odors.  It also disinfects and cleanses cuts, scrapes, and bites from spiders, bees, hornets and wasps.  It has many uses (I dapped it on a spot of acne and it cleared it right up) but for the purpose of these candles, I like that in addition to all this it also helps keep the bugs away!

If you’d like to try Young Living Essential Oils for yourself, please CLICK HERE to sign up to shop as a retail customer (it’s free!) and I will receive a credit for your purchase (at no additional charge to you).  I’m also happy to answer any questions you have, so feel free to email me or ask them in the comments.  Thank you!

UPDATE:  I forgot to add!  If you’re not familiar with using essential oils the price tag might shock you, so it’s important to mention that a little goes a long way, and these bottles last a long time.  For example, 10 drops of Citronella Essential Oil per 1 cup of melted wax (which yielded 1.5 candles for me) breaks down to a total of $0.71 – that’s only 47 cents spent on 100% pure citronella per 3 oz candle.  I used about 60-70 drops of Citronella for all of the candles I made and I still have a ton of oil left in my bottle for future use.

100% pure therapeutic grade Citronella Essential Oil (15 ml bottle/250 drops): $23.36 retail or $17.75 for Wholesale Members*.
Purification Essential Oil Blend (15ml bottle/250 drops): $24.67 retail or $18.75 for Wholesale Members*.

*Signing up as a Retail Customer is free and you can shop Young Living and pay retail prices. Another option is to sign up as a Wholesale Member (which requires the purchase of a starter kit; prices and products included vary) and you will receive products at a 24% discount.  Please feel free to email me or comment below if you have any questions.

DIY Citronella Candles - the perfect accessory for outdoor dining! | www.allthingsgd.com

DIY Citronella Candles – the perfect accessory for outdoor dining!

Make your own (even better!) Citronella Candles | www.allthingsgd.com

This post contains affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. 1
    Amber says:
    June 25, 2014 at 12:54 pm

    I will definitely be trying this recipe. I cannot be outside for more than 5 minutes without bugs bites all over me.

    I LOVE my Young Living oils. I purchased the starter kit about 6 weeks ago and have already used up about 5 oils. There are so many things they can be used for!!!

    Reply
    • 2
      Dusty @All Things G&D says:
      June 25, 2014 at 1:20 pm

      Thanks Amber! I’m an oil newbie too, and learning so much! Which oils are your favorites so far? I’ve been loving the lemon for cleaning, and Kate loves Peace & Calming at nap time and at night – it’s been helping a lot with her sleep! We also used Thieves on her for a wicked cough a couple of weeks ago (she refuses to take medicine – the biggest reason why I wanted to try essential oils as an alternative) and her first night with Thieves was her first night that she finally got her cough calmed down enough that she was able to sleep without waking up hacking away. So far so good!

      Reply
      • 3
        Larisa Kingston says:
        March 20, 2015 at 11:09 am

        Dusty, how did you use the Thieves oil? Did you rub some on Kate or spritz it?
        Thank you,

        Reply
  2. 4
    Carla B. says:
    June 25, 2014 at 3:04 pm

    I’m sure there’s some kind of circle of life / food chain devestation from riding the world of mosquitos, but I’m willing to give it a shot for a few days and see what happens. You on board? I absolutely hate them, which makes sharing with my daughter (whose in a let’s-step-on-ever-bug-we-see phase) that we don’t kill bugs VERY hard. Especially when she sees me smack, swat, and pulverize them. But I’m also not a fan of breathing in regular citronella candles, so this may be a good solution! :-)

    Reply
    • 5
      Dusty @All Things G&D says:
      June 29, 2014 at 6:42 am

      LOL Carla! Yes, please sign me up for mosquito mass destruction. I’m with ya!

      Reply
  3. 6
    Lin says:
    June 25, 2014 at 4:07 pm

    Super cute, but it seems like all the posts are DIY lately. Would love to have more updates on your healthy eating and family!

    Reply
    • 7
      Dusty @All Things G&D says:
      June 29, 2014 at 6:42 am

      Thanks for the feedback, Lin! I’ve definitely been in DIY mode lately, but look for more healthy eating and family posts coming soon!

      Reply
  4. 8
    Amber says:
    June 26, 2014 at 9:35 pm

    I really love Lavender. We have used it for sleep, bug bites, sun burns, allergies…it is usually the first one I grab and can be used for so much! So far, I use Thieves a lot for cleaning. I used your “recipe” and made cleaning cloths. I put a few drops of Thieves in with it whenever I make them. I like Stress Away a lot. It has helped me with anxiety issues and overall stressful moments. I use Purification to clean the air and on blemishes. It seems like every oil I have used, I have really liked.

    Reply
    • 9
      Dusty @All Things G&D says:
      June 29, 2014 at 6:44 am

      I haven’t used lavender much yet, but will now – thanks for the tips! I also love the idea of adding Thieves to the DIY disinfectant wipes – I’ll do that. Thanks Amber!

      Reply
  5. 10
    Mary Beth says:
    June 30, 2014 at 6:04 am

    I may have missed something but it looks like you’ll only get a credit on oils with your name & ID number. I will wait on your response to sign up.

    Reply
    • 11
      Dusty @All Things G&D says:
      June 30, 2014 at 7:07 am

      Hi Mary Beth, thank you so much for double-checking! Yes, that is true, I only receive credit for your purchase (at no additional charge to you) if you sign up as either a Retail Customer or as a Wholesale Member, using my referral link, which can be found here: https://www.youngliving.com/signup/?site=US&sponsorid=1751399&enrollerid=1751399.

      Signing up as a Retail Customer is free and you can shop Young Living and pay retail prices. Another option is to sign up as a Wholesale Member (which requires the purchase of a starter kit; prices and products included vary) and you will receive products at a 24% discount. Please feel free to email me or comment if you have any questions – I’m happy to help!

      Thank you!

      Reply
    • 12
      Lori says:
      June 30, 2014 at 12:35 pm

      Mary Beth, this is her link https://www.youngliving.com/signup/?site=US&sponsorid=1751399&enrollerid=1751399

      Reply
      • 13
        Dusty @All Things G&D says:
        July 2, 2014 at 12:22 am

        Oh, thank you Lori! I didn’t notice that my link didn’t show up. I’ll fix that now. Thank you!

        Reply
  6. 14
    Sarah Pajaro says:
    June 9, 2015 at 10:45 am

    We are so excited to make these candles at a baby shower this summer! Where do you recommend buying the candle wax pellets from? I’ve googled it but not had the best luck. Your bags look like good size.

    Reply

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