Homemade Perfume, perfect for Mother's Day

 We made homemade perfume for the first time the other day and I thought this would be a wonderful Mother's Day gift for Dad's to make with the kids. The entire process is so much a fun and has many great learning and exploring opportunities.

1.The fun starts when the children take baskets into the yard and use their little noses to find the best smelling flowers. This is a great way to learn all the different flowers growing this time of year as well.
2. Once all the flowers are picked it's time for crushing. They can be crushed in a mortar and pestle or just with the back of a spoon. I own a mortar and pestle for art more than cooking. The kids love to crush yard findings in it pretty often. 

3. Once they are crushed and smelling wonderfully, add to a bowl of warm water and let sit overnight.

4. In the morning the flower water can be poured through a sieve (another fun kitchen tool) and the water can go into a pot, brought just to a simmer, then removed from heat and let cool.

5. Use a funnel to add the flower perfume to some glass jars. We found these pretty ones at the craft store for just $1. They come with a cork and we can use a cotton ball to easily put the perfume on.

Look how pretty they came out and we had so much fun doing this. There are a lot of perfume recipes out there and most call for alcohol. I decided to keep it simple since my four year old was the perfume creator, but knowing that I also know these perfumes will probably only have a shelf life of a few weeks without the added alcohol. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of you amazing, beautiful, talented, smart, loving and very extraordinary mama's out there! You are doing an awesome job!

xo

green owl mama