Hosting at Christmas can be great. It brings all the family together under one roof for good food and to make memories. However, one thing you don’t want them to remember is the way your house started to smell after you cooked dinner and hosted several guests in a tight space, usually without any open windows to keep everyone warm.
This begs the question, how do you freshen up a house after Christmas to ward off nasty odors that can sour the mood, or send guests home with their clothes smelling of your house?
Here, professional cleaners share their top tips to make a house smell good for Christmas and keep lingering odors at bay when hosting.
How to freshen up common Christmas house odors
The last thing you want to be doing when hosting is running around with a can of air freshener trying to banish bad kitchen smells, ward off the smell of well-worn boots in the entryway, or dispel stale air. Putting these measures below in place instead can make your job a little easier and help keep guests comfortable and happy.
1. Use an odor-neutralizer in the kitchen
One thing people with nice-smelling kitchens always do is tackle smells at the source. This means targeting odors with a neutralizer, rather than just trying to mask them.
Jenience Tizzino, VP of product and innovation at ATELIER Creative Services, working with Drift Home Fragrances says. ‘To get rid of smells and freshen a house up after cooking a large dinner immediately use a room spray that uses odor-neutralizing technology. That way it doesn't just mask bad smells – it actually eliminates them, targeting and replacing malodors with new molecules.
Drift's home sprays, available at Amazon have 12% fragrance added while most sprays only have 2%.
2. Keep your home ventilated
Do you know how often you should open windows in winter? You might not think about it when the weather is cold, but it is essential for cleaning your air.
Nitya Seth, interior designer and owner of NITYANAMYA says, ‘Introducing fresh air inside the house by opening all the windows and doors will help, removing most bad smells within just five minutes.
‘If the weather is too cold, you can also use the kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans,’ she adds. ‘Investing in the best air purifier with a HEPA filter for the trapping and elimination of smells and aerosols will also help.’
Rated H&G's best air purifier overall, the Shark NeverChange has an air filter that lasts up to five years to help you save money and reduces your chores.
3. Clean as you go
Cleaning as you go on Christmas day not only helps keep musty Christmas smells at bay but also makes your job after hosting simpler. We are not talking about breaking out the steam cleaner here, but doing a few small tasks and utilizing smart organizing tips to keep odor sources under control.
Rocky Vuong, cleaning expert and founder of Neatbrite suggests, ‘Don't let dishes and food scraps sit around. Wash dishes promptly, wipe down countertops, and take out the trash.’
In an entryway, ask guests to stash shoes in enclosed storage baskets as they enter to keep sweaty smells contained and keep your home smelling fresh.
Keep cleaning seasonal with this festively scented peppermint cleaning set from Mrs. Meyers
Keep guests shoes, and their odors, contained in your entryway using baskets with lids for easy storage
Whether you are dealing with food scraps from Christmas dinner, or picking up wrapping paper, scented trash bags helps conceal common Christmas odors
4. Use a simmer pot after dinner
When preparing your Christmas dinner, desserts or mulled wine, keep some of the spices and fruit peels to one side to mix up the best simmer pot recipes for fall and winter Carolina Kazimierski, co-owner and president of Sophia’s Cleaning Service suggests.
She says, ‘Another thing you can do is boil some water on the stove and add some orange peels (especially useful if you've used oranges in cooking), cinnamon sticks, star anise, or really any other aromatic seasonal ingredients. This will not only add some needed moisture to your home, but it's a great way to freshen up a house after Christmas and replace odors with a nice Christmas-y scent.’
5. Strategically situate natural odor eliminators
We usually clean with baking soda and vinegar to help get rid of odors, but did you know they are equally as effective sitting in a small bowl? Placing them strategically around your home at Christmas can help to absorb smells as they arise, explains Rocky Vuong, cleaning expert.
He says, ‘Place bowls of baking soda or activated charcoal in strategic locations to absorb odors.’
Keeping a bowl of vinegar next to your stove is a great way to counteract the worst of the cooking smells before they permeate your home, while a bowl of baking soda, such as Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, from Walmart, in a safe place in the entryway or living room will stop sweaty or musty odors affecting guests.
6. Keep fragrance coming with a diffuser
Placing the best essential oil diffusers or scent plug-ins around your home will keep your home smelling fresh all Christmas long, and without you having to think about them. Picking a slow-release diffuser on a timer will keep the scent consistent without the need to worry about open flames, especially when hosting Christmas with children, animals, or alcohol involved.
Using an essential oil diffuser with high quality oils will help to freshen up your space without harmful toxins, making it ideal for use around children or people with allergies
Tackling odors as and when they happen is a great way to make post-Christmas cleaning less overwhelming. Don’t forget to also enlist the help of your family or other housemates to split shores evenly so the day can be equally enjoyed by all.
