While searching through my bathroom closet, I discovered a package of baby wipes. I was excited about my find (no, it doesn’t take much to make me excited) when I saw they were dry. Not just lightly damp. I’m talking bone dry. I thought about soaking them in water and rehydrating them when I remembered something else. I’m going on vacation during June and July and I’m a mosquito magnet. No matter where I go I attract the little buzzers.
“Yo, Pam,” I said to myself, “You need insect repellent wipes. Why don’t you make your own?”After congratulating myself on my ingenuity and thrifty ways 😉, I pulled out the ingredients I needed to make my DIY All-Natural Mosquito Repellent Wipes.
DIY All-Natural Mosquito Repellent Wipes
These wipes only use a few ingredients and can be adapted to repel different insects.
What You Need to Make The Wipes:
- dried baby wipes
- baby oil
- essential oils
What Essential Oils Should I Use?
There are lots of combinations of essential oils you can use. I usually try a blend of citronella, lavender, and peppermint. Here are some essential oils that are said to repel insects:
- Rosemary- is said to repel mosquitos
- Thyme- is said to repel mosquitos, chiggers, and ticks
- Citronella- is said to repel fleas, mosquitos, moths, and cockroaches
- Sage- is said to repel flies, mosquitos, and chiggers
- Lavender- is said to repel fleas, flies, mosquitos, and ticks
- Peppermint- is said to repel ticks, spiders, roaches, moths, flies, fleas, beetles, and ants.
Tips on Preparing the Wipes:
- Essential oils are concentrated and can cause skin irritation if applied directly to the skin. Always mix the oils with a base oil, in this case, baby oil.
- Always test the wipe on a small patch of skin to determine if the essential oil causes any allergic reactions.
How to Make the Wipes:
Gather Your Supplies. You’ll need:
1/2 cup oil of your choice (tea tree, almond, or baby oil are all good choices)
5 to 10 drops of your choice of essential oils (any of the oils listed above or a combination of two to three oils)
20 to 30 dried baby wipes
Resealable Plastic bag or baby wipes container
Make Your Wipes:
- In a small bowl, add the baby oil and 5 to 10 drops of essential oil until blended. The mixture can also be placed in a resealable plastic bag, closed, and shaken to blend.
- Pour the oil blend over the wipes and allow the oil to soak through the wipes.
- Store the soaked wipes in an airtight plastic storage container or in a tightly closed baby wipe box.
Tips for Making the Wipes:
- The recommended number of drops is five to ten per 1/2 cup, so if you use more than 1/2 cup of oil, adjust the number of drops. For example, 1 cup would need ten to twenty drops of essential oil.
- I used a 50-count package of wipes so I divided the stack of dried wipes into two equal portions and allowed both sides to soak in the oil until it was absorbed.
- I measured my oil incorrectly, adding 5 to 10 drops of each scent. This produced an extremely strong smell. Unless you like strongly-scented wipes, only use 5 to 10 drops.
- Don’t use the wipe around your eyes as it can cause stinging, burning, and irritation.
Printable Recipe:
DIY All-Natural Mosquito Repellent Wipes
4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalIngredients
1 package dried baby wipes
1/2 to 1 cup oil of your choice (baby oil, tea tree oil, almond oil)
5 to 10 drops essential oil (I use 5 drops lavender, 5 drops peppermint, and 5 drops citronella mixed with 1 cup of oil.
Directions
- In a small bowl, add the baby oil and 5 to 10 drops of essential oil until blended. The mixture can also be placed in a resealable plastic bag, closed, and shaken to blend.
- Pour the oil blend over the wipes and allow the oil to soak through the wipes.
Store the soaked wipes in an airtight plastic storage container or in a tightly closed baby wipe box.
Notes
- Good Essential Oils to try:
Sage
Lavender
Peppermint
Citronella
Thyme
Rosemary
These wipes work well for me as mosquitos leave me alone when I apply a product with citronella in it. However, we all have different body chemistry, so I can’t guarantee these wipes will work for everyone. Still, they are economical and take less than five minutes to make, so it’s worth a shot. I work on my patio garden daily and have swarms of mosquitoes who think I am the main course. These wipes get plenty of use!
Variation Wipe Recipe:
If you have Avon Skin-So-Soft lying around the house, allow the dried wipes to soak in 1/2 cup of their bath oil until the wipes are saturated. Store as you would the essential oil wipes.
How to Store the Wipes:
Keep the wipes in an airtight storage container and they should last up to six months.
Have you made your own insect repellent wipes? What are your favorite scent combinations? Do you have a favorite DIY insect repellent?
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What a great idea! Those little buggers used to drive me crazy growing up. Not an issue here in L.A.
That’s such a clever idea! I love how natural it is.
I do not have any DIY recipes like this, but now I MUST try this. The bugs are getting bad around here!
I need to make this. I am always looking for natural products to use on my kids. This sounds like a perfect one for all those pesky mosquitoes.
This is awesome! My daughter is always getting eaten up in the summer. Trying this for sure!
I would love a natural mosquito repellent. A must for the hot summer days with the mosquitoes flying around.
We have horrible mosquitoes around here! They keep bugging me! (no pun intended LOL)
I love using all natural remedies. I will have to try this out!
This is such a great idea. I am excited to try this when the bugs come out.
Great idea, mosquitos are a total PITA! I try to put the makeup remover wipe packets in a plastic bag once I open the packet so the individual makeup remover sheets don’t dry out.
Great idea and recipe – essential oils, I’ve heard are fabulous in so many ways – I’ll be pulling it together in another month or two 🙂 Thx for the idea!
i will have to try this for sure!!! looks awesome
I love the warmer weather. It is so nice to sit outside. I do not like all the bugs that the warm weather brings. I will have to try this for sure.
What a great idea for this bug season. My daughter is always eaten by bugs
I live in the middle of farm land so we have mosquito control planes that fly around. Which, I hate. That stuff is so gross. I am all about making things with my essential oils. I’ll have to make some of these for our camping trips.
Such an easy quick idea! We get mosquitoes every year and before hubby gets out there to take care of them, they can be downright annoying.
That’s an awesome DIY! I get bit so bad in the summertime
I’ll have to try this when my daughters go to camp this summer, they almost always come back practically eaten alive by the mosquitoes there.
I’m grateful to get some relief from bugs, but most of those store bought repellents keep people away too. They can be so stinky! I need to try this.
One thing I don’t love about summer is all of the bugs. I need to try this.
Mosquitoes love me too, so I’m excited to give this a try. I just need to get my hands on some citronella.
Love this idea! All natural products you can make at home are the best, you know what is going in to the them 🙂
I’m definitely trying this. I hate using products with harsh chemicals.
This is great! I do a similar mixture of oils. or defuse the stuff to keep the bugs away. This year is already bad for those darn bugs !
I would definitely want to give this a try later. Cool way to do it.
These would be so awesome to keep in the car. We go on a lot of hikes in the summer, it sure would be handy to keep some around!
Love this! I’m paranoid about mosqiutos every year and I love the idea of using something natural for my kids.
We live near lots of wooded areas and there’s always lots of bugs. I like to have a little repellent at the ready so we don’t interrupt our outdoor fun.
This is such a great idea. I could sure use this, the mosquitoes are really bad here in the summer.
I have an essential oil I use that works great as a repellant. These are so great to have on hand though!
What a great idea! I have these oils, I so need to make this – we get horrible mosquitoes here over the summer!
This is really awesome, I hate when mosquito’s are all over me at night; it’s very bothersome and I’d love to try this!
I hate all those nasty mosquito sprays out there. This sounds like a great alternative!
I really like the idea of being able to carry these wipes in my purse. Mosquitoes love me and they always feast on my blood, unfortunately.
Great idea. Thanks for sharing. Such an amazing thing to carry this summer.
This is amazing. I need to make this ASAP. Mosquitos are so so so bad here and we can’t even sit outside most nights because of them. If this will help I’m all over it!
I’ve seen a few DIY mosquito repellents lately. I’ve never made my own, but I’m anxious to try.
I will be using this as my poor son was eaten alive by those insects! YUCK
I have been planning to try an essential oil blend soon. I hope they work for us!
I can’t wait to give this a try! I live in mosquito central, but regular bug spray burns my skin.
Oh I definitely need to give this a try – mosquitos seem to love me! x
Me, too. I don’t know why they are attracted to some people more than others.
Mosquitoes eat my son alive! I’m excited to try these out in the coming months.
We live in a wooded area and have LOTS of mosquitos, I am definitely going to try these to fend them off.