All About Scented Stuffed Animals
I’ve had a lot of questions about how to scent plushies. Though I’ve only recently started exploring this option, I figured I’d share a bit of what I learned.
How to Scent Plushies
There’s a few different ways I’ve discovered of doing this. There are scent chips, scent beads, or scent can be placed directly on the stuffing. There are other methods I’ve seen, but many include organic elements like rice or dried flowers which can attract bugs or mold/rot if they get wet so I haven’t included those.
Scent Chips
What are they?
These are chips of plastic infused with scent that can be placed into plushies. Two brands I’ve found are AROMAbearapy and Build A Bear’s SCENTiments. I personally tried AROMAbearapy and it was hit or miss. Some scents were okay and others smelled awful. All had a more chemical or artificial scent to them. These plastic disks are dry to the touch and large enough they likely won’t be a choking hazard for kids which is the one upside I could see to them. Overall they didn’t impress me personally.
How do you use them?
You simply place them inside your plush. Due to the large size they are best for larger plushies, but I have found you can cut them (I used wire cutters) and melt the edges (I used an iron and parchment paper) to create a smaller disk. The biggest downside I see to these chips is that they remain as a hard disk inside your plush even after the scent is gone which isn’t ideal for a snuggly plush.
How long do they last?
From what I’ve seen, up to 6 months, though all scents will depend on the environment the plush is in and the scent itself.
Where can you get them?
https://www.thezoofactory.com/aromabearapy
https://www.buildabear.com/accessories/scents
Scent Beads
What are they?
Also called aroma beads, these plastic beads absorb 30% of their weight in oil without expanding or shrinking and end up dry to the touch. They can also absorb liquid candle dye if desired.
How do you use them?
You simply mix the aroma beads with the fragrance oil of your choice and leave it to absorb the scent. There’s a variety of instructions available online, but I personally have found the best method for myself is to mix 1oz of fragrance oil per 1 cup of aroma beads in a glass mason jar. I shake until all the beads are thoroughly coated and place them in a warm place on top of one of my radiators. I shake them up every now and then to make sure the beads are coated evenly and all the oil isn’t settled at the bottom. Different oils absorb in different ways. Most take 2 days to fully absorb, but some are as fast as 12 hours and some take as long as a week. You know they’ve fully absorbed all the oil when they are dry to the touch and no longer stick to the sides of the jar.
You can also order premade aroma beads, too! Though I find these tend to come with coloring as well and I don’t personally like that since I don’t want it to show through the plush and I don’t want it to rub off, either.
Then you place the plastic beads inside your plush. If your plush is a “beanie” style plush that has beads already you can replace those with these as they are nearly identical to Polypellets (though Polypellet has stated their pellets are different from aroma beads and won’t absorb oil the same way). If your plush isn’t a beanie style plush you can sew a small pouch (or use a small organza pouch) and fill it with beads. The pouch can be placed inside the plush similar to the scent chips.
How long do they last?
I’ve heard anywhere from 1 month to 1 year, depending on the scent and the environment the plush is in. In general it seems most last 3-6 months.
Where can you get them?
I personally have ordered from Lone Star Candle Supply (https://www.lonestarcandlesupply.com/) and Scentimental Gifts, etc (http://scentdeals.com/). I also purchased some scents from Amazon. I personally prefer Lone Star Candle Supply as they provide very detailed descriptions of scents as well as a IFRA Certificate and a MSDS (material safety data sheet) and I appreciate the transparency.
Update:
When I created this blog post initially I was testing out many different methods, but the one I use exclusively now is aroma beads. I've found 1 ounce of scent oil is plenty for 16oz of scent beads. You only need a small amount to scent a plushie (around 1-2 tablespoons). I store mine in glass mason jars. My customers seem very happy with this method.
Scent in Stuffing
What is it?
This method is to scent the stuffing itself with scented oils. I’ve seen a few ways of doing this including simply mixing stuffing and oil in a plastic bag and placing the oil on cotton balls or similar and placing those inside the plush. I haven’t had much experience with this personally as I don’t trust the oil not to stain the plushie. (If anyone has more experience with this, feel free to comment below!)
How do you use it?
Just as simple as it sounds. One method I’ve heard that sounds promising is to place a big handful of stuffing in a bag with scented oil and let it sit for awhile, then use the handful of stuffing inside the plush with regular stuffing. Other people place the oil onto cotton balls or cotton makeup pads and include that with the stuffing of the plush.
How long does it last?
I’m not sure, personally, but it should last until the oil dries up.
Where can you get it?
You can buy the same oils you’d use for aroma beads.
I hope that helps you guys! I’m still quite new to this so I’ll be sure to update this if I find another good method!
