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Living Well Mom

I help moms with simple, natural ways to look after their families. Find recipes, fun stuff for kids, and simple DIY ideas. Plus natural solutions made easy peasy!

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Cheat Sheet: 5 Must-Have Essential Oils for Camping + How to Use Them

By Maura in Essential Oils

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Camping season is here and if you’re anything like my family, you’re ready to pack up your gear and head to the great outdoors! Don’t forget to pack your essential oils! There are some fantastic essential oils for camping that can really come in handy.

Today I will give you a list of 5 essential oils you should bring along to your camping adventure.  These are by no means the only ones that would be useful, but they are more common and practical to have on hand!

Orange tent with mountains in the background this idea now...

Erika Bragdon is a Certified Essential Oil Coach from the Essential Oil Institute.

I’m a nature girl at heart and love camping! Though I will admit that camping with kids is more of a “working” vacation vs a fully relaxing one. Yet does any vacation 100% relax you? Regardless, my husband and I make it a point to camp with our kids anyway, because we want them to grow up and learn outdoor skills from a young age – and hopefully have a love of nature as we do.

I always bring along essential oils because they’re great for so many different things for the whole family. Here are the top 5 essential oils I always take with me.

orange tent next to a lake with blue sunny skies above

1. Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil is one of the most versatile essential oils you can have in your collection. Because of that, there are many practical ways lavender comes in handy while camping.

First, if you get a mosquito bite – apply some lavender oil and the red, itchy insect bite will feel much better in less than 24 hours. 

If you forget your sunscreen, lavender is very soothing to sunburned skin! In fact, it’s one of the key ingredients in my Sunburn Relief Cream recipe. I definitely recommend you make this one before your camping trip and take with you.

Lavender oil is also a great oil to induce relaxation and sleep. In case you are having trouble sleeping because you aren’t in your own bed, or want to relax more in front of the campfire – put a few drops of lavender essential oil on your feet.

Got little ones prone to scrapes and skin irritation? Lavender is the oil I reach for every time!

One part of camping that makes it a “working” vacation is the dishes you have to wash by hand – without a kitchen sink. Be sure to bring your homemade natural dish and hand soap (which also contains lavender essential oil) to make the job a little more pleasant.

Lavender essential oil in the amber bottle, with fresh lavender flower heads.

2. Peppermint Oil

If your campsite is near any anthills, then you might have a battle on your hands with these little insects for your food. Thankfully, there’s an easy solution…peppermint oil! Put a few drops of peppermint oil around where you are eating, or where you see a bunch of ants, and they will steer clear of your territory.

You may have also noticed that peppermint essential oil was in the recipe for this Sunburn Relief Cream; it’s a cooling oil for sun-tired skin.

Are you hiking on this camping trip? If so, you may wake up the next day with some sore muscles. Rub some peppermint oil diluted with carrier oil onto your sore muscles for some fast and soothing relief. If you have tired feet from your day of hiking, be sure to bring along this Homemade Foot Cream with Peppermint!

Natural Mint Essential Oil in a Glass Bottle with Fresh Mint Leaves
PDFs for mosquito bite relief guide featured on blue and white background

3. Tea Tree Oil

Mosquitoes are probably the most prevalent and annoying pests you will encounter while camping. Good news – mosquitoes do not like tea tree oil, which makes it a natural insect repellant! You can mix a few drops in some coconut oil and rub it all over your skin as a great insect repellent.

Tea Tree is also known to help with the discomfort of burned skin – so coconut oil + tea tree is also great after a day in the sun!

tea tree oil for camping in a dropper bottle next to fresh herbs

4. Citronella Essential Oil

Citronella oil has one of those unmistakable scents that remind us of summer! Plus, it’s great fro avoiding insect bites. The constant battle of man vs. pesky insect continues and Citronella is a well-known weapon.

Want an easy way to harness the power of citronella? Make this DIY Mosquito repellent bracelet and wear this the entire time you are camping to help keep those insects at bay!

Fresh citronella leaves and oil on wooden background

5. Geranium Oil

While citronella is great at repelling most insects – it also helps to have some Geranium essential oils to repel horse flies.

I live out in the country on a dirt road surrounded by woods. When I go out in the evenings for a walk or jog, I put a drop or 2 of Geranium essential oil on my headband and it greatly reduces the number of horse flies flying around my head. In fact, I have never had one bite me while I’ve had this oil on! The flies don’t 100% go away, but they don’t land on me and bite when I wear the oil.

One night I did go out without any oil (either on my diffuser bracelet on my wrists or on my headband), and I had to turn around and come home because the horse flies were too terrible.

I have found that both the citronella and geranium essential oils combined are the best at keeping mosquitoes and flies from biting.

Geranium oil is also fantastic for keeping ticks at bay. Add a drop or two to your socks to keep those nasty bugs away!

geranium oil in a labeled bottle on the ground

These 5 essential oils for camping can really make a difference during your trip. Bring them along; you won’t regret it!

Camping in the Forest
PDFs for mosquito bite relief guide featured on blue and white background

More Ways to Use Essential Oils

  • 10 Soothing Essential Oils for Itchy Mosquito Bites + a Roller Recipe
  • Homemade Essential Oil Mosquito Repellent Spray + Roller Blend
  • All-Natural Homemade Bug Repellant Lotion
  • Homemade Sunburn Relief Cream with Essential Oils

 Plus, learn how to naturally repel 12 different types of insects in my ebook!

Tent and essential oils

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    Filed Under: Essential Oils, For Moms, Natural Living, Travel Published on February 22, 2022

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    About Maura

    Maura, her husband and 2 daughters live in upstate NY. She is a former high school biology teacher turned into a work at home mom. She loves to have fun and find a great deal. As well as writing for Living Well Mom, she shares her frugal tips and DIY projects on happydealhappyday.com.

    Comments

    1. Debra says

      July 22, 2016 at 9:47 am

      Such great tips for keeping mosquitos at bay! I had always heard of citronella but didn’t know mosquitos hated tea tree oil! Great Tip!

      Reply
    2. Sharon says

      July 22, 2016 at 7:42 pm

      We love to be outside camping and out by the fire. I’ve never used essential oils and never thought about how these could help me with these pesky mosquitos and bugs!

      Reply
    3. Adelina Rosa says

      July 23, 2016 at 1:39 pm

      I’ve actually never been camping, but these are also great tips for anyone who enjoys spending a lot of time outdoors. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
    4. mary says

      July 23, 2016 at 2:13 pm

      Well I learned a ton from this post. Peppermint oil keeps bugs out of food? Who knew? Thanks

      Reply
    5. J@BlessHerHeartYall says

      July 23, 2016 at 2:40 pm

      I love camping but I hate bugs. It sounds like I need all 5 of these oils before my next camping trip!

      Reply
    6. Daisy says

      October 10, 2016 at 12:27 am

      It is very good camping, need these oils for my next adventure they will help me a lot. great post

      Reply
    7. John Martin says

      August 10, 2017 at 10:23 am

      Why did an essential oil for autism ad pop up? I thought they got busted enough for the whole “ebola cant stand up to therapeutic grade cinnamon oil” thing. Im looking for oils for camping, but I will avoid any web site that posts that voodoo stuff without any actual research to back it up. Yes oils work in some uses, but lets not ruin it by paying attention to the whack a doos taking us back to the snake oil days.

      Reply
    8. John says

      August 10, 2017 at 10:54 am

      I cant delete my kneejerk post, but I would. I have seen some claims that take advantage of at risk populations, this book is not one of them and I apologize.
      I am a researcher with a PhD in neuro and have worked with spectrum kids, so I reacted unfairly and defensively.

      It bothered me (after an arguement between my 5 and 9 year old over who stole whose minecraft ore) and using citronella to debug a tent the kids want to sleep in out back….I wanted to be fair and I downloaded the ebook and am currently reading it. I appreciate the author uses oils to treat symptoms and has great disclaimers on curing. It appears well written, I applaud you.

      On the web I have seen people ask about which oils to use for lightning strikes, and it makes my scientific heart break, but I reacted unfairly to the ebook and have enjoyed skimming it so far and will read it later after the 4 little ones go to bed:)

      Reply
    9. Kasia says

      February 20, 2018 at 3:48 am

      Thank you for this useful informations, I’m really thankful for your tips as they’ll help me reduce a number of chemicals I’m using to keep insects in bay.

      Reply
    10. Bella Hardy @ Healthnerdy says

      July 3, 2018 at 7:28 am

      I found your post from Pinterest! I’m also gonna pin this post on my Pinterest board my followers will love it. Thanks for sharing. Your amazing insightful information entails much to me and especially to camping lovers. I prefer lavender oil! It is unique!

      Reply
    11. Robin Hamilton @Wellness Wires says

      September 21, 2018 at 10:31 am

      I prefer Peppermint oil. It helps me to relieve joint and muscle pain, relief from nausea, helps fight lethargy, colds, vomiting, and diarrhea, add to shampoo for dandruff relief, offers a quick pick me up when you are feeling tired, congestion, acid reflux, toothache pain, fever reducer, and works great for migraines and headaches.

      Reply
      • Kara Mathys @Wellnessgrit says

        February 4, 2019 at 4:57 am

        Peppermint oil is my favorite, too! There is so much we can do with the mint oils from uplifting our mood, to cleaning the house. And it can even help in the grieving period for giving us a bit of a mental lift when we’re feeling down.

        Reply
    12. Susan Dubose says

      September 19, 2019 at 9:18 pm

      I love all your posts. Thank you so much for sharing your receipts. I write down each one to try and I must say I love each and every one of them. Thank you.

      Reply
    13. Richard Tunner says

      September 19, 2019 at 10:00 pm

      This is great! I’m starting to get more into essential oils, I’m pinning this so I have it for later!

      Reply
    14. Anthony Allen says

      October 9, 2019 at 9:46 pm

      Essential oils are little miracle workers and diffusing their aromas around home can work wonders for my families health.

      Reply
    15. Whits@amusebouche says

      December 3, 2019 at 8:50 pm

      I’m so glad for this post I’ve been using essential oils for about 9 months now and were going camping this next weekend very timely post for me.

      Reply
    16. Malissa says

      December 16, 2019 at 8:24 pm

      Thank you! This is the best natural bug repellent I’ve tried. It must be the lemongrass oil. Or the higher concentration of oils to water/witch hazel, but it is really working for me.

      Reply

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