Vodka-based Bug Repellent for Festivals

August 27th 2009 in Travels

At a summer festival in early 2009, a performing DJ plagued by mostiquoes during his set sprayed himself with commercial bug repellent. His relief turned into alarm, though, when the overspray misted down onto the CDJs and mixer, causing the paint to split and peel on contact, and permanently discoloring the plastic. He vowed never to put harsh chemical sprays on his skin again.

In that spirit, I present a (semi) natural bug repellant that can be mixed from ingredients easily found at an open-air party or summer festival.

• 1 cup of vodka
• 2 tablespoons of aloe vera juice
• 2 teaspoons of conditioning oil; olive, soybean, hempseed, etc.
• 2 teaspoons of essential oils; to your preference based on the following list:
  • Catnip Oil–mosquitoes
  • Cedarwood Oil–lice, moths
  • Cinnamon Oil–ants
  • Citronella Oil–mosquitoes
  • Clove Oil–mosquitoes
  • Eucalyptus Oil–mosquitoes
  • Garlic Oil-everything
  • Geranium Oil–flies, mosquitoes
  • Lavender Oil–mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, fleas, flies
  • Lemongrass Oil–mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, fleas, flies
  • Litsea Cubeba–mosquitoes
  • Patchouli–gnats
  • Peppermint Oil–lice, spiders, ants
  • Rosemary Oil–fleas, ticks
  • Tea Tree Oil–mosquitoes, lice, ants

Combine ingredients in a spray bottle if you have one. Shake the tincture before using; apply every 30 minutes or so, based on the intensity of insect hunger around you.