I’ve made a lot of homemade soap recipes over the years, and every time I go back through them, I’m reminded of how many fun seasonal soaps I’ve made! So, I decided to gather my 17 favorite fall soap recipes all in one place.
Even I had forgotten about some of these. Looking through the recipes was such a fun reminder and gave me plenty of inspiration to make a few that I haven’t made in a while.
These natural fall soap recipes are perfect for Autumn, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the entire winter season. They also make beautiful handmade gifts for friends, family, teachers, neighbors, and anyone who enjoys natural homemade products.
And, of course, you don’t have to wait for fall to make them. If you love warm, spicy, woodsy, citrusy, and cozy scents, you can enjoy these homemade soap recipes any time of year. I do! And they’re scents that my family often ask for year around as well.
Natural Ingredients for Fall Soap
If I’m going to take the time to make my own soap, I want to be careful with what is going into it. After all, why go to all that trouble just to add something toxic and ruin it all?
You can certainly make soap simply because it’s a fun craft—and it is! But one of my favorite things about making homemade soap is being able to choose simple, natural ingredients and leave out the artificial colors, synthetic fragrances, and unnecessary additives found in many commercial soaps.
You’ll find ingredients such as:
- Shea butter
- Cocoa butter
- Coconut oil
- Mango butter
- Tallow
- Lard
- Beeswax
- Essential oils
- Natural clays
- Root powders
- Herbs and other botanicals
I use essential oils for scent and natural ingredients such as clays, herbs, and root powders for color whenever possible. You can learn more about naturally coloring homemade soap in my natural soap coloring chart.
Vegan, Tallow, or Lard Soap
Some of the recipes below are vegan, while others use tallow, lard, or beeswax. All of them make wonderful soap bars.
If you prefer a vegan soap recipe but love the colors, scent, or design of a recipe that contains tallow, don’t be afraid to use the design and essential oil blend from one recipe with the base oils from another.
For example, maybe you love the tree design and cedarwood scent of the Evergreen Tree Soap but would rather make a vegan bar. You can use your favorite vegan soap recipe and recreate is with the design and scent suggestions below.
Just be sure that you are working from a properly calculated soap recipe. Do not substitute oils or fats by weight without recalculating the lye amount, because different oils require different amounts of lye to saponify.
If beeswax is the only ingredient you want to avoid, you can also look for a suitable vegan wax alternative—but remember that waxes can change the properties of your finished soap, so substitutions should be made carefully. You can learn more about how to make substitutions here.
No Artificial Fragrances or Dyes
I don’t use artificial fragrance oils or synthetic dyes in my homemade soap recipes.
There are also other ingredients commonly added to soap that I personally choose to leave out, including titanium dioxide and artificially dyed micas.
Why add unnecessary questionable or outright toxic ingredients, when you can make something beautiful with natural ingredients? Instead, you’ll see natural colorants in my recipes, such as clays, herbs, and root powders, along with essential oils for those wonderful Autumn scents.
That’s one of the reasons I love making soap so much. You can create beautiful bars that look and smell amazing while knowing exactly what you used to make them.
How to Make Homemade Soap
If you’re brand new to soap making, don’t worry. I have a beginner-friendly guide that walks you through the process.
Start here: 7 Easy Steps to Homemade Lye Soap for Beginners.
I’ve also written several books about natural soap making, along with ebooks and other resources available through my shop.
Browse my natural soap-making books and resources
Cold Process vs. Hot Process Soap
Most of these recipes can be made using either the cold process or hot process method.
When made using the cold process method, the soap generally needs several weeks to cure before it is ready to use. I recommend following the individual recipe for its specific curing time, but many of these recipes are ready for use at around 3–4 weeks, while a longer cure can make an even harder, longer-lasting bar.
If you don’t want to wait as long, you can make all of these recipes using the hot process method. Hot process soap is cooked, which speeds up saponification, and the soap can be used once as soon as it has cooled and hardened. The main difference is in texture. Hot process tends to be chunkier looking, whereas cold process has that smooth soap bar look. Both have beautiful merits.
Keep in mind that “ready to use” and “fully cured” aren’t necessarily the same thing. Even hot process soap will continue to lose water and become harder over time.
Now for the fun part!
These 17 fall soap recipes are filled with cozy Autumn scents, natural ingredients, pretty designs, and plenty of inspiration for homemade holiday gifts. These are great as stocking stuffers, or in gift baskets.
Most recipes make either 2 or 3 pounds of soap, but be sure to check the individual recipe before getting started.
1. Cinnamon Roll Soap
Get the Cinnamon Roll Soap Recipe
This one looks almost good enough to eat!
The cinnamon swirl running through the middle of these soap bars makes them look like little cinnamon rolls. They’re especially fun to make for holiday gifts, and the warm cinnamon scent is perfect for Autumn.
Just remember to remind everyone that they’re soap—not breakfast!
2. Fall Sunset Soap
Get the Fall Sunset Soap Recipe
This has become one of my favorite fall soap recipes.
The colors remind me of an Autumn sunset, with beautiful shades of orange, purple, yellow, and pink swirled together. The essential oil blend adds those warm, comforting scents that make you think of crisp evenings and changing leaves.
I’ve even sold these in my shop during the holiday season.
3. Pumpkin Spice Soap
Get the Pumpkin Spice Soap Recipe
Of course pumpkin spice had to make the list!
Pumpkin spice is one of those scents that immediately makes a home feel like Fall. This recipe uses real pumpkin puree along with nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove for a warm, spicy seasonal soap.
It’s a favorite year after year and is a staple holiday soap in my shop.
4. Evergreen Tree Soap
Get the Evergreen Tree Soap Recipe
If you love woodsy scents, this is the soap for you.
Cedarwood gives this soap a wonderful earthy scent, and the tree design running through the center of each bar makes it especially fun for the winter and Christmas season (I add a green swirl, but you can also use an insert).
There’s something about cedarwood in the shower that feels like a little pick-me-up in the morning. It’s energizing and uplifting. A must have for anyone who suffers from those winter blues.
This is another one I like to keep in my shop year around.
5. Chai Soap
Get the Chai Soap Recipe
I love the smell of chai tea, especially when the weather starts to cool down. This soap combines the warm scents of cardamom, clove, and cinnamon and is simple to make because it uses a real chai tea bag in the recipe.
It’s a cozy soap bar that feels right at home during the Fall and winter months.
6. Orange and Clove Soap
Get the Orange and Clove Soap Recipe
Orange and clove are two of my favorite essential oils for creating that classic Fall feeling.
If I’m diffusing essential oils around the house in the Autumn, orange and clove are often my first choice. Together, they make a bright but warm scent that’s perfect for homemade soap.
This is a great one to make for holiday gifts, too.
7. Spiced Cider Soap
Get the Spiced Cider Soap Recipe
Apple cider is one of those things my kids love about Fall. They spot it in the store before anyone else!
This soap captures those sweet, warm cider scents in a homemade bar. It’s a wonderful choice if you want something that immediately brings back memories of cool weather, warm drinks, and Autumn afternoons.
8. Walk in the Woods Soap
Get the Walk in the Woods Soap Recipe
There is nothing quite like taking a walk through the woods when the air turns cool and crisp. This soap was really inspired by that feeling.
It’s earthy, woodsy, and calming—a wonderful choice if you prefer natural soap scents that aren’t overly sweet or spicy.
9. Autumn Leaves Soap
Get the Autumn Leaves Soap Recipe
This soap has a unique combination of orange, patchouli, and ginger essential oils. The result is a warm, woodsy scent that feels just like Autumn leaves and cool evenings.
If you like earthy essential oil blends, this is definitely one to try.
10. Gingerbread Soap
Get the Gingerbread Soap Recipe
These gingerbread soap bars are especially fun when made in molds. You can make little gingerbread people, gingerbread shapes, or whatever seasonal molds you have on hand.
They make adorable Christmas and holiday gifts, and they’re a fun project to make with the family.
11. Pumpkin Cinnamon Layered Soap
Get the Pumpkin Cinnamon Layered Soap Recipe
Pumpkin and cinnamon are two of the scents I immediately associate with Fall.
This soap combines the two in beautiful layers for a simple but eye-catching bar. It’s been a very popular Fall soap over the years.
12. Cranberry Vanilla Swirl Soap
Get the Cranberry Vanilla Swirl Soap Recipe
Pretty pink cranberry swirls are combined with a creamy vanilla-colored soap base.
The finished bars are beautiful enough to give as gifts, and the cranberry and vanilla combination makes them especially appropriate for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
13. Sugar Cookie Soap
Get the Sugar Cookie Soap Recipe
These sugar cookie soap bars are speckled with cinnamon and scented with vanilla. They’re another one that can fool your guests for just a second. They smell so good that you’ll probably need to remind everyone that they’re soap!
I love making soaps like this for the holidays because they look like little treats without actually being edible.
14. Hot Chocolate Soap
Get the Hot Chocolate Soap Recipe
Who doesn’t love hot chocolate?
Hot cocoa is appropriate for all kinds of cozy weather, but there’s something especially wonderful about it on a cold Fall or winter day. This recipe uses cocoa powder and cocoa butter, which add their own naturally chocolatey qualities to the finished soap.
It’s a fun winter soap and makes a great homemade gift.
15. Cranberry Orange Soap
Get the Cranberry Orange Soap Recipe
Cranberry and orange are such a pretty combination for the holiday season.
One fun thing about this recipe is that using cranberry juice doesn’t make the soap turn pink. You’ll have to use clays for that. But the cranberry juice is still a beautiful addition because it helps create a creamy texture and contributes to a bubbly finished bar.
The bright citrus combined with cranberry makes this one feel especially festive.
16. Vanilla Maple Soap
Get the Vanilla Maple Soap Recipe
Vanilla is always a favorite and adding maple gives it that rich bubbly lather. This soap also has a naturally darker cream color, making it look just as cozy as it smells.
If you like sweet soap scents but don’t want something overwhelmingly fruity, this is a great choice.
17. Apple Cider Soap
Get the Apple Cider Soap Recipe
This is a little different from the Spiced Cider Soap above. Instead of simply creating a spiced cider scent, this recipe actually uses apple cider in the soap. The sugar also helps contribute to extra bubbles, making this a wonderful Fall bar for everyday use.
Which Fall Soap Recipe Will You Make?
I hope you find a few recipes here that inspire you to get out your soap-making supplies and start creating!
These homemade fall soaps are wonderful for keeping around your own home, but they’re also perfect for DIY Christmas gifts, Thanksgiving hostess gifts, teacher gifts, stocking stuffers, and handmade gift baskets.
One of my favorite things about making soap is that you can take a basic skill and make it completely your own. Change the essential oil blend, try a different natural color, experiment with a new mold, or combine a design you love with your favorite soap base.
And if you make one of these, I’d love to know which one is your favorite!
Happy soap making and enjoy all those wonderful Fall scents.
