To address that issue, I use these oil-infused wooden sticks, designed to hang from the tree branches. However, I get the most bang for my buck in the scent department not by hanging the sticks from the branches of our tree, but by placing one or two of the sticks on the heat vent cover in the room where we place the tree. Two sticks really fill a large room with fragrance, while one stick is good for smaller rooms.
When the oil has mostly dissipated, the sticks begin to look a bit dried out. And if left on the heat vent for most of the year, as has been known to happen in my home, the color also fades. When not in use, I keep the leftover sticks in the plastic vial that they were originally packaged.
The brand that I prefer is Scentsicles. You can buy them on Amazon, of course, but you'll get a much, much better price at a place like Michael's using a coupon or when on sale. (Michael's currently has them on sale for $4.99, compared to Amazon's price of $7.99.) Each tube has 6 sticks and comes packaged with small wire tree hangers. I bought 2 tubes five years ago, thinking I would need a lot of them in my house. I am certain that I could have bought just 1 tube and had enough scent for all of the rooms that I may want for my house.
The sticks just keep on delivering fragrance. I've used some of these for 5 years. The faded and least fragrant of the sticks are used on the heat vents in the smallest rooms, such as the guest bathroom and the entry hall. I save the newer ones for the room where we set up our tree or use other faux greenery.
I originally paid about $4 for each vial, or $8 total. I expect the vials will last at least another 3 years, yielding a per year cost of about $1. When added to our annual cost for our artificial Christmas tree, it's roughly $10.50 per year for our tree and its added scent. This figure will continue to come down with additional years of use.
