natural insect repellent - Stuff Parents Need

I’m sure you’ve seen the news reports about the large number of deaths in the United States this year from West Nile virus, which is transmitted through mosquitos. I believe the report I read said that the number was over 60 as of a few days ago.

That is scary stuff! While I don’t live in one of the areas that is most affected, I do live in an area where the mosquitos are rampant. On top of that, I seem to be extremely tasty to them. Our neighbors have some standing water in their yard, and as a result, our back yard is swarming (that’s only a slight exaggeration!) with mosquitos. I routinely get bit 2-5 times whenever I’m out there, and I’m only in the back yard when I’m headed to the car.

Mosquitos also get in our car while we are putting the girls in their seats. And so I get bit there, too.

Additionally, we enter the house through the back door, so mosquitos get in our house that way.

Basically, we have a pretty serious mosquito problem, which is annoying in and of itself, but with news of West Nile being a serious threat, our annoying problem has become something quite frightening to me.

While I’ll use something poisonous if I absolutely have to, I REALLY don’t want to. Applying DEET to my 3 month old child, and even to my 3 year old child, doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. I want the bugs to go away, but I don’t want to poison ourselves or our environment in the process.

BugBand is a company that offers a great line of natural insect repellents, and I am really loving their Portable Table Top Diffuser
. Lately I have been toting that thing around with me and I can tell you that it really works! I take it with me in the car, set it out in the back yard whenever Tim is out there cutting grass or working on the deck, and I use it in our home to keep the mosquitos who have made it inside at bay.

It runs on 3 AA batteries and comes with a refillable cartridge that lasts about 120 hours. It sends out Geraniol vapors that smell great to us, and terrible to mosquitos. They don’t want to be near it! The diffuser will keep mosquitos away in an area up to 300 square feet. So while it won’t necessarily keep them out of your entire yard, it will keep them away from the area where you are!

The diffuser is very light weight and easy to tote around with you. You can also take comfort in knowing that the vapor being released is totally safe for you to inhale, and it is safe around food and pets, too.

The BugBand portable diffuser is available for $19.95 and comes with one cartridge. You can purchase 6 refill cartridges for just $16.95. I highly recommend this product if you are concerned about West Nile virus or if you just don’t mosquito bites (who does?!).

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a BugBand Portable Diffuser!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

So Chattanooga, or at least my back yard in Chattanooga, seems to have a bit of a mosquito problem. Just now, here at the end of October, the mosquitoes seem to be finally leaving/dying/whatever it is that bugs do for the winter. Thank goodness! Darah and I like to sit on the back porch and wait for Tim to ride home on his bike, and EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. we do this, I get bit once if I’m lucky, but usually 3 or 4 times. I hate it!

I thought about breaking out the Off! with Deet, but that stuff is so toxic, and Darah is always sitting with me, so that’s just not an option. I want something that is not as bad for me as it is for the mosquitoes.

Natural Mosquito Repellent

There’s a fabulous little shop on Etsy called Cake Face that offers a soap designed to keep you smelling fabulous AND keep those little buggers off of you. I am totally in love with this soap. It smells like citronella and sunshine. What a fabulous trick Mother Nature played by making something that smells so great to humans smell so repulsive to mosquitoes!

While mosquito season is probably over in your neck of the woods, too, I think this soap is a something you’ll definitely want to have on hand for when those blood suckers make their triumphant return. This is also a wonderful gift idea for anyone you know who seems to be a strong target for bugs (I’m extremely tasty to mosquitoes, and I envy those of you who aren’t!).

I think Cake Face is a very cool company because the owner, Kelsey, has a passion for offering natural skin care products. She has personally experienced the health benefits of using natural products, and she pours her love of all things natural into her work. I can tell that she does so, because the quality of her soap is truly outstanding.

In addition to offering this delightful and useful soap, Cake Face also has a beautiful selection of other cold pressed soaps (that eucalyptus tea soap looks AWESOME!), bath fizzies and candles, and even a few soaps geared towards men (I LOVE the Optimus Prime soap…that was one of Tim’s favorite tv characters growing up!).

Buy it!: Looking for some budget-friendly but delightful holiday gift ideas? Shop Cake Face and you’ll definitely have some happy gift recipients!

Win it!: Cake Face would like to offer one lucky Stuff Parents Need Reader a bar of soap of your choice! Woo hoo! This will make an awesome holiday gift, or keep it and spoil yourself a little bit! 🙂 The contest will run until November 5th at 11:59pm EST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning notification before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Open to residents of the United States. Limit one entrant per household, please.

Mandatory entry: Tell Kelsey a smell that you love, especially at bath time. For example: I LOVE this scent that Bath and Body works makes (or used to make, not sure if they still carry it) that is rice flower and shea. To. Die. For.

Additional entries:
1. Sponsor love: “Like” Cake Face on Facebook
2. Blogger love: Follow Stuff Parents Need on Google Friend Connect

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, located on the sidebar of my home page.

I received a complimentary product for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own.