8 chemical-free ways to keep your family safe from mosquitoes

One of the few things that can destroy a lazy afternoon picnic, or playing outside in the backyard is the dreaded Australian mosquito. What’s more, as a parent it’s awful to greet your child first thing in the morning only to discover that mosquitoes have feasted on them all night long. What to do? We put the question to our eager readers, and as always, they came up with the goods.

The suggestions were so good when we asked recently on our Facebook page about your favourite tricks to keep the mozzies at bay that we decided we just had to share this wealth of knowledge with everyone. Everyone wanted a say and had plenty of ideas, but some of the same product names kept cropping up again and again. One clear thing about the conversation was that readers vastly prefer sprays and creams without chemicals in them, and lots of you believe they are just as effective, if not better than the traditional mosquito repellent sprays.

Vanilla Mozi (at top) had the crowd talking. It smells amazing, nothing like a traditional mosquito repellent – and it’s available as candles for indoor or outdoor use, as well as in skin cream form.

There’s nothing but organic lemongrass and citronella in Bug Away from Mambino Organics, and it’s safe for everyone over six months of age.

The Lemongrass Insect Repellent from Pure Fiji is a little bit of luxury in a spray. With lemon eucalyptus, rosemary and cloves in the mix, you’ll smell delicious to everyone except the mosquitoes.

iKOU Natural Insect Repellent Body Spray was a crowd favourite. It comes in spray bottles big enough to take on holidays, but small enough to get on a plane without any problems. What’s more, they also sell these insect repellent candles which look good enough to keep on the table all year round!

For anyone aged three years and over, check out the Mosquito Repellent Spray and Cream from Lemongrass House. This non-greasy spray is packed full of delicious lavender, citronella and geranium essential oils and is even available in a one litre refill pack.

Here’s a mouthful – MooGoo Tail-Swat Body Spray. Crazy name, but this one was recommended over and over by happy readers. MooGoo want to let you know that it’s not officially an insect repellent, but rather a body spray that just seems to make you less interesting to mosquitoes. We don’t care what it’s called if it works!

This is the accurately named Buzz Off Insect Spray from Handmade Naturals by Corinne. Brisbane-based Handmade Naturals is the real deal when it comes to homegrown and organic. They have an astonishing array of products, and several readers told us they loved their Buzz Off Insect Spray. You won’t find anything nasty in this one.

Here’s one that I love the sound of – the Mozzie Assassin from Pestrol. This indoor mosquito trap doesn’t even use sprays – it just lures the mozzies inside using a combination of the right light, temperature and – oh-so-tempting to mosquitoes –  carbon dioxide.

What do you think, readers? Let us know in the comments what you do to keep these pests away and if there’s anything else spectacular that should be added to this list!