Updated for X-mas 2024!
I absolutely did not plan on writing a new gift guide for this year, especially one with homemade gifts! Then I was asked by a family member if I knew of any good DIY natural gifts that weren't 'cheesy' that I could teach them to make. Being short on money and not wanting to go to all the stores this year makes it hard to shop for Christmas gifts!
I thought about it and I know with this crazy year we've had, a lot of other people are in that situation too. So I decided to compile a list of my natural gift tutorials.
With the exception of the homemade vanilla extract these are all very affordable. As of right now, I have 15 of my own gifts you can make on this list, but I will add to it as I write more. I'll also add the craft tutorials from my chicken keeping blog, but you can use any feathers for these.
Natural DIY gift ideas
Many of these gifts can be made with stuff you have on hand, but I'll make notes of what store I buy my supplies at...of course everything you need can be ordered online if you prefer to stay home. Click the product title to go to that tutorial.
Headache eye pillow and handwarmer set
This is amazing if you know someone who gets sinus headaches or frequent colds. You can make these as a 3 piece set or just the handwarmers. Many fabric stores have remnants for sale, which are excess pieces after the rest of that fabric was purchased.
You'll only need a small amount of fabric so many of these will work great, check prices against the regular fabric first ... some stores don't discount them.
Corn filled heating pad and cover
Can be used hot or cold. Great for sore muscles as a heating pad, or soothing on bruises and fresh injuries when used cold. Uses only 2 pieces of flannel. Can use fat quarters available at Walmart, craft or fabric stores. Washable cover for years of use!
Lavender Aromatherapy Gnome for bedtime
This cute little sock gnome is easy to make and the hidden lavender sachet will have you drifting off to dreamland in no time! No sew method that won't take more than 15 minutes to make.
I have been making these for years and they go over great as gifts! There are 2 recipes on there so you can make them with gelatin or water balls (which I often see in the craft department at dollar tree) and essential oils.
Inside that tutorial is a link to my fall air freshener tutorial which is basically the same thing with fall scents and Halloween containers. You can easily take those ideas and make some fun winter themed ones with peppermint, balsam or cinnamon EOs.
Homemade gifts for the gardener
If you have any plants that you can propagate more from real quick, these cute gardens are perfect gift for the indoor gardener. I always seem to have some succulent babies growing, or if you have a spider plant (they always have babies!) or can sprout some herbs in water real quick.
Here's how to propagate herbs in water, you should see roots in about a week! Obviously a spider plant or herb will outgrow the container faster than a succulent will...which is actually ok, because they can reuse the Xmas garden for a new sprout next year!
This one can be done 2 ways. You can either make the seed bombs as a gift, or create a 'Make Your Own Seed Bombs' gift pack for kids. A pack of flower seeds, a small pack of clay, a small pack of potting soil and a little card with the instruction written on it.
Simply copy and paste the instructions into a word file on your computer and print it out. I bought everything for these at my small town Wally World, but there are links for online ordering too.
Mini seed packet of homegrown seeds!
Cute save the bees style seed packet to print, cut out and fold into a seed envelop. Instructions for collecting your own seeds and bonus instructions for adding a cute bee or butterfly charm on a hand tied bracelet. This will make a cute gift for any gardener friends.
Easy Homemade bath and body products
This is perfect for dry, cracked winter skin. This recipe uses calendula petals, common oils and beeswax which you can find in most health food stores. Some ingredients are available in Walmart (like sweet almond oil) all can be ordered online. That tutorial has links for the products I use!
You have no idea how much I have used this one lately! With the constant hand washing and hand sanitizer my hands are always feeling dry! These ingredients are a little more specific and not as easy to find, but that one also has links and Amazon is moving pretty fast with ordering lately so you should be able to get started quickly.
This would make a great gift for anyone who gets their nails done often, or us gardeners who beat our hands up with the constant digging! Or just, ya know...to combat the hand sanitizer and constant hand washing! You should be able to find everything at Walmart, any drugstore or some dollar stores.
Make a luxiourios body scrub using essential oils, sugar or salt and coconut oil. There are a few recipes on there, but also the proportions are listed..so if all you have is lavender oil on hand you can easily make a soothing lavender skin scrub, or if tea tree is all you have, a skin clearing tea tree scrub.
As long as you use skin safe oils, you can get creative!
There are a few of my favorite recipes on this one to make your own bath salts. Don't feel like you have to stick to a recipe though! Choose your own types of salt, herbs and dried flowers to make these creations truly your own.
This one was originally created for sunburn but it can also soothe dry winter skin. You can also create your own blends from herbs you have on hand.
Homemade gifts from the kitchen
If you grow and dry your own herbs you probably have all of these ingredients on hand already. If you need to leave one or even two herbs out because you can't find it...the tea will still be soothing and effective.
Keep in mind, most people find straight chamomile to be an effective sleep inducer. Straight valerian is also extremely effective! All the other ingredients help to round out the taste and increase the effectiveness, but if you don't have one it's ok to make it anyway.
Many of these can be purchased from bulk jars in health food stores, and there are links in that tutorial to order online.
If you have fresh herbs growing in your window right now you can make finishing salts or sugars for the foodie in your life! My favorites are mint sugar (excellent in tea or on grapefruit!) and basil salt (try that on garlic bread, yum!) You can also purchase sprigs of fresh herbs in store, or whole plants.
So it's not exactly apple season right now, but apples are still pretty cheap. This recipe is simple and I break it down so you should be able to understand it even if you have never canned before, and I provide a link to another website for more advanced questions. I firmly believe anyone can make this recipe.
These make a nice gift for the 'pumpkin spice everything' lover in your life. I break this recipe down for the first time candy maker, so it's not very hard to make at all! Candy boxes can be purchased at any craft store or candy section in big grocery stores.
It's a little late to be starting vanilla extract, it usually takes 8 weeks. However, you can start it and package it up with a label on it that says "ready on January 8!" or, ya know...8 weeks from when you start it. This is a great gift for an avid baker as double fold is hard to come by and extremely expensive to buy.
Gifts and ornaments made with feathers
If you have chickens then you probably pick up dropped feathers, so you'll have plenty for crafts. If you don't have chickens you can pick up a bag of feathers at a craft store, online or even at Walmart if your local one has a larger craft section.
Make a beaded feather necklace
This one will use a few jewelry notions which you can pick up at Walmart fairly cheaply. You can choose the colors, style etc. using what you have on hand or going all out with fancy glass beads.
Decorate a feather candle holder
These are made with dollar store candle holders and candles, and feathers attached to the outside with Modge Podge. You can also use Elmers glue if that's what you have on hand, you might want to thin it a tad before using, but it dries clear so the feather will still show beautifully.
Elegant beaded feather ornament
This feather ornament is simple in concept but shoving those feathers through tiny bead holes is frustrating! lol The larger the bead hole, the easier it is...so check your beads before buying because the size of the opening doesn't always correlate to the size of the bead!
Some of the larger Dollar Trees have excellent craft sections with beads, otherwise hit up Walmart for cheap beads.
Feather filled glass ball ornaments
These can be made with glass balls from the craft store, or plastic ones from Dollar Tree. Pretty simple concept, insert feathers into ball and push around with a pencil till they're organized the way you want them. If you have paint pens you can write on the outside with a holiday greeting or even commemorating the year.
In order to make your gifts more professional looking I have created label designs for many of the products. They are in this file! You can save the file and print each page out on a sheet of label paper. Or you can use regular paper and cut out the label, then Modge Podge or glue it on...or attach like a tag with ribbon.
You can resize each page to fit the size of the bottle/jar you used. Most of them fit a ball 8 oz. jar perfectly, if you set it at 'fill page', so size up or down before printing for different sizes.
The bath salt and body scrub ones are best used as tags. Print on cardstock, cut out and tie with some twine or ribbon. I left space on the for you to write in ingredients or whatever you want to name your creation!
If you're not on my email list yet, please join here and you'll also get the download The beginners guide to herbal bath blends, 38 ingredients to mix and match from which is great if you want to make other herbal bath teas or soaks with what you have on hand! You can cancel anytime you want!
I hope this list has helped you to make some really great holiday gifts for friends and family. You can find lots of cute jars in the glassware section of Dollar Tree or in craft stores. Try to snag a coupon on the craft store websites or from the ads, they all have them this time of year! Have fun creating!
~L
Related reading: Don't let the holidays drive you crazy! Here are 14 ways to stay healthy and stress free this holiday season.
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