Natural gift ideas | Handmade Christmas
Natural gifts are thoughtful, sustainable presents you can make yourself for friends and family. Choosing your own ingredients and simple, eco-friendly materials lets you create meaningful gifts that fit right into a natural home.
Pick a few of the ideas below or group several homemade treats into a gift basket or natural gift set. With homemade tea blends, gingerbreads, and decorations gathered from the forest, pack and wrap them naturally, and you’ll have a handmade Christmas full of warmth and joy.
Natural homemade beverage gifts
Giving handmade beverages as a gift is a beautiful gesture. Whether it is a Hot Chocolate Mix, a Spiced coffee mixture, a homemade tea blend, or a bottle of Nordic Glogg, you can find several ways to wrap these personal gifts.
I have gathered nine different winter tea recipes that are perfect to mix up and store in a glass jar to give as a gift to any tea lover. Try blends with loose-leaf tea, rooibos, hibiscus petals and different spices to create the dreamy winter tea flavors. Pack them in a thrifted old looking tea jar, decorate with silk ribbon. Combine homemade winter tea blend with reusable metal ifuser or a tea sieve, pack in a beautiful basket with a metallic measuring spoon to make the tea gift complete.
Make a hot chocolate mix ready for your cupboard or give it as a gift for your loved ones! Print out the beautiful FREE Hot Chocolate tags for your gift to label them nicely. Pour the mixture into tiny glass bottles to give a fun chocolate mix pair for a couple or do a bigger batch to seal into a mason jar. Seal the gift with a tablet of dark chocolate to make it beautiful.
Seal the spiced apple glogg in a beautiful glass bottle. Apple glogg is a white Nordic glogg, made with apple juice and warming spices. The apple glogg is a perfect excuse to cozy up and have a slow moment during the cold months. Decorate with a beautiful ribbon and star anise, or a dried apple slice to give away this beauty.
For a coffee enthusiast, make a Moroccan Spiced Coffee Mixture in about ten minutes—maybe nine. Moroccan spiced coffee is a lovely mixture of coffee and warm and fragrant spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger that makes the coffee lover’s day start a hint more luxurious. An ideal gift to warm the Christmas days and beyond.
This Danish cranberry gløgg is a simple non-alcoholic Nordic hot glogg recipe to keep you warm. The Nordics love easy hot drinks with warm spices to enjoy with friends and some gingerbreads during the holiday season. Gloggs are simple but warming handmade gifts that you can make already a week ahead. Decorate the bottle with a ribbon and a stalk of cinnamon or star anise to get into the holiday mood.
From scratch food to give as a gift
To give food that is made with love is the ultimate gift to any loved one. You can do some rather early in the week, like some homemade roasted almond butter or granola, and seal them in a beautiful jar.
These gifts do not require extensive wrapping, and they will be eaten to the last bite, so you minimize waste and disposable wrappings that will create more clutter. Making the gift from scratch and wrapping it eco-friendly way shows your love for the receiver in a whole different way.
Gingerbreads and hot glogg are a must when talking about Nordic Christmas. I created these spicy orange gingerbreads to mimic a traditional Swedish gingerbread brand that makes such flavorful orange gingerbreads - so why not have them as a handmade Christmas gift? These gingerbreads get the flavor from Christmas spices and orange peel with some orange blossom water. The scent in the kitchen says welcome Christmas time! When cooled pack them in a glass jar with a Christmas ribbon and decorate with a beautiful dried Orange or cinnamon stick!
Make the most delicious homemade roasted almond butter with only one ingredient, the mighty nutty almond. Nut butter is a great gift that you can make almond butter even one week ahead. Store in an adorable glass jar like a mason jar or Fida- jar that I have used in here. Fill a small sachet with some roasted almonds and seal with a beautiful ribbon and a bow to make this gift perfect.
Sweet rye bread is one of the ultimate Nordic Christmas gifts. It is a gorgeous gift to wrap in its bread tin and tie with a red ribbon. Add some pine cones and spruce branches to finalise the perfect Nordic gift package..
The Christmas we are used to giving away chocolate boxes, but I am here to encourage you to change this tradition into baked goods. The amazing scent of cinnamon and cardamom takes over the kitchen when making these soft and utterly delicious cinnamon buns (korvapuusti), and gets you in the holiday mood. Topped with sprinkled pearl sugar, Finnish style, these cinnamon buns can be wrapped into wrinkled parchment paper and closed with a Christmassy red ribbon to be the perfect gift for every palate.
Kefir cheese is a simple, slightly tangy cheese to make already a few days ahead and to store in a thrifted glass jar and decorated with a ribbon. Depending on the receiver, you can bottle as well the whey that separates in the process to give with the cheese jar Print out the Kefir Whey Crêpe recipe and encourage the happy receiver to use the Kefir Whey in cooking! Just remember to mainly store the gifts in the fridge and not the whole day under the tree to keep them in good condition.
Granola is a tasty present for any yogurt lover. Make a batch or two even a week ahead and pack in a nostalgic glass jar with a metallic lid. Grid with a beautiful ribbon and a big bow to seal the gift.
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Gifts made from scratch for well-being and decoration
Homemade reams, lotions, decorations, or even clothes are useful and thoughtful gifts. Create a well-being gift box with some essential oils, aromatherapy candles, or organic candles made from beeswax, with lip balm that you have made yourself.
Here are a few handmade natural gift ideas for you:
Beeswax Christmas Ornaments bring the old charm to your Nordic Christmas. Make these beeswax ornaments simple and safe way with beeswax sheets. These are beautiful Ornaments on the tree, but as well looking gorgeous on a Christmas gift package decoration.
Make simple but stunning rolled beeswax candles. Prepare a gift with a candle pair, and tie them up with jute yarn. Decorate with spruce twigs, other branches, or spices like cinnamon and star anise.
Beautiful handmade natural wreaths are thoughtful natural gifts for any homeowner. Choose the favorite colors and natural materials of the recipient to create unique decorations and beautiful gifts to give as a Christmas present. When you use foraged elements in your wreath, you are creating a sustainable Christmas gift. Click Read more below and find out at the end of the Nordic Wreath Ideas post how to recycle the wreath after the holiday season.
Chilly weather calls desperately for a good lip balm recipe. This easy cocoa butter lip balm recipe has only three ingredients and it can be whipped up in five minutes or so! Don’t know what to give your friends for a Christmas present and Christmas is tomorrow? Make an adorable lip balm that heals dry lips, tastes good, and has an irresistible scent. Pack in a cleaned and unlabeled one-portion marmalade jar and decorate with a ribbon of the favorite color of the recipient to finalize the gift. Sustainable skincare products are a great gift to add to the daily routine.
Natural brown sugar and honey scrub is one of the simplest DIYs. I won’t lie if I say that it takes less than one minute to make. Brown sugar scrub with honey and olive oil in a beautiful glass jar is a perfect natural wellness DIY gift idea.
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Gifts to inspire to learn
When time is limited to give handmade gifts, turn to the books. A handbook or a guide encourages the receiver to learn new things. A book can be such a thoughtful gift when you know one’s interests well.
Here are the best books about teas and infusions that are a joyful gift for any tea lover!
Give a perfect gift for a friend who is starting on the Natural lifestyle path and needs help with everyday life. A Natural Deep Cleaning Guidebook and checklists are a simple way to begin that journey.
