50+ DIY Easy, Natural Gifts to Make at Home
Here are over 50 natural, homemade, green gifts you can make yourself that your friends and family will love this holiday season! They are inexpensive and fit perfectly into your budget, no matter what it is!
The holidays are quickly approaching! That means it's gift-giving time! And even if you are reading this at a time other than the month of November, you may be thinking about a special birthday, graduation, baby shower...
Well, I'm of the mind that when it comes to giving gifts, it's often the homemade ones that are the best!
With the help of some friends, I've compiled a list of all natural gifts you can make and give to friends, family, teachers, etc. These are all pretty simple and can be done fairly quickly, too. If you know your gift recipient's favorite flavors, scents, etc. then you can adjust many of these ideas to fit what they love perfectly!
I've listed ideas into these categories so you can easily find what you need: Melt & Pour Handmade Soaps; Traditional Handmade Soaps; Other Bath Items (Scrubs, Salts, Teas); Salves, Butters, Balms; Kitchen Ideas & Foods; Handmade Lights; and Great Scents.
NOTE: This article has been updated with even more new and better ideas!
By the way, I have a free Guide to Making Melt & Pour Soaps Along With Recipes and Ideas for you! It’s free. All you need is the password to the Resource Library, and you can get that immediately when you complete the form at the end of this article!
FTC Disclosure: There may be affiliate links scattered throughout this article. If you click through and make any kind of purchase, I may earn a very small commission at no extra cost to you.
50+ Handmade Gift Ideas and recipes! We’re edging into November, so it’s time to put your gift giving plan together. If you are making handmade items, and you want to focus on natural gifts, you must click through to check out these amazing ideas! #handmadegift #naturalgift #howtomake #gift #holidaygift #healingharvesthomestead
Natural Handmade Gifts You Can Make!
Handmade Soaps:
Handmade soaps are fabulous gifts! It’s so fun to make your own soap, give it as a gift, and hear all the “ooh’s” and “aah’s”! It’s really great, actually! There are three main kinds of soaps you can make: cold process, hot process, and melt & pour.
**If you don’t want to get into using lye, which is necessary for handmade soap, then I suggest melt and pour, which you can find out more about in this article….Why do you need lye?
Since we are already in November, I suggest hot process or melt & pour handmade soaps because these kinds of handmade soaps are ready to use the very next day. Cold process soaps require about 4 - 6 weeks to cure, so if you are crunched for time, the first two options are best.
You can learn more about the differences between hot process and cold process soaps here.
Ready to make your own handmade, beautiful soaps? Take the Natural Soap Making Course!
Melt & Pour Handmade Soap Recipes:
Soap making of any kind is just plain fun. It just is. There are so many variations you can add in regard to scents and textures to make that perfect soap for a friend.
Melt & Pour soap making is easy because the actual soap has already been made for you, with special ingredients that help it to melt, then pour easily. All you have to do is melt, add your special touches in terms of colors and scents, and let them harden. Here are some GREAT ideas for you:
Making Soap Without Using Lye This article give you all the directions you'll need for melt and pour, with some ideas about where to get started!
***And if you want your children involved, this is the perfect kind of soap to make!
Here's a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Goat Milk Soap using all natural additives.
Keep in mind that you can make your own adjustments for your very own holiday soap recipe very easily using Melt & Pour methods.
In the first article listed above (How to Make Soap Without Using Lye), there are also directions for making a lovely translucent honey and calendula soap. It’s always a hit!
***Make sure you check out the FREE Guide to Melt & Pour Soap Making (with Recipes). You can get it by clicking on the button below:
Get this FREE handy Herbal Remedy Guide + Cheat Sheet and be prepared to make your own home remedies!
Here are some cute examples of melt and pour soaps. My grand daughter (age 8 at the time) helped me with these!
Traditional Handmade Soap Recipes:
By "traditional," I mean handmade soaps using lye. These are truly handmade soaps, and there is an art and science involved. If you are already into making soaps, here are some great recipes for you! These are all for the hot process method, but if you are into cold process, they can easily be converted to that method with no changes in the recipes.
If you are just learning or want to learn how to make handmade soaps, I can teach you FAST right here in this course (which is a great gift for yourself or a loved one in and of itself)!
I'm focused on the hot process method of soap making with this list because the soap bars don't have to cure for six weeks, therefore, you'll have time to make your soap, even if you are starting a little late!
Here’s a recipe for Holiday Spice Soap. I love this scent. It’s a combination of green and woodsy essential oils, and it is SO refreshing, while smelling like the perfect Fall and Winter soap.
Frankincense & Myrrh Hot Process Soap: What could be a better gift than "Holy Soap?" :-) You can also use this blend of essential oils in a scrub that would be the perfect complement to your soap!
This is a deliciously scented soap for the holidays: Spearmint-Frankincense-Eucalyptus soap, colored with Nettle powder.
And here is a spicy soap: Mandarin Fall Spice Soap.
If you would like a more floral type soap, here you go: Lavender-Rosemary-Vanilla Soap.
And for the soap making enthusiast, or the friend who wants to learn how to make hot process soap, (or maybe even you!), here is a great eBook, How to Make Hot Process Soap: Creating and Customizing Your Own Natural Soap.
You could easily create a handmade soap-maker’s basket too! If the person you want to gift to is a beginner, add some melt and pour soap blocks, some natural colored clays like this rose kaolin clay, and some spices! Tucking in a couple sweet bottles of essential oils would round it off nicely.
Add in a gorgeous physical soap making book, like Jan Berry’s Natural Soap Making or Kelly Cable’s Soap Making for Beginners, and what a great gift basket that would be!
Start your soap making journey to day with step-by-step videos and tons of recipes! Learn how to make natural handmade soap with different textures, herbs for color, and essential oils for scents!
Beautiful natural handmade soaps make great gifts!
More Self-Care and Bath-Related Gifts:
The great thing about these gifts is that you can bundle them with similar gifts for a great gift basket! For example, you can make a salt scrub to put in a cute container, and create a basket with soap, lotions, lip balms, and more that have similar scents! What a great handmade gift!
Or, if you want to just keep it simple, these make great stand-alone presents too!
Salt & Sugar Scrubs:
Here is a general article about making exfoliating skin care scrubs and which is the best to use, sugar or salt? You might want to read this first, so you can make the best choice about which exfoliating scrub to make.
For a Juniper-Rosemary Salt Scrub (that would go great with the Lavender-Rosemary soap above), here you go!
Doesn't this one just sound delish? Yum! How about Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub! Pumpkin is wonderful for your skin and has alpha-hydroxy acids that help with exfoliation too.
Here's another Frankincense product to make, and it sounds great: Frankincense-Geranium-Grapefruit Salt Scrub....Yummy!
And here is a collection of three delicious sugar body scrubs!
If you love citrus, here is one for a Lemon-Sugar Scrub. You could pair it with this soap recipe if you like, too!
Shower Steamers, Bath Bombs & Teas:
Bath teas are lovely! Usually they are herbal teas packaged in a nice organic muslin bag. You put them into your bath water for a relaxing and skin-soothing soak.
Here is an Oatmeal Lavender Bath Tea a friend would love! You could pair this with one of the other lavender gifts above!
I love this one! It's got real dried oranges in it! So pretty! Orange-Honey-Oat Bath Soak.
Here is a great recipe for making Bath Bombs using essential oils!
If you love shower steamers (my favorite) or shower bombs, here are two great recipe ideas!
Eucalyptus Shower Melts (great for colds) and Best Shower Steamers Recipe, which you can customize!
Salt scrub made with sea salt and essential oils makes a lovely gift, especially when combined with similar handmade products, like salves, butters, or balms!
Click here to enroll in our Natural Homemade Soap Making Course! Learn about natural scents, colors, textures, and more!
Balms, Butters, Salves & Lotions for Skin:
I love salves, butters, and balms! You can infuse the oils used in them for some herbal goodness that can't be beat! If you don't have time to infuse the oils, using essential oils is almost as good! Here are some ideas:
Salves:
Softening, Soothing Lavender Salve (This would be great combined with one of the lavender scrubs and soaps!)
How to Make a Pain Relief Salve (This salve is a specialty salve, for a friend who has joint and muscle pain issues.)
Lotions & Lotion Bars:
Lotion bars are WONDERFUL! They are powerful at soothing extremely dry skin, and you can make them smell any way you want!
Here is my favorite recipe for Cocoa-Tangerine hard lotion bars. These smell SO good, and they work on dry skin, including cuticles, heels, and elbows like a charm! They’re pretty too. Here is a recipe for Cocoa-Tangerine soap, if you’d like to create a nice set!
Kelly, over at Simple Life Mom, makes some incredible skin care products. Here is one of her articles with three different lotion bar recipes using various oils.
And Jan, over at The Nerdy Farm Wife, is another wonder when it comes to making skin care products. Here is a recipe for Rose Lotion Bars.
Would you like a REAL lotion or cream instead? You know, the kind that is soothing, moisturizing, and also soaks right into your skin with no greasy feel?
Then take a look at this luscious dandelion infused lotion. If you don’t have dandelions at this time of year, you can substitute with calendula, which you can purchase. Or…just leave out the flowers all together.
Handmade rose clay soap. This is one of my favorite soap recipes!
Lip Balms and Other Balms:
Marie over at Humblebee & Me also has a bunch of great skin care recipes. Here is one for Vanilla-Spice Body Butter. Doesn't that sound wonderful?
And here is one for Lavender Shea Body Butter and Hand Cream! Yum. This is another one that would be great to pair or combine with other lavender items.
And for the lips:
Mica Powder Lip Stain (this is more of a lip gloss, as it's not a stick).
Chocolate Macadamia Nut Lip Balm (this is a Vegan recipe, so will not use beeswax)
And here is a recipe from Kelly for Herbal Lip Balm. This is especially great for chapped lips!
And for the man in your life? If he has a beard, here are a couple really great Beard Balm ideas!
Juniper-Spice Beard Balm recipe. And if your man loves juniper, he may just like this balm paired up with the Juniper-Rosemary Salt Scrub above!
DIY Beard Balm recipe. She also includes ideas for scenting the balm!
And how about homemade natural deodorant? What better way to tell someone you love them than by helping them get rid of dangerous chemicals? How to Make Natural Homemade Deodorant. You can scent this to match other items you might make, too!
Lavender Salve smells beautiful and is great for your skin!
Kitchen & Foods!
There is something just heart warming about receiving homemade products from a friend's kitchen to your own. I love receiving gifts of home blended spices and teas!
Tea, Hot Chocolate & Coffee Blends:
This is the perfect time of year for CHAI. It's a spicy, warming tea that is just absolutely delicious and good for you on a cold day. Here are my two favorite recipes for Chai. One is Rosy Chocolate Chai, and the other is a Green Tea Chai. They both get rave reviews all the time!
Enjoy!
And...who wants some Joy? Here is a recipe for an herbal tea: Happiness Tea. Yum! **This tea contains ingredients that may help with seasonal sadness too.
And how about a tea for relaxation? We all could use some de-stressing during the holidays, right? Herbal Tea for Relaxation.
And here is one for the man in your life: Manly Man Tea, for male body support.
Maybe you're not into tea? Here is a great coffee-based gift:
Caramel Coffee Mix---doesn't that sound great?
Do you have a sweet tooth?
Then you’ll love this natural and healthy, very easy to make Hot Cocoa Mix with some spice variations to either tone it down or spice it up for some “love” time. Any way you have hot chocolate, though, it’s a guaranteed winner and will warm you up on a cold night!
Creating Tea Blends is pretty easy, and there is nothing better than fresh herbal tea! Here is a Tea Lover's Gift Guide for more ideas!
Infused Oils, Extracts, Compound Butters, and Spiced Salts:
Did you know that Vanilla Extract is easy to make? Here is how you can make a beautiful and useful gift from your kitchen, plus there is the legend about Vanilla Extract that is quite interesting.
You know, I love infused specialty oils with herbs. Compound butters are great, too. Using herbs makes some beautiful and special butters to gift! They are SO delicious and they taste amazing. Here are some ideas for you:
Infused EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil): In this article, Andrea shares several combinations to choose from, like Pine Nut & Garlic, Lemon & Dill, and the Rosemary blend. Enjoy!
Here is an article with lots of infused oil ideas!
***SAFETY NOTE: When infusing oils, it's important to know that fresh herbs and spices can cause bacteria to grow, including botulism. So, if you are going to infuse oils, please use DRIED HERBS only.
The fresh ones are beautiful floating in the oil, yes, but why take the risk of getting very sick? I purchase my dried culinary herbs at Starwest Botanicals. They are high quality, fresh, and have amazing prices!
Ohhh....Compound butters. Can you say mouth-watering? Here are some great compound butter ideas with printable labels perfect for the holidays!
And how about herbal salts? These add the perfect finishing touch to a delicious dish. Here is an article for how to make an herb infused cooking salt featuring basil. It's really pretty too, with the green herbal flecks! Delicious!
Yummy Brain Candy!
Homemade Sweets & Candies:
And for the friend with a sweet tooth, here are a couple ideas to get you started!
Just about everyone loves nuts! Here is an Easy Candied Pecan Recipe that only takes five minutes and has only four ingredients! Yum!
Want a sweet treat that doubles as a brain-booster? I call this Brain Candy. It’s yummy and healthy too! (It’s also pretty—-it does not look like brains. ;-) It’s made with nuts and tasty adaptogen herbs to support brain health.
Here’s an idea! How about making some homemade caramel corn to gift? This recipe is great because Liz at Farm Wife Cooks bakes it at the end, which removes the stickiness. Nice, right? Pretty and delicious!
Homemade Vanilla Extract makes a beautiful gift!
Homemade for the Home:
Candles & Lamps:
There is nothing better than the soft glow of candle light. It just says, "warmth." So what better gift than a handmade candle or lamp?
How to Make a Beeswax Mason Jar Candle. Did you know beeswax cleans the air? And that it's just the best medium for candles? Enjoy this handmade recipe!
And here is another article: How to Make Handmade Jar Candles. In this post, soy wax is used, and that is also a better alternative than many of the waxes out there. Not as good as beeswax, in my opinion, but still good!
And this is a cool gift idea: It's for How to Make a Mason Jar Oil Candle Lamp! And...I have to say, these are GORGEOUS!
Anyway, just some thoughts!
A simple Mason jar beeswax candle can make a beautiful and thoughtful gift.
Potpourris & Scented Gifts:
Aromatherapy sprays are the rage right now, and everyone loves a spray made with natural essential oils. Here are directions for How to Make an Aromatherapy Spray! And remember: This is another homemade item that would be great to pair or combine with other similar scents for a friend!
And here is an idea for a homemade essential oil diffuser ornament. This is a pretty cool idea, and kids could help out too!
If you have a friend who is a potpourri fan, here is a recipe for a natural simmering potpourri! In this recipe, Trish uses real fruit and spices.
And here are some Holiday Essential Oil Diffuser Blend recipes you could make and bottle as lovely gifts!
Miscellaneous and Green Gifts:
For the person who is going green and is into getting rid of plastics, here is a GREAT gift that is very pretty too. Best of all: It WORKS. How to Make Natural Cling Wrap. This is a reusable wrap that you can create to match up with your friend's likes, as you get to use cotton cloth to make it.
Do you have a friend who is very health conscious? How about getting that friend into fermenting their own foods? This is not a handmade gift, but with it, your friend can make their very own fermented foods: The Best Fermenting Starter Kit.
If you wanted to gift a nice fermented condiment along with the starter kit (or all by themselves, as they are delicious), try this homemade ketchup and this fermented hot sauce. Both of these contain healthy probiotics too!
Just bottle these up in some pretty bottles or jars, and you’re set!
OR….
How about a natural homemade cordial to sip in the evening? All you need is a simple syrup, a little brandy, and yum!
Here is a recipe for a delicious elderberry cordial that is not only delicious but will boost your immune system too!
You can make any of these herbal syrups, too, and add a bit of alcohol (if you want—they are perfectly wonderful without) for a great bottled gift! After all, the only difference between a cordial and a syrup is the alcohol!
Forsythia Syrup (you can substitute with pine, cranberry, or other winter herbs if you like)
Final Thoughts on Handmade Natural Gifts
There are SO many ways you can create a lovely handmade, natural gift for the friends in your life. I hope these links gave you some great ideas and perhaps a starting point for getting some great gifts going for your loved ones!
If you're not into handmade gifts, you might want to check out some specialty area articles. Check out these other gift guides or collections to think about:
The Manly Man Ultimate Gift Guide (Seriously—-over 100 ideas for every kind of man imaginable)
The Ultimate Gardener's Gift Guide,
Gifts for the Aspiring Herbalist
What Every Gal Needs in Her Emergency Get Home Bag! ***Personally, I think every girl needs an emergency bag in her car. What a thoughtful gift!!!
Be My Natural Valentine (these are geared for Valentine’s Day, but they would make great holiday gifts, too).
Gift giving can be stressful. But! It can also be fun if you have a plan and some great ideas.
If you have never tried making handmade gifts for your loved ones, maybe it's time to give it a try! You'll save money, get creative, and have fun all at once!
Do you make gifts for you family and friends? I'd love if you'd share your great ideas here! Leave a comment!
Hugs, Health, & Self-Reliance,
Heidi
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Well over 50 amazing easy natural gift ideas to give this holiday season! From self-care, to the bath, to skincare, to the kitchen, and even the cocktail enthusiast….there’s ideas here for you! If you’re looking for easy handmade gifts to make for gifts this season, take a look at these and pin for later! #gift #homemade #natural #easy #giftideas #ideas #healingharvesthomestead #handmade #homemade
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Need a last minute gift that is natural and handmade? And fast and easy? That your gift recipient will just LOVE? Here are over 50 homemade gift ideas that you can make, even when you don’t have a lot of time. #gifts #lastminute #handmade #homemade #holiday #fast #easy #healingharvesthomestead