It’s the week before Christmas and you’ve just been inspired to give all your loved ones natural gifts this year. And not just any natural gifts, mind you, but DIY natural gifts. It’s going to be awesome.
Only, you don’t have all the supplies and ingredients you need and by the time they get here, even with Amazon Prime shipping, you’ll only have, like, one day to make everything.
That totally has never happened to me, ever. Ok, fine, it’s happened a lot.
That’s why yesterday, when my eldest told me how many days there are until the Winter Solstice, I thought, “Wow, this would be a great time to plan for Christmas gifts and make the stuff that’s going to take a while to be ready.”
And then … ding! (That’s a lightbulb moment.)
I realized I’m probably not the only person who has ever wanted to give a really cool natural gift only to realize that that they needed to start it sooner than the week before Christmas.
I’m thinking of 3 particular natural gifts you need to make now:
Bar soap
Homemade bar soap is one of my favorite natural gifts to give. My friends and family love it and I love that I can make one batch and get 15 bars of soap to give as gifts. It’s a win all around.
The process itself isn’t too time-consuming, though you’ll need time to order any special ingredients (like lye) and if you make my recipe, you’ll want time to infuse the oils with herbs. Plus there’s the 3 weeks it takes for soap to cure before it’s ready.
And if you want to make more than one batch, best be doing it ASAP.
Vanilla
Homemade vanilla is one of the easiest DIY gifts you can make. All you need are vanilla beans, 80 proof alcohol and some pretty bottles. You just need a little extra time for the vanilla to steep. Like 2-3 months.
Hence the need to get started now. Or yesterday.
Home Brew
There are so many yummy drinks you can brew in your kitchen:
- Beer
- Kombucha
- Soda
- Hard cider
Really, there are lots of possibilities. Just put it in a cool flip-top bottle and you’ve got a great gift.
And I can tell you from experience that home brew gifts are a big hit (not just for people who live in Oregon, Land of the Microbrew).
But. If you don’t start soon, you’ll be like me two years ago, when my big idea was to make all the guys a batch of IPA, but I forgot to let my husband know (our resident beer brewer) until it was far too late. Oops.
So if you don’t want to find yourself at the store getting weird looks for all the bottles of microbrew you’re buying, I suggest you start now.
This is one of my favorite books on home brewing – it covers all sorts of drinks, alcoholic and otherwise.
Most other gifts won’t take nearly as long, but it’s still a great idea to gather all the supplies and ingredients you’ll need soon, so you can be ready when it’s time to start making them.
Or you could start the 3 gifts above right now and be completely done before stores even start decorating for Christmas. Well, most stores …
Boom! That was easy.
Want more natural gift ideas?
This downloadable guide is full of natural gift ideas you can use for any occasion. Broken down by category, you’ll find several ideas for handmade gifts.
Along with the many gift ideas, the guide contains ways to save money on natural gifts, as well as helpful ingredients and supplies to use in gift-making.
And it’s free.
Sign up to get it here.
What are your favorite natural gift ideas?
