Make it yourself this holiday season with these homemade homestead gift ideas you can create using your experience.
Holidays are quickly approaching! This wonderful time of year can easily become a whirlwind of busyness and, let’s face it, a season of spending money. Nearly everywhere you look are sale ads, gift guides, and “the newest thing that everyone wants – and obviously you need one” pitches.
I got to thinking: One of the great blessings of the homestead lifestyle is that you have skills and access to unique resources, making you less reliant on the dizzying world of commercialism. So, this gift guide is different. It’s a gallery of gifts that can be principally produced on the homestead, keeping any purchases to a minimum.
Each of us on the homesteading journey has a different skill set, but a strong common thread is that the work we do and the products we create are special. We get to enjoy the freshest, cleanest food, unavailable in any store, and line the pantry shelves with quarts of green beans, red tomatoes, and deep-purple beets. What a blessing, indeed! I love to turn garden flowers into beautiful bouquets for the table. You might sew a new apron instead of buying one. Or, perhaps make a bar of herbal goat milk soap from your own ingredients. The fruits of our homesteads can’t be found anywhere else. They have a unique story and high value, and they’re steeped in hard work and love.
So, I hope you’ll find inspiration here to slow down, take a deep breath, and put value on the work you’re doing. This holiday season, let’s share this homestead joy with others! Instead of financing the commercial culture, I encourage you to look around at all the unique gift options that can be found in the kitchen, right out the back door, and at our very fingertips.
With this in mind, let’s take a walk around the homestead for some practical and special gift ideas – something for everyone on your list.
The Kitchen
Whether the recipient loves to bake or loves to eat, the possibilities for customized gifts from the kitchen are practically endless. Many handmade presents require planning ahead (no two-day shipping option here!), but the great thing about gifts from the kitchen is they can be made last-minute, with minimal preparation. That’s a big plus for someone (like me) who tends to procrastinate.
- Baked goods. Nearly everyone loves an old-fashioned homemade dessert. Brownies and cookies can be given fresh out of the oven or made ahead and frozen until you’re ready to gift them. Thaw them at room temperature and pile assortments onto plates, into tins, or in a towel-lined basket for a cozy presentation. Quick breads, yeast breads, and cinnamon rolls can all be made ahead, wrapped in a towel, and presented alone or with a small jar of honey butter or jam. Baked goods make wonderful neighbor gifts.
- Sourdough starter kit. Do you have friends who love bread? Give them the gift of sourdough! Feed your starter to bulk it up before the presentation. Pour a cup or two into a wide-mouthed jar, and tie on a ribbon and tag. Why not also include a couple of your favorite recipes and a freshly baked loaf of bread or cinnamon rolls? If you’d like to add to this gift with a few purchased items, you could also include a sourdough cookbook, a lame for slicing beautiful designs in the dough, and a tea towel to cover the dough while rising, all cozily tucked into a banneton basket.
- Granola. Homemade granola is an easy treat to make and share. Depending on the bulk food options in your pantry, you can make variations, with nuts, cinnamon, dried fruits, and chocolate chunks, and gift a sampler packaged in paper sacks or glass jars. For fun, give a creative name to each variety.
- Homegrown honey. Everyone’s excited to get a taste of a homegrown honey harvest! A little chunk of honeycomb adds a special element to the jar.
- Homegrown spice mix. Create your own seasoning blends with garden herbs.
The Garden
Gifts from the garden are abundant in summer. We all know about sharing the bounty when we have an influx of cucumbers, squash, or tomatoes – but what about winter months, when our gardens are down for a rest? The key is to plan ahead. Of course, if you decide to “grow a gift,” it’s a great idea to have an extra option up your sleeve, just in case the crop struggles.
- Canned goods. These are an obvious choice, if you’re a canner. When the garden’s cranked up, can a few extra jars of jams, pie filling, pickles, and salsa to share. People always treasure receiving red raspberry jam, one of my mom’s specialties.
- Braided garlic. After the garlic harvest, make several small garlic braids or “bouquets” for decorative garlic storage, so the recipient can join you in enjoying freshly minced garlic throughout the winter. Or, if your loved one is a gardener, simply pop a dried head or two in a gift bag for seed!
- Heirloom popcorn. Small, colorful cobs of heirloom popcorn varieties dry beautifully and are lovely gifts. To avoid insect damage before the holiday season, freeze the dried cobs for a couple of weeks, and store in an airtight container. You can also shell the popcorn into decorative glass bottles or jars. Add a shaker of homemade popcorn seasoning, and you’re set!
- Dried flower arrangements. My sister and I love to grow cutting flowers to make bouquets in summer – and by planning ahead, you can have garden bouquets in winter as well. Two great choices for drying are statice (especially yellow and purple) and strawflower. These flowers maintain color (not as vibrant as fresh flowers, of course, but very nice) for a year or so, making them perfect for dried arrangements. Stems of lavender would also be wonderful! Dry the flowers upside down to ensure straight stems, then mix in some dry pussy willow stems, baby’s breath, and poppy seedpods for a lovely bouquet. Dried flowers also make great wreathes or hair accessories.
- Garden seeds or plant starts. Save seeds from your favorite flower and vegetable varieties to share with others, especially easy-to-grow varieties for new gardeners. Winter and early spring are also ideal times to set out dormant bushes, such as blueberries, roses, or fruit trees.
- Homegrown herbal teas. Simple-to-grow herbs that can be incorporated into a “house blend” herbal tea include peppermint, raspberry and blackberry leaves, calendula petals, chamomile flowers, and bee balm. Pack the dried loose-leaf blend into jars or little bags and include a metal tea ball, if desired.
The Craft Room
For me, making a gift with my hands is a special opportunity to slow down, think about the person I’m creating the project for, and pour so much love into my work. It’s also a great excuse to take a bit of a break from my regular routine and get creative.
- Sewing. Make aprons, skirts, pillows, children’s clothing, tablecloths, and more.
- Quilting. A full-sized patchwork quilt makes a tremendous present if you have the time to devote to making something special. For those with less time on their hands, table runners are one of my favorite quilting projects. They’re small, and they can be pieced quickly in a variety of patchwork patterns. A method I enjoy using for smaller quilt projects is to do most of the quilting on my Singer Featherweight sewing machine, and I’ll add some extra-special hand-quilting as time allows. Have fun choosing colors and fabrics you know will be beautiful in the recipient’s home.
- Waxed pine cones. Dipped in beeswax and dusted with cinnamon for a cozy scent, waxed pine cones are decorative and can also be added to a woodstove for an extra boost.
- Handmade soap. Through the years, my family has enjoyed gifting bars of soap, created with milk from our cow or goats. Folks love homemade soap, and simple herbal scents, such as lavender or peppermint, are sure to please. Cold-process soap, such as milk soap, ideally needs about six weeks to cure, so this is definitely a make-ahead project.
- Lip balms, salves, and lotions. Put your homegrown herbs to excellent use by infusing them in oil and using the oil to make premium salves, balms, and lotions. These can be for basic skin care or medicinal use, or even useed as a special salve to treat wooden cutting boards and bowls.
- Pot holders. This is a great project for kids to help with or even do themselves. When I was a little girl, my siblings and I spent countless hours weaving pot holders on little metal looms with cotton-blend loops. As an adult, I find this simple craft to be relaxing. The result is a sturdy pot holder that’s a joy to use.
The Woodshop
If you enjoy working with wood, here are some special ideas for the shop:
- Specialty wood chips. For a friend who loves to grill or smoke meats, prepare a bag of seasoned applewood or hickory chips to add some specialty flavor to their grill.
- Mushroom logs. While you’re plugging mushroom logs in late winter or early spring, think ahead and plug a few extras. By the time Christmas rolls around, you’ll have fully inoculated logs, ready to give to a mushroom-loving friend, along with a little instruction card. I recommend shiitake and oyster logs. They’re ideal for beginners and don’t require much specialized care.
- Wooden toys. It’s getting harder to find quality, heirloom toys for children that are simple and free from plastics. Cedar blocks in varying shapes are super fun for building!
- Cutting boards. In our kitchen, we’ve transitioned away from plastic cutting boards and now use wood almost exclusively. Not only do you avoid cutting plastic into your food, the wooden boards are more traditional and appealing. Large charcuterie boards are also special and can be presented along with a savory spread of homemade cheeses, pickles, and sourdough crackers, ready to enjoy.
While step-by-step instructions for each project are beyond the scope here, I hope these ideas inspire you and serve as a springboard to set your creativity flowing. Have fun with your packaging, too! Hand-letter your tags or create custom labels on the computer, giving your homestead’s logo a spotlight.
Your gift might be the spark to inspire your friends and family toward their own homesteading journey.
Happy creating!
Maggie Bullington lives in beautiful rural Alabama. She enjoys working with her family, crafting, gardening, and handwriting letters. She’d love to have you visit www.InMySmallCorner.com, where she writes about projects and life.
Originally published in the November/December 2025 issue of Grit magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
