50+ Practical Homemade Holiday Gifts for the Self Reliant

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Why should you create homemade, one of a kind holiday and Christmas gifts this year? Let’s break it down. Presents made with your own two hands are not only rewarding to make from virtually nothing, but they let that special someone know you spent your time planning, customizing, and crafting a gift just for them!

Homemade Gift Guide

Homemade gifts are also an excellent way to creatively reuse or upcycle a lot of materials you may have thrown in the garbage otherwise. Whether you practice the principles already and are planning a year-round permaculture CSA or are just starting your permaculture journey, you may remember number six as, “produce no waste”.

This principle is dear to my heart and one I follow as strictly as I can, as much of our oceans are polluted with non-biodegradable plastics (styrofoam, plastic water bottles, bags, nets, etc.) that break into tinier and tinier pieces called microplastics. Unless we can get this mess cleaned up and stop contributing to it, microplastics will eventually disrupt marine food webs and as a result, will cause seafood to become less available to us in the future.

It may be difficult at first, but by slowly eliminating waste from your lifestyle, you’ll be living a more responsible, healthy, and sustainable life. This leads me to the purpose of this post, to offer the self-reliant and friends of the self-reliant ways to reuse materials and herbs from the backyard garden to create meaningful gifts for homesteaders, gardeners, and hunters.

Each category of homemade gifts is paired with a relevant book (or a few!) so that friends and loved ones have the option to increase their self-reliance and carry on the homemade gift-giving tradition next year!

In an effort to use less plastic, all of these gifts are plastic-free!

Gifts for Homesteaders

Gifting a homesteader something homemade and useful to their lifestyle may seem like a tall task, but it doesn’t have to be. Anything thoughtful and practical that they’ll get many uses from will do the trick!

Here are some great DIY gifts you can make for that special homesteader in your life. From handy items for the home and kitchen to all-natural herbal remedies, bath products, and infusions! No matter the homesteader, they’re sure to find Teri Page’s Family Homesteading an invaluable resource and it would be the perfect book to slip into a homemade reading pillow!

potato stamp tea towel — Using a homemade potato stamp on a tea towel! (Image courtesy of Jessica Welling Interiors)

Home and Kitchen

Have lots of herbs in your garden? A collection of potted aromatic herbs make a lovely gift to any homesteader who has culinary and/or herbal healing pursuits! Pair it with Devon Young’s The Herbalist’s Healing Kitchen to give the recipient of your gift plenty of ways to utilize their new herbs!

In the spirit of using less plastic, making reusable snack bags and beeswax wraps is a gift that keeps on giving and one that won’t weigh heavy on your conscience!

kitchen herb garden — Kitchen Herb Garden (Courtesy of Two Healthy Kitchens)

Bath

Homemade herbal bath products are easy to make and will have your giftee looking and smelling their best! Not only are they fun to create, but it can be very empowering making your own bath essentials.

Want to pair one of your creations with a book that will inspire the recipient of your gift ways to start crafting their own bath and beauty items? I love Rosemary Gladstar’s, Herbs for Natural Beauty or Herbal Acadamy’s Botanical Skincare Recipe Book!

Herbal Remedies

Being a homesteader may mean you live off-grid, far from the convenience of pharmacies or a doctor’s office and as long as it’s not an emergency, there are many homemade natural remedies you can have on hand around the home.

Herbal remedies, like the ones below, make awesome gifts. Try creating a collection that addresses pain relief or cold/flu symptoms that can occur in winter.

Pair them with a book of remedies so your giftee can make their own herbal medicine around their homestead and pay it forward. Healing Herbal Infusions by Colleen Codekas is an excellent choice!

Comfrey Salve to reduce pain and promote healing!

Vinegar and Alcohol Infusions

Infusions are probably one of the easiest gifts you can make and there are endless possibilities when it comes to ingredients. Try coming up with your own combinations of herbs, spices, and fruits! Pair any tasty alcohol infusions with Andrew Schloss’ book, Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits and see what your friends and family come up with.

Infusions do come with a catch though. The process must be started several weeks ahead of the day you plan to gift them, so don’t wait until the last minute on this one. Despite that, they make a wonderful and unique present that everyone loves to receive!

cranberry vinegar — Infused Cranberry Vinegar (Image courtesy of Boulder Locavore)

Gifts for Gardeners

During the cold, dark months of winter, the serious gardeners in your life might already be planning their spring gardens by choosing seeds and deciding when and where to plant. Help them out by making them one or a few of these practical homemade gifts!

Have some old clothes or fabric lying around? Don’t send it to the landfill, upcycle it by making a gardening apron or gloves! Let your gardening loved one know that you’re practicing the principles of permaculture and they can too by pairing it with any of these insightful permaculture books.

Gifts for Hunters and Bushcrafters

Hunting and bushcrafting are both skills that I find infinitely interesting. It’s important to me to not only know where my food comes from but that I have the skills needed to supply my family with organic, grass-fed meat that grows locally right here on my homestead! For the hunter turned wild game chef, any of Hank Shaw’s cookbooks are sure to be a hit and would pair well with a homemade knife sheath or paracord gun sling.

Impress the bushcrafter in your life by gifting them handmade arrows, a bow drill set, or a figure 4 deadfall trap so that they can continue to hone their skills out in the bush living how our primitive, hunter and gather ancestors once did. Pair any of these awesome homemade bushcraft gifts with one of my favorite books, Participating in Nature: Wilderness Survival and Primitive Living Skills by Thomas J. Elpel. While you’re at it, get one for yourself too!

For modern compound and recurve bowhunters, a homemade archery target is an excellent practical gift!