Meaningful Gifts That Won’t Break the Bank

article by SHANNON DAHLUM

The holiday season is all about the spirit of giving, but figuring out what to give can be a challenge.  Especially when it comes to hostess gifts, teacher gifts, and small but special somethings you want to give to all the people who are important in your life, it can be hard to come up with something creative and useful that won’t break the bank.  If you also value health and wellness (which you likely do, since you’re reading the wellness column in Bayou Life Magazine) it’s probably important to you that the gifts you choose aren’t harmful to the receiver’s health or that of the planet.  To help you out, I’ve gathered some ideas that are all things I love to use in my own home that would make great gifts for your wellness- minded friends.

Along with twinkle lights and greenery, it’s the scents of the season that make home feel so alive with the holiday spirit.  Scented candles are a crowd favorite, but it’s not easy to find options that aren’t made with harmful chemicals that pollute indoor air.  Synthetic fragrances are often made with fixatives and other chemicals (like phthalates and parabens) that can have a harmful impact on the body’s hormonal balance, so I recommend avoiding these for yourself and as gifts.

Clean Slate Botanicals, a company based in Shreveport, makes natural aromatherapy products for the home that are free of synthetic chemicals.  Their Palo Santo wood wick candle is my favorite.  I typically find that chemical free candles don’t impart much off a scent throughout the house, but that’s not the case with this one!  This candle does a great job of smelling up the whole lower level of my home with its warm, woodsy scent.  Clean Slate also makes a winter collection with four different holiday scents, which would be great for gift giving.  I purchased mine at the Ruston Farmer’s market, which is open on Saturdays from 9am -1pm.  Some of their candles have also been spotted at Creative Exchange, an art store in Ruston. Clean Slate Botanicals also has a holiday pop up store at the Uptown Shopping Plaza in Shreveport. Find more information about their products at cleanslatebotanicals.com.

For the participants in yoga classes I teach, the frankincense and lavender Zum Mist is an absolute favorite. At the end of class, attendees rest with a cloth over their eyes that has been sprayed with this mist.  It’s such a calming scent, and who couldn’t use a bit of calm in the midst of the holiday rush?  Along with the bottle in my yoga bag, I also keep one in my bedroom that I use to spray the covers with every morning after making my bed. These sprays are made with essential oils and are great anywhere in the house (or car) when you want to freshen up the scent but don’t necessarily want to burn a candle.  Zum makes many scents, including winter pine, which is perfect to spray on an artificial Christmas tree to give it that real tree smell.  Check out Fiesta on Eighteenth in Monroe, or Gibson’s Grocer in Ruston for their products.

Along with woodsy scents in the house, warm, spicy drinks are another tradition that boosts my holiday spirit.  I always have chai tea and mulling spices in the pantry throughout the winter. I like to brew my chai with milk and add a bit of raw honey for a night time drink to enjoy before bed.  Mulling spices can be added to apple cider or red wine to make a festive treat.  These spices alone are nice, affordable, gifts for all the teachers and neighbors.  A bottle of wine or cider along with some mulling spices can be a creative gift for a hostess or the office’s Secret Santa gift swap. Packaging chai tea in a vintage tea cup from a shop in Antique Alley can make a special gift, too.  You can purchase chai tea and mulling spices already made and packaged for gift giving at the Spice and Tea Exchange in West Monroe, or you can purchase the ingredients there to make your own.

Who doesn’t love fresh, traditionally made sourdough bread, warm from the oven?  This is a perfect hostess gift to bring to your next holiday dinner party. Don’t worry, you don’t have to spend more than a few minutes preparing it.  All you have to do is head to Scratch Bakehouse’s website (scratchbakehousela.com) and place an order for the current week’s offerings on Sunday.  You can then pick up your order Tuesday through Thursday at for His temple family foods in West Monroe.  Christina Poole is the sourdough baker behind this local enterprise, and she mentions that her dinner rolls and cinnamon buns freeze beautifully, and can be heated in the oven for 10 minutes before serving to make them as good as fresh.  Follow her on Instagram (@scratch_bakehouse) for all the details about what she’s cooking each week.

A quick browse in for his Temple family foods will inspire several other gift ideas for the healthy home cook.  A good bottle of olive oil, a jar of local raw honey, or a bottle of pure maple syrup would be greatly appreciated by anyone who values high quality ingredients. Fiesta on Eighteenth has a variety of kitchen and bath items to support anyone building a healthy home. They also carry beautiful houseplants, and in my opinion, you can’t ever go wrong with a great house plant as a gift.

If you’ve grown tired of giving mugs and hot cocoa mix, you now have a handful of useful gifts the people in your life will truly appreciate!  If you’re tired of being on the receiving end of endless mugs and hot cocoa mix, feel free to send this article to all your friends, or post it near the water cooler at work as a hint.