Your Cart is Empty
A Gift Guide for Intentional Gift Giving this Holiday Season
The tradition of gift giving around the winter holiday seasons has been a cherished ritual since time immemorial. In ancient Rome, the god Saturn was celebrated during the winter solstice, and the exchanging of gifts was a prominent part of the rituals honoring him. There’s something about the long winter nights and the cozy moments spent with friends and family that makes celebrating abundance through the exchanging of presents magical. In this modern era, the winter holidays are often an overwhelming and stressful time defined by overconsumption and commercialism. Still, you can choose to honor this tradition and participate in the magical aspects of the season through shopping for intentional and meaningful gifts for your loved ones.
If you’re looking to be intentional about your gifting (and spending!) this holiday season, consider choosing to shop with small businesses online, or locally owned shops in your community. When you choose to support small businesses, you’re supporting actual people as opposed to big corporations. With every purchase you make you can choose to be a conscious consumer, supporting your community and encouraging growth for businesses that prioritize people and the planet. Your gifts will bring double the joy - they will delight and inspire the person who receives them, as well as the small business or individual who created the product.
You can choose to do things differently, while maintaining the special traditions of giving and receiving gifts. Small businesses are the future, and when you support them, you are helping to support community and creativity. If you’re looking for ideas and inspiration for gifting, we’ve rounded up a list of a few of our favorite gift ideas. Here at LAB.OTANICA we believe in spreading positivity, so we're big fans of purposeful presents that encourage wellness for our bodies, minds, spirits, and the earth itself.
Gift Giving Made Easy! 12 Intentional Gifts for Wellness Lovers
If you’re looking for the perfect present for someone special, consider giving the gift of self-care. Wellness inspired gifts will help your loved one relax throughout the year ahead, and your thoughtful contribution to their health and happiness will make them feel so deeply cherished and loved.
This list is just a small sampling of the kind of presents you could choose, and we hope that it will inspire you to get creative and find the joy in giving this year.
LAB.OTANICA Winter Delight Bundle
A natural skincare routine is a wonderful way to help a loved one create a self-care ritual that they can indulge in each and every day. Our Winter Delight Bundle is specially designed for gift giving and features a few of our cult-favorite products for the body and mind.
In many parts of the world, the holidays coincide with the year's coldest months. The changing climate and harsh outdoor conditions can leave skin feeling parched, flaky, and tight, and indoor conditions aren't much better as home furnaces can further dry out your skin.
It's essential to keep skin hydrated during the winter, which is why our winter delight bundle features our exfoliating Ceremonial Awakening Body Scrub to help gently remove dead skin cells while naturally firming, regenerating, and brightening the skin. After exfoliating in the bath or shower, light our Trust The Journey Intention Candle and massage our best-selling Ceremonial Body Elixir into the skin for a beautiful winter ritual.
Refillable Zero Waste Essentials
Give a gift that keeps on giving…(and giving and giving!) by introducing your loved one to a zero waste lifestyle. You can find shops promoting waste reduction through offering incredible eco-friendly products in in packaging that allows you to return and refill them again and again. You can purchase the initial product with instructions on how to refill in store, or alternatively purchase a gift card and encourage them to bring their own reusable packaging.
If you’re located in Orange County, California Fill Up Buttercup is the perfect choice for beautiful, non-toxic, refillable products for the home and body. You can purchase everything from all-purpose cleaner to hand soap. Fill Up Buttercup has two beautiful locations where you can shop in store: Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach, California.
Plants!
Plants make people happy! Live plants make excellent gifts that bring brightness and life into home year round. You can visit a local nursery or farmer’s market and choose a beautiful plant that will compliment their home and decor taste. For beginners, consider a beautiful snake plant in a unique pot, or a small succulent garden that won’t require much water.
If you’re located near Long Beach, California, head straight to Plantiitas. This beautiful plant nursery is a small business and POC owned. You’ll find an amazingly curated selection of tropical plants, handcrafted goods, and gorgeous planters. Follow Plantiitas on instagram @plantiitas to learn more!
A High Vibe Botanical Candle for Setting Intentions
If you’re in search of the perfect gift for someone who is always giving time and attention to others, a beautiful candle makes the perfect present. Our Trust The Journey Intention Candle is an ideal gift for teachers, social-workers, and medical professionals who have brought light into your life throughout the year. Each time they light their candle, they’ll be reminded of your gratitude as their home is filled with light and good energy.
An Experience in Nature
If purchasing gifts isn’t your vibe, consider simply gifting your loved one an experience. Time spent together is often the greatest gift of all, so consider packing a beautiful picnic and enjoying a long hike together, or simply heading to the beach to enjoy views of the ocean as you celebrate love and connection.
A Journal or Sketchbook
Nourish your love with the gift of creativity. For writers, consider gifting a beautiful handmade journal. You can often find beautiful options with handmade paper at local shops near you. Alternatively, you can purchase a guided gratitude journal online to encourage mindfulness and joy.
For artists, consider a fresh sketchbook with a hard cover that they can take with them and make art on the go. Along with the sketchbook, consider purchasing a set of their favorite art medium - whether it’s pens, colored pencils, or paints - artists can never have enough supplies on hand!
An Oracle Deck for Intuition
One of our favorite collaborations here at LAB.OTANICA is the stunning Tulku Oracle Deck,created by our dear friends at Tulku. The gorgeous cards offer portals into the wisdom of symbols and totems with 53 cards that act as windows into the wisdom of the heart, nature, and ancient traditions. The illustrations are divided into five categories, wood, fire, earth, metal, and water to help connect you to the natural world and open your minds to the ways your journey is interwoven with all life on earth. The deck comes with a companion book which includes detailed information on the symbolism and teachings of each card in the deck.
A Beautiful Amulet Designed by Tulku
Also by our beloved friends at Tulku, a gorgeous blessed amulet makes a beautiful holiday gift that your loved one will be able to cherish throughout their lives. These incredible handmade pieces can act as heirlooms that will be passed down for generations. Each elegant piece is hand crafted and blessed to fuse spiritual tradition with beautiful design. The creator is a Plant Spirit Medicine healer, who has studied with various spiritual masters throughout her travels to Nepal and around the world.
Classes From a Local Yoga, Dance, or Pilates Studio
Give a loved one the gift of breath and movement with a gift certificate or package from a local yoga, dance, or pilates studio. If the person you’re purchasing a gift for has a favored studio where they like to practice, you can easily reach out and offer to purchase them another round of classes, or splurge and book a private lesson for a one-of-a-kind shared experience together.
Alternatively, you could give the gift of holistic healing by signing your loved one up for an offering or well-being session by Hypnosister. Brit is a phenomenal healer whose work helps her clients find total transformation through hypnosis, hormone balancing, and guidance. Follow @hypnosister.co for more information, or visit the website for more information on future offerings.
An At Home Facial Kit
There’s nothing more indulgent on a cold winter night than a relaxing facial. In addition to being an ideal natural skincare for aging, it helps protect the skin against the harsh winter conditions that can leave skin irritated, red, and parched.
LAB.OTANICA’s Joyful Glow Bundlefeatures everything needed for the perfect at home facial including Alchemic Brightening Facial Oil and our Rose Quartz Gua Sha for the perfect facial massage. The facial oil deeply hydrates and increases collagen production while calming inflammation and reducing hyperpigmentation using the plant magic power of passion fruit, sea buckthorn, and marula. The energy of rose quartz in the gua sha will help bring feelings of self-love and acceptance. Gua Sha facial massage helps to dissolve tension in the face and improve circulation as well as reduce puffiness and cleanse the facial aura to unlock radiance throughout the winter.
Herbal Tea
A beautiful botanical tea blend will warm your loved one from the inside out and can help balance their bodies, minds, and spirits throughout the winter. Magic Hour Tea creates delicious blends using the highest quality ingredients from around the world to create one-of-a-kind teas that are beautifying, nourishing, and even medicinal. Each loose leaf tea comes in a gorgeous dark purple glass apothecary jar that can be refilled or repurposed once finished.
A Great Book
In Iceland, there is a tradition to give loved ones a book and chocolate on Christmas Eve and spend the night cozied up in bed reading. A book makes a wonderful gift any time of year, but winter nights make the perfect time for staying in and enjoying a winter skin care routine and a good read.
Carefully choose a book that reminds you of the person you are gifting or one that was deeply meaningful to you with a message you’d like to pass along to the people you care about.
However you celebrate the winter holidays, LAB.OTANICA wishes you a beautiful season filled with love, connection, and joy. We invite you to join our plant magic community by following us on Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube for all the best natural skincare tips and tricks so that you can love the skin you live in.
Pura Vida!
