If you’ve been procrastinating on that holiday shopping until the last minute and are wondering what to buy for your favorite nature lover, here’s a handy list of gift ideas. Assuming they don’t take issue with the slaughter of perfectly innocent evergreens for the sake of a month’s worth of use, that is.
These are the best gifts for the all outdoor enthusiasts (aka tree huggers) in your life, from cottagecore queens to budding botanists.
19 Gifts for Nature Lovers
1. Photosynthesis Strategy Game
A photosynthesis board game? Where was this during earth science classes?! This game lets players cultivate their own forests of different tree species with the power of the sun – and some competitive strategy, of course.
2. WWF Species Adoption Gift Kit, Price Varies.
Do you have a friend who wants to save the world? Do your part to help them out by gifting them a WWF adoption kit. You can pick their favorite (or least favorite) animal species to save, like elephant, jaguar, or manatee. You’ll get an adorable stuffed animal, and part of your purchase will support animal conservation and wildlife preservation. All the more reason not to shoplift this one.
3. National Park Playing Cards, $14
First off, we’ve gotta point out how gorgeous these cards are with the minimalist landscape illustrations. Second, who doesn’t love National Parks? These will be your friend’s new favorite playing cards, replacing that homemade deck they made with fallen leaves.
4. Oyster Mushroom Log Kit, $30
Fungus and wet logs may not seem like the sexiest gifts, but since when has there been a shortage of baby woodland creatures? With this kit, your friend can grow and pick their own yummy oyster mushrooms well past foraging season. Not to be confused with urban foraging season, which lasts considerably longer.
5. Crystal Growing Kit
Every time we see a crystal, our inner crow brain goes, “Oh, shiny!” What’s better than pretty rocks? Oh, how about learning about the science behind making your own crystals? We plan on buying about ten of these kits in hopes one of our crystals will, upon being thrown across a snow field at the North Pole, grow into an ice fortress.
6. A Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers
When springtime rolls around, your friends will love taking this book with them on their hikes. Not so they’ll know the names of all those wildflowers that they take pics, but so they have something to sit on so the wildflowers don’t stain their shorts.
7. Chemistry Glass Terrarium, $50
This terrarium has beauty and brains. It’ll look perfect in your laboratory or on your kitchen table. Add a couple little succulents and you’ll be feeling some major chemistry with this planter. We made out with ours for, like, hours.
8. Edible Chemistry Set, $18
We don’t remember eating our science experiments in school, but we also ate a lot of “science experiments” in “school,” so our memory’s not so great. This chemistry set doesn’t just make science fun; it makes science tasty. Each kit has sixteen edible experiments. That’s a sweet deal! (We’d be embarrassed by the pun, but we’ve already forgotten what we were talking about.)
9. Rocks and Minerals Specimens, $68
Remember those displays full of small, colorful rocks in gift shops, where you could pick out your favorite stones? And then your parents made you spit them out? This gift is perfect for those people who wanted all the rocks — and knew better than to swallow them to spite their mom.
10. Honeysuckle Candle, $10
Bring the outdoors into the comfort of your own home with this refreshing honeysuckle candle. The all-natural candle has a scent that will remind you of your favorite springtime romps. Because we all have those memories of spring…
11. The Drunken Botanist
You may know that orange rinds and rosemary make killer cocktails, but how much else about the plants that go into your favorite drinks do you know? After you read this book, you’ll never wonder what the green gunk in the bottom of your mojito glass is again.
12. Slow Down: 50 Mindful Moments in Nature
Researchers have determined that nature can make us a lot less stressed. Of course, these researchers never went into the woods to hide from the raving lunatic who was chasing after them… yet. Anyway, this book puts the power of a nature walk in your pocket with meditative lessons about the great outdoors.
13. Seed Starter Kit for Medicinal and Herbal Tea, $14
You don’t have to give up your dreams of having your own apothecary or tea shop with this cute gardening kit. (We read your dream journal. We like the one about boba, especially.) With this kit, you’ll be growing and steeping your own teas — or at least dreaming about it in more detail.
14. Bottle Stopper Garden Kit, $22
We don’t have any problem emptying a wine bottle. But there’s a better way to use that bottle than recycling it. This hydroponic kit helps you turn a lonely wine bottle into a stunning planter. So pour yourself another glass and toast your boozy flower buds.
15. Solar Charger
Using too much electricity is bad for the environment — and also your debit account that the electricity company withdraws your balance from. Solar power is good for the environment. So give this to your friend so they can charge up their phones without coming over to suck up your (not-free) juice.
16. Fluorescent Light Covers
We’ve all seen them: those hideous, rectangular fluorescent lights found in apartments, dorms, offices, and most horror movies — right before they go out. Make your space seem a little more homey and block some of that fluorescent light with these pretty cloud covers. You may find yourself gazing up at the ceiling and forgetting it’s way past your bedtime.
17. The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs
Eat your heart out, Bear Grylls. This book teaches you about some handy nature knowledge, like when to plant different types of crops, how to find your way around a forest if you’re lost, and how to predict the weather! We’re especially interested in learning how to get ducks to follow us home.
18. Reef-Safe Sunscreen
This sunscreen is good for reefs and bad for sunburns — which is to say, it’s good for avoiding sunburns and bad for destroying the reefs.
19. Bee House
Give your local bees a place to call their own with this cute bamboo hive. They’ll be buzzing about their posh new digs to all the other neighborhood pollinators. Too much? Guess you had to bee there!
When she's not lesson planning or editing, Laken might be hanging out with her Fulbright or graduate school colleagues, writing for sites like Entropy and Lambda Literary, or eating apple peelings.
Follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn and feel free to ask her how she was almost abducted by a cult while on a writing retreat in Ireland.
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