Seven Herbal Gift Ideas for Mom - to make and buy

There are many gift ideas for Mom that incorporate herbs. Here are a few perfect examples, several of which you can make yourself:

1. Herbal Tea Set: Give your mom a collection of her favorite herbal teas, along with a beautiful teapot and a set of tea cups. This gift is perfect for mothers who love to relax with a cup of tea after a long day. Teapot Gifts and Tea Gifts.

2. Herbal Bath Salts: Herbal bath salts are a great way to provide relaxation and rejuvenation. You can make your own bath salts using dried herbs such as lavender, rose petals, and chamomile, or you can purchase pre-made herbal bath salts.

We shared this recipe on the blog back in May 2023, but here is a quick blend of salts to pamper skin.

Pampering Bath Salts

• 1 1/2 cups Epsom salts
•  3/4 cup baking soda
• 3/4 cup herbs (finely ground)

Combine everything in a jar and shake well.  Add 2 to 4 Tablespoons directly to the bath or place in a mesh or organza bag and swish to dissolve the salts.

3. Herbal Soaps: Another great gift for mom is herbal soaps. Especially soaps made from natural ingredients and infused with essential oils and dried herbs, providing a pleasant aroma and gentle cleansing.  I get my herbal soaps from Soapy Roads here in Lombard and you can order online too!

4. Herbal Body Oils: Herbal body oils are a great way to nourish the skin and provide a relaxing massage. You can make your own body oils by infusing carrier oils with dried herbs such as lavender, rose petals, and chamomile or you can just use essential oils in a carrier oil.

Essential oils like lavender, lemon, and eucalyptus come with benefits. But other oils—like black pepper, clove, and peppermint—can irritate the skin, so choose carefully. To make a safe, DIY bath oil blend five to 20 drops of an essential oil with one tablespoon of a carrier oil (like grapeseed, jojoba, almond, or argan oil). Add the oil right before you're about to get into the bath to keep it from evaporating.

5. Herbal Sachets: Herbal sachets are small bags filled with dried herbs, which can be placed in drawers or closets to provide a pleasant aroma and natural pest control. You can make your own sachets using herbs such as lavender, rose petals, and chamomile. RECipe

Romantic Evening Dreams

• 1/2 cup rose petals
• 1/2 cup rosemary
• 1/4 cup lavender flowers
• 2 lemon verbena leaves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon mint
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 small piece of cinnamon stick, 1 inch long, broken up

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake to combine.  Allow to meld for at least 2 days before placing in a sachet.

For a simple pillow, fill a 3- to 5-inch drawstring bag with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chosen herbs; draw strings and tie closed.

TO USE: place the sachet inside the pillowcase or under the pillow and inhale deeply as you fall asleep.  Enjoy the dreams!

6. Herb Garden: Giving an herb garden can be a great gift for a mom who likes gardening, cooking or both. You can give her a small indoor herb garden or a larger outdoor one.  Try these seed papers or these plant seedlings.

7. Herbal Candles : Herbal candles are a great way to provide a pleasant aroma and relaxation. You can make your own candles using beeswax and essential oils, or purchase pre-made herbal candles or those with pressed flowers.

All these gifts are thoughtful and can be personalized to your mom's preferences and interests, and can be a great way to show her how much you care.

Wild Garden Shower Soap - Bath Blend of the Month

It is harvest time.  I spend hours out harvesting my herbs before the last of the season.  After a long evening in the chill of September, I want a long, hot shower.

Wild Garden Shower Soap

• ½ cup distilled water
• ½ cup orange flower water
• 1 Tbls peppermint
• 1 Tbls Chamomile
• 1 Tbls rose petals
• 1 Tbls orange blossoms
• ½ Tbls unscented glycerin soap
• 1 tsp castor oil

Combine the waters in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and add herbs. Steep 1 hour. Strain. Reheat water gently.  Add soap and castor oil.  Let cool to room temperature.  Bottle it up and use every day.  This stuff is gentle enough for everyday use.

 

Making Herbal Gifts series - Cleaning and Greening

Last year I made a lot of Lavender, Rosemary and Rose Petal vinegars and some homemade Lavender furniture polish. You wouldn’t think that any of those items would be suitable to give as presents but I had a friend who wanted to become greener around the home so suddenly these items and a few others seemed like a perfect match.  (If you like in the Chicagoland area, I will be giving a program on this topic in the Spring at the Wauconda Public Library.)

I saved this gift idea to the last so that you could make them more for yourself than as a gift, unless you have a friend like mine...

I have described how to make and use vinegars before, so check out these posts for more details on how to make vinegar you can use for cleaning:

http://backyardpatch.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-tues-day-making-herbal-vinegar.html

There have also been a couple other opportunities to do blog posts on cleaning with herbs.  Here are a couple others if you are interested:

http://backyardpatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/spring-cleaning-with-herbs-joyous.html

http://backyardpatch.blogspot.com/2011/06/cleaning-with-herbal-essential-oils.html

Cleaning for the Holidays Recipes

Here are a few other recipes you can try around your home or make up for the neat nick in your acquaintance (that would be my hubby!)

Bathroom Scrub

This is a two-part cleaner you keep in a shaker and a spray bottle and used together to clean and deodorize you bathroom and kitchen.

Materials:

  Baking soda

  Thyme vinegar (or plain white if you don’t have herbal vinegar)

  Essential oil of something disinfectant (thyme, sage, clary sage, tea tree)

Directions:

Add the essential oil by drops to the baking soda and place in a shaker container.  Place the vinegar in a spray bottle.

Directions for use: Spray the tub/shower walls and floor with the vinegar.  Shake on the fragranced baking soda.  Spray again with vinegar.  Everything will fizz, clean and deodorize.  Wipe the mixture around to clean stubborn spots and then rinse.

Soft Scrub

I love this because a tooth brush and this blend and you can get the faucets shining brightly. and it is great on shower tile and soap scum.  I use it to spot clean the floor tile between washings.

1 cup of baking soda, borax or washing soda

1 cup of castile soap

Mix together and put in a plastic lidded container.  Dip a sponge or cloth in and use as a soft scrub for your tub, tile and toilet.

Window Cleaner

Make a great all-purpose window cleaner so you can see those pretty lights.

1/4 cup vinegar

1/2 teaspoon liquid soap or detergent

2 cups of water in a spray bottle

Combine all items together in a spray bottle. Shake to blend. Spritz the window and wipe with a clean lint-free cloth.

Check back in March for more details on the program in Wauconda scheduled for April 4th.

Bathing with Herbs - Gel Soap

This recipe is a great way to use your harvest of fresh herbs this time of year.  Check out the alternatives for others herbs to try.

Chamomile Gel Soap

6 cups water

1 ½ cups ground chamomile

2 cups grated castile soap

½ cup borax

Heat water and chamomile until boiling.  Simmer for ½ hour and steep until cool.  Strain out the chamomile.  Meanwhile, shred with a fine grater, castile or other pure mild soap.  Reheat 3 cups of cooled chamomile tea to a boil.  Add soap and ½ cup borax.  Stir and boil for 2 minutes, then cool.  Pour into pretty container and keep covered.

Alternatives:  Use whole leaves of the following herbs and strain out once steeped and cooled instead of chamomile.  Lemon grass for oily skin, peppermint for astringent soap, lavender for washing lingerie.  If you like scent, you can add about ¼ ounce of essential oil, but avoid bergamot or pennyroyal as they irritate sensitive skin.

Check out the many Bath items of the Backyard Patch. 

Herbal Soap

I have many herbie friends who make potpourri and soap.  Some of them are so good at it that my skill paled in comparison.  As a result I focused my attention on tea and culinary herbs.  I honed my skill at blending flavors and scents and as a result I can custom make any tea flavor or food flavor anyone wants and do so often. 

However, I really wanted to make soap.  My skin is pale and sensitive and herb soaps can really help with caring for my skin in ways commercial soaps cannot.  But when we moved to an apartment, the from-scratch method was too cumbersome in my tiny apartment kitchen.  (It is hard enough bringing the herbs from my off-site garden into the second bedroom I outfitted for herb preparation.) 

One of our Spa Baskets

So what I did is find a way to utilize quality unscented soaps and turn them into an herbal soap.  Once you learn how simple it is to make your own scented soap this way, you’ll want to make plenty not only to keep for yourself but to give as gifts. 

For the strongest aroma, use herbs like rosemary, lavender, mint and thyme – their oils seem to linger on the skin longest.  I have a passion for lemon and find lemon peel and lemon verbena will give you that best.  Lemon balm works too, but the scent is less strong and easily masked in herb blends.  Lighter herbs like floral scents can be enhanced by matching essential oils.  Remember you don’t want your soap too strongly scented so that it clashes with perfume or your personal scent.

Soft Herbal Soap

1 ½ cups dried herbs

1 ½ quarts water

2 cups shredded pure soap

1/3 cup borax

In an enamel saucepan, combine herbs and water and bring to boil.  Simmer for 30 minutes to release oils.  Reheat slowly and add the shredded soap and borax while stirring.  Boil gently for three (3) minutes, then cool.  Pour the soft soap into covered containers.

Hard Herbal Soap

2 tsp. dried herbs (or 2 Tbls. fresh)

¼ cup water

Several drops of essential oil

2 cups shredded pure soap

In an enamel saucepan, combine the herbs, water and essential oil and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 40 minutes and then add shredded soap, mixing thoroughly.  Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then roll each into a ball.  Place the soaps on waxed paper to dry for several days.  Once dry I wrap them in colored tulle so they look decorative, but also have a built-in scrubby!

Although I don’t make soap, I do create a variety of other bath sachets, salts and scrubs, so check them out at http://www.backyardpatch.com/.