Gifts for Beekeepers

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Do you have a friend or family member that has honey bees? Here are some ideas of the best gifts for beekeepers to inspire you when you want to get something special for them!

We have been keeping bees here in Alaska for over five years now. Over time, our collection of bee-themed goodies has grown. From decorative items to books to tools, we have our favorites to help us be the best beekeepers that we can be.

We have built up our collection over time and many of those items have been thoughtful gifts from friends and family. We always greatly appreciate receiving something that touches on our love of bees and honey, whether it’s a useful tool or a pretty piece to display in our home.

Beekeeping can be expensive, from books for learning about it, to tools and equipment, items for processing honey, candle-making supplies, and more. It all adds up. Most bee lovers would greatly appreciate a thoughtful gift to help them continue with their beloved hobby.

Whether you’re looking for a birthday gift, a stocking stuffer, or any other special occasion, there are many excellent gifts at a wide range of prices that you can get for a beekeeper on your gift list. From decorative items to useful tools, they’ll love them all.

I’ll share with you my favorite gift ideas for gifts for beekeepers, no matter who is on your list or how long they have had bees!

Honey Pot

I have been gifted two honey pots over the years and I treasure both of them. One sits on the table to get a little drizzle on our favorite treats. Another is on the counter to use when I’m baking or making tea.

Your favorite beekeeper would surely love a beautiful honey pot for storing their precious, raw honey. A locally handmade pot is an extra touch if you can find one at a market or craft shop. There are also glass honey pots so you can see the honey inside, so pretty!

They will display it proudly as it will contain the reward of all of their hard work, sweet honey!

Honey Dipper

A lovely wooden honey dipper is another one of my favorite gifts. They’re inexpensive and go perfectly with honey, whether or not the recipient has a honey pot. Honey dippers are the perfect size if you’re looking for small gifts and any honey lover will be happy to have one!

Make it even more personal and unique gift by wood burning a design on it. My daughter did this for me one Christmas and I was amazed. I love admiring it every time I get a bit of honey.

You can also get a honey dipper that is attached to a canning jar lid to fit right over a jar of honey. These are nice for traveling so they don’t have to worry about a honey pot spilling if they want to take their honey on a camping trip or long drive.

Candle Making Supplies

Many beekeepers enjoy making pure beeswax candles out of the wax they collect from their bees. From hand-dipped taper candles, pillar candles, tea lights, and birthday candles, there are so many ways to use beeswax to make healthy candles for the home.

Some fun gift ideas for the candle maker include candle molds, candle containers, wick (this is my favorite wick), wick tabs, organic beeswax, and other supplies. Check out this post for my favorite candle-making supplies for more ideas.

Essential oils can also be good gifts for those who like to make candles, if they scent their candles and only use natural ingredients.

You can also find kits that include everything needed to make a certain type of candle. These can be great for beginners just learning about this craft.

Along with candle making, pure beeswax can also be used to make natural body products such as lip balm, soap, and lotion. Kits and recipe books are available for learning how to make these homemade body products. This would give the recipient a fun project for using their own beeswax!

Honey Jars

Purchasing the jars and bottles to store the honey in after extraction can be costly. A beekeeper would appreciate receiving some jars or bottles to store their next harvest in.

You can find unique honey jars online in interesting shapes and sizes. Regular canning jars work as well in half-pint, pint, or quart size. Who only use glass containers to store our honey in but there are also plastic honey bottles available.

Also, a pretty yard of fabric covered in a honeycomb of bee design to go along with the jars. This can be cut up into small squares for the beekeeper to place on the jar lids to make their bottles of honey that much more special.

Also check antique and thrift stores for old-fashioned glass jars and containers to use for honey storage. Tie a wooden honey dipper to the side of the jar and you have a very sweet gift!

Beekeeping Supplies

Every backyard beekeeper needs a few tools to make hive checks go smoothly. A favorite and most often used tool is the hive tool. They’re inexpensive but so handy and important to have.

A beekeeper would love to get an extra hive tool as a gift, just in case they lose theirs! We always keep two handy and like having different sizes and styles depending on what we’re using it for.

A bee brush is another great gift idea. They’re inexpensive and very useful as they help gently brush bees off of the sides of the boxes as well as off of the bee suit. Your beekeeper friends would appreciate having a new bee brush or an extra one to have on hand. We always keep ours with us during hive checks.

There are other types of beekeeping equipment including:

• Smoker and fuel pellets
• Frame grip
• Frame perch
• Pollen trap
• Honey uncapping fork or roller
• Bucket for carrying supplies to hive checks
• Honey B Healthy essential oils for bees

Another idea…a bag of sugar! Beekeepers go through a lot of sugar during the spring and fall seasons to feed their bees sugar water. This can get expensive. Even a small bag of sugar would be a big surprise and very useful for any beekeeper!

You can read more about my favorite essential beekeeping supplies in this post.

Beekeeping Books

A new book about beekeeping is enjoyable to read and even an advanced beekeeper likes to learn something new. There are many books to choose form, depending on the recipients experience with beekeeping and what they’re mainly interested in learning about.

Topics include:

• Scientific information about honeybees
• Beginner beekeeping
• Advanced beekeeping topics
• Using beeswax to make natural body products
• Candle making
• Cookbooks for baking with honey
• Gardening for honey bees

Find a list of some of my favorite beekeeping books in this post.

A record book or journal also makes a thoughtful gift and is a great way to keep records during the beekeeping season. They can use it year after year!

Beekeeping Gear

Beekeepers needs proper protective gear when checking on their bees. This usually means a full beekeeping suit with a veil and gloves.

Although beekeeping suits can be expensive, it can make a wonderful gift, especially for a young beekeeper. Our daughter received a bee sit for her birthday one year and she was thrilled. My husband was gifted a new pair of beekeeping gloves so we use his old gloves for backup.

Other protective clothing including a separate hat and veil or a jacket, are nice to have too. Even a seasoned beekeeper would like to replace their protective gear after years of use.

Flowers

Bees need flowers in order to forage for nectar to make honey. Packets of pollinator flower seeds make sweet gifts for those with a love of bees!

They can plant the seeds in pots or in their garden and provide more flora for their bees. You can purchase packets of seeds specifically for honey bees and other pollinators.

Or give them an already potted plant that the bees can enjoy right away! Great choices include catmint, sunflowers, bee balm, and many more. A beautiful potted plant is already a wonderful gift but one that will provide a place for honey bees to forage is even better.

A small bird bath would also be appreciated as bees need access to water. If a beekeeper doesn’t live near a natural water source or in an area with little rain, they need to provide water for their bees. A small bird bath would be a nice addition to their garden for their bees to take a drink from.

More Gifts for Beekeepers

There are so many amazing gifts for beekeepers of all ages! Here are a few more ideas for you:

• Gift Certificate– A gift card to an online beekeeping site such as Mann Lake or Dadant would be the perfect gift, especially for new beekeepers that are just starting out and need equipment.
• Subscription-To the American Bee Journal magazine for a monthly gift of more beekeeping knowledge.
• Bee Decor– Other beekeeper gifts include home decor with bees or a honeycomb pattern on it. Your beekeeping friend might like themed gifts such as tea towels, a pot holder, a painting, pottery, a wooden sign, an ornament, jewelry, or any other number of honey bee gifts!

Check out this post for ideas to package it all together in a sweet honey gift basket!

There are so many ways to give a special gift to your favorite beekeeper. Whether they’re a friend, family member, or your local beekeeper that you want to thank. A beginning beekeeper or seasoned, they will love a thoughtful, bee-themed present from you!