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It is that time of year again and yesterday my wife and I put up the Christmas Tree and decorations what a fabulous time of year. We have just been to Winter Wonderland and seen beekeeping stalls over there and so that has been my inspiration! It again got me thinking about what gifts you could buy a Beekeeper. Having looked around there seems so many different ideas that I felt I had to write a small blog about it. Therefore here are my ideas for beekeeping gifts this Christmas:

If you are compiling a list of great beekeeping gifts. Firstly you will need a few books to read this Christmas and they always make ideal beekeeping gifts. I think it is the best time to sit down and read and so I have picked four books. Two of which I believe would be great as beekeeping gifts for an aspiring beekeeper. One of this books would be a perfect beekeeping gift for someone who wants to understand more about the problems faced and another that I believe is a perfect beekeeping gift for the youngsters:

The Haynes Bee Manual. Claire Waring

I am currently reading this book and I have to say it is a fantastic introduction to beekeeping with some great pictures and is very easy to follow. I only wish this was around when I was learning as it is a far better introduction to new beekeepers than most.

The cost is £19.99 and you can buy it here

Beekeeping; A novice’s guide. David Wootton

A book that I have just received but I can already tell that it will be a good one. With David being a professional photograph, the accompanying photos on this 2nd edition (only just released on the 5th November) are excellent and a great visual aspect to the book. With a quick glance through there are excellent sections as well for the beginner with step by step instructions on building hives not to mention more detailed sections. A real close call between this and the Haynes Manual but there was an excellent review from the BBKA on this book which you may want to read as well.

The cost is £16.99 and you can buy it here

A World Without Bees. Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum

This was actually the first book I read and you can read the beekeeping book review if you would like. An excellent overview of the problems the bees are facing, who is to blame and a rather blunt outlook on what could happen if we don’t do anything about it.

The cost is £9.50 and you can buy it here

Hannah and the Honey Bee. Alison Simms and Terry Gable

A lovely book aimed at younger children and introducing them to beekeeping. It is all about Hannah and her Grandad, a beekeeper set in Rural England. A lovely fantasy story and perfect for children.

The cost is £9.00 and you can buy it here

Should you be looking for more books and maybe some that are slightly more advanced there is a great selection at Northern Bee Books who have the greatest number of English written bee books in the world. You can find their shopping site here

Jerry, who runs the site is a fountain of all knowledge when it comes to books about bees and is regularly on all the trade stalls so I am sure he would be more than willing to help you out. See what you can find!

Bee Jewellery:

This isn’t really my fortay I am afraid and so I have taken a few recommendations as bee jewellery would obviously make perfect beekeeping gifts! Here you are:

There are several sites that you can look on for Jewellery for beekeepers. One such site is www.beegifts.com which is a subsidury of the BJ Sherriff team. They have plenty of options for Beekeeping Jewellery and other beekeeping giftswhich you can find by clicking on that link. I particullarly like the cufflinks!

Another option if you have a little bit more money to spend was a recommendation I had from one of my Facebook friends; Jackie. She mentioned checking out Theo Fennel Jewellery. On that link I have just given you will see a bracelet; a snip at just £1,425.00! Lovely to look at though. If only!

Bee lotions and potions:

Occasionally I do win some brownie points back home and buying some Burt’s Bees stuff always goes down well for beekeeping gifts. I have to say I like this company, their branding, their ethos and their customer service. I cannot really fault them to be honest. If you are interested and want to know more here is their website and here is their Facebook page. Before you rush out and buy some of their products have a little look below to see a discount voucher with the “Adopt a Hive” scheme.

Adopt a Hive:

This is set up run by the BBKA here in the UK that allows people who don’t actually want to keep bees themselves help the cause, perfect for beekeeping gifts. For £30 you get to “Adopt A Beehive” and is a great scheme. Each year you get the following for your hard earned cash:

• A choice of a jar of honey or a jar of honey mustard
  

  Adopt a Beehive

• A pocket guide to the honey bee
• Burts Bees lip balm and a 20% gift voucher
• Hive Talk – 3 Seasonal newsletters with updates from the Hive
• Set of  beautiful bee cards
• A mix of wildflower seeds for you to sow in your garden

If you want to know a little bit more and are interested in purchasing one of these you can here. They also have a Facebook Page set up especially for it here

Beekeeping Courses

What about buying a beekeeping course for Christmas? Find a great couple of resources here with BeeCraft magazine which has an interactive map with courses all around the UK varying from Taster courses to those run by local associations.

Other Beekeeping Gifts:

There are hundreds of beekeeping gifts and, to be honest, I have only scratched the surface but you can find an awful lot of beekeeping gifts at www.beegifts.com which I mentioned earlier with Bee Jewellery but Anji and her team do seem to have most things covered.

There is also another quite useful site should you want to look at Tshirts or badges for loved ones. If you click here you will be taken to www.zazzle.co.uk and their section for the above. A great place for random gifts!

And Finally!!

At the end of the day you will always need to wrap up your beekeeping gifts and so why not get some great bee wrapping paper. This is a recent release with a new cover. Prices start from £1.50 and I, personally think it would look great to wrap up your beekeeping gifts. What about you?

Buy the wrapping paper to wrap your beekeeping gifts here

All in all, Christmas is a lovely time of year and I hope you get all that you may wish for. If you have any other ideas of what to buy please share them for others to take advantage of!

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