Our vision is to make thoughtful gift giving easier by curating unique and regionally inspired, eco-friendly gifts that celebrate craftsmanship, support domestic producers, and strengthen connections between people, place, and community.
Our gift sets are bee-inspired and centered around honey and/or beeswax because we rely on these fascinating pollinators, and we want to do our part to help keep their populations thriving. But beyond that, we celebrate and support local artisans and small businesses that are eco-friendly, sustainable, and align with our vision.
While planning, we decided we wanted our gifts to be customizable to provide the gift giver with options to make the gift sets more personal and as individual as the person receiving them.
Criteria for our gift items
Because of the benefits of regional local honey, we decided to focus on a smaller geographic area of the state (hence the debut of the piedmont region of North Carolina). All the directly related honey bee items we focus on are handmade or crafted in the specific region:
- Local, raw honey
- Soaps, deodorants, scrubs, and shampoos
- Lotions, salves, and body butters
- Lip balms
- Candles and fire starters
To enhance the selection, we researched and added complementary, sustainable, and natural gift items that make the gift more cohesive. These include some of what you see in the gift sets today but could also include more in the future, like:
- Honey dippers
- Spoon rests
- Soap bags and dishes
- Valet trays and trinket trays
- Candle holders
- Matchstick holders
- Lip balm holders
- Hemp seed oil and materials
Researching and selecting the artisans
We research (online and in markets) local apiaries, small business handcrafters, soaperies, and apothecaries that use local honey or beeswax in the area. The vendor needs to check all these boxes:
- Is this a legitimate small business in the region?
- Is the item made by the business?
- Is the packaging environmentally friendly?
- Does the maker’s story resonate with us?
- Does the artisan have an online store and social media presence?
Testing the gift items
Once we have selected an artisan, we first purchase (at retail) multiple items that fit our criteria. We do this to get a sense of what the customer experience may be like, but also to "test drive" the product on ourselves, our friends, and our family (and inadvertently on our overly curious pets).
As you might imagine, we have sampled a lot of honey; have multiple soaps in our shower, on our bath trays, and at the sinks; and have candles in every room. We give items a 1- to 2-week trial and testing period to make sure they stay consistent and meet our expectations.
The final selection
During the testing phase, we are making sure the item is of high quality and ask ourselves these questions:
- Is the item what we expected to receive? Once, we expected a glass container and received a plastic one.
- Does the product perform well? We tested a candle that looked like it was leaning to one side, and another that melted the label affixed to the jar.
- Does it hold up to day-to-day rigor? We tried a honey-based sugar scrub that began to fall apart and smell foul.
- How does it compare to a similar product?
In order to celebrate our local businesses, we decided early on that we wanted to represent multiple artisans in one gift. We have encountered several small businesses where we have loved a lot (if not all) of the products we tested, but only chose one of their products. It’s a difficult decision, but we encourage you to go meet the makers, visit their sites, and try them out. You will not be disappointed.
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