Michigan gift guide: Local goods to give this holiday season

Shop outside the box this holiday season with 11 local Michigan businesses selling everything from coffee to a cutting board engraved with a family recipe. 

The holiday shopping season is the perfect time to pick up gifts from Michigan small businesses and check off all the recipients on your list. Shopping locally is really like giving two gifts—one to your loved one or friend and one to the small business owner who relies on customer sales to keep their business afloat. 

We all know that many gifts can be purchased with just a click from many big box online retailers, but we love the idea of finding unique Michigan-made and sold gifts that can be a joy to both buy and give. For instance, a handwritten recipe engraved onto a wooden cutting board can be a meaningful gift that preserves family memories, while a custom resin art piece can preserve sentimental items like baby shower, wedding, or funeral flowers. And because this is a Michigan gift guide, we had to include a gift basket aptly titled “Michigan Favorites” and some stylish Michigan apparel from a small-town printing shop.

Browse our favorite Michigan gifts below, and be sure to let us know where you’re shopping locally in the mitten this holiday season! 

• Best home gifts: Raising Cain Design Co.
• Best sweet treat gifts: Kendalls Caramel Corn
• Best keepsake gifts: Nature’s Keepsakes
• Best engraved gifts: Zehr Custom Engraving
• Best Michigan-themed gifts: Laser Impressions
• Best custom gift baskets: Tri-County Gift Basket Company
• Best coffee gifts: Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co. 
• Best Elf on the Shelf alternative gift: Angel Bear on a Chair
• Best cookie gifts: Kookys N Cream
• Best pampering gifts: Luxurious Bath Creations 
• Best entertainment gift: Axecadia

Best custom gift basket: Tri-County Gift Basket Company

Everyone loves the convenience of giving a gift basket for the holidays, but not everyone loves the lack of customization. Tri-County Gift Basket Company solves that conundrum with a wide selection of customized gift baskets that fit themes from gardening to pasta lovers to holiday themes.

Our personal favorite? The Michigan Favorites gift basket, of course, featuring Michigan goodies like Faygo pop, Better Made potato chips, and Sanders candies. You can also order a custom basket by choosing from a base theme or if you’re local to their brick-and-mortar Rochester, MI shop, bring in your own items to add or build a custom basket.

Oh, and one more fun fact: you can shop Tri-County Gift Basket Company year-round for all gift-giving occasions and enjoy seasonal gift baskets as well. 

Photo courtesy of Tri-County Gift Basket Company.

Best Michigan gifts: Laser Impressions

Celebrate your love of Michigan—and your appreciation for hot and cold beverages, no matter what the season—with this Michigan leather koozie from Laser Impressions, a small printing shop in Brown City. We absolutely love the stylish design that highlights our favorite state and the high-quality, handcrafted leather that makes a statement.

The shop also has a full variety of apparel, from T-shirts to sweatshirts to hats and bags, and they can customize any design that you would like. For example, stay warm with a cool knit Michigan beanie or quarter-zip with a choose-your-embroidery-color option through the upcoming winter.

Best sweet treat gifts: Kendalls Caramel Corn

Who doesn’t love caramel corn, especially around the holidays? Kendall Spencer, the creator behind Kendall’s Caramel Corn, makes small batches of old-fashioned popped popcorn and drizzles them with an assortment of sweet toppings, such as peanut butter and milk chocolate and sea salt caramel, and mix-ins that include Reese’s Pieces, cinnamon, and white chocolate.   

Anyone lucky enough to live around the North Branch, MI area can choose from 10 festive holiday flavors for pick-up, while other Michiganders can have their caramel corn orders shipped from Spencer’s Etsy shop. 

Photo courtesy of Kendall’s Caramel Corn.

Best unique home decor gifts: Raising Cain Design Co.

Raising Cain Design Co. has home decor and goods to cozy up any space, from festive shower curtains (do you even love Christmas if you don’t have Santa on your shower?) to super-soft sherpa throws and themed accent rugs. Our personal favorite is this Highland cow towel which would make the perfect accompaniment to any bathroom. 

Photo courtesy of Raising Cain Design Co.

Best keepsake gifts: Nature’s Keepsakes

Local artist Andrea Podgorski runs Nature’s Keepsakes (@natures_keepsakes), where she hand-crafts one-of-a-kind custom creations for her clients to preserve special memories. She specializes in hand–poured resin art, which can preserve things like flowers, artwork, and even trinkets like seashells. “I do floral preservation,” explains Podgorski. “Keychains to charcuterie trays, wedding bouquets, funeral flowers—a little bit of everything!”

Some of Podgorki’s most popular gifts are keychains and artwork that incorporate dried flowers from wedding bouquets and bridal showers. For instance, Podgorski surprised my sister with a special “Mama” keychain after she became a mother for the first time, using flowers she had hand-dried from her baby shower and preserved her wedding bouquet (pictured above). Her gifts are not only gorgeous but meaningful and heart-warming.

Podgorski works one-on-one with customers for orders, so the best way to place an order is to DM her through her Instagram account, @natures_keepsakes. 

Photo courtesy of Nature’s Keepsakes/Meaghan Burrough.

Best custom engraved gifts: Zehr Custom Engraving

It’s hard to choose a favorite product from this small, woman-owned Michigan business. What started with a few simple products in an old pole barn on Angela Zehr’s property has grown into a flourishing shop in rural Michigan with a host of employees.

The company specializes in custom laser engraving, and some of its most popular giftable products for the holidays include monogrammed or custom charcuterie boards, engraved glasses, and its signature cutting board with a transferred handwritten recipe—a product that lets you take passed-down family recipes and preserve them forever in a unique and meaningful way. 

Photo courtesy of Zehr Custom Engraving.

Best coffee gifts: Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co. 

As a Michigan-based coffee company, Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co. started, as the company describes it, in a garage with little more than “a leap of faith” by an Italian-American who combined his passion for art and science into crafting the perfect coffee bean. Now, the company operates a cafe at the TCF Center (formerly Cobo Center), providing a vibrant atmosphere and view into downtown Detroit.

You can always visit the cafe to get a taste of Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co., but if you prefer to stay tucked in at home, shop for their coffees and merch online for yourself or your loved ones. If you want an easy go-to gift, we recommend the Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co. bundle that includes two bags of roasted coffee and two mugs. Cheers! 

Photo courtesy of Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Co.

Best Elf on the Shelf alternative gift: Angel Bear on a Chair

Know a family who’s downright tired of Elf on the Shelf but still wants to evoke some holiday magic with their children? Enter Angel Bear on a Chair.

Unlike Elf on the Shelf, Angel Bear comes alive by encouraging good deeds in children (no mischievous pranks here!). Angel Bear on a Chair is the invention of the sister-run Michigan company, Dulaya Memories, founded in honor of the passing of their older sister. Angel Bear on a Chair is meant to be an Advent tradition for families and children, encouraging young ones to record their good deeds during the Christmas season and get rewarded with gold stars in their accompanying journal. 

Photo courtesy of Dulaya Memories.

Best cookie gift: Kookys N Cream

First things first: if you’re local to the Lapeer, MI area, you’ll want to stop into Kookys N Cream brick-and-mortar shop because they have combined two of the best things in life—cookies and ice cream—into one delicious dessert.

But everyone around the country can still experience the “outrageous, desert-themed” TikTok-famous cookies that the shop is known for, thanks to nationwide shipping. Choose from options like their Best-Sellers box and Chocolate Lovers box, or give the gift of a lifetime with a 6-month or 12-month cookie subscription (billed monthly).  

Photo courtesy of Kookys N Cream.

Best pampering gifts: Luxurious Bath Creations

Photo courtesy of Luxurious Bath Creations.

Molly Lawson of Davison, MI, makes bath bombs, shower steamers, whipped soaps, room sprays, and more with her company, Luxurious Bath Creations, with one goal in mind: helping to spread joy and relaxation. “I love to mold, paint, and scent each item to provide every customer with bath bombs that are unique and made with care,” writes Lawson on her website. She ships nationwide, and most products are sent out within 2-3 days of ordering, making them ideal holiday gifts. 

Lawson offers many options, but if you need one gift choice, you can’t go wrong with the 12 Days of Christmas surprise bath bomb box, which includes 13 individually wrapped bath bombs to bring a whole holiday season of pampering. You can also give an online gift card (choose an emailed option to make it super easy!) to let your gift recipient pick their favorite pampering experience. 

Best entertainment gift: Axecadia

Give the gift of screen-free fun outside of the house by visiting Axecadia in downtown Lapeer. Honestly, as a mom, I value experience gifts for my kids more than anything, and heck, I’d happily take a date night as a gift for any holiday.

Axecadia is a small, family and veteran-owned business that features axe throwing lanes, a pinball arcade, lounge seating, and two private party rooms. Their arcade room is especially fun for anyone who enjoys old-fashioned arcade games because it contains 10 pinball machines and a variety of classics such as Ms. Pac-Man, Pong, Gauntlet, and Skee-Ball. Gift cards are available at Axecadia, but you’ll have to stop in to purchase one—and be sure to try your hand at axe-throwing while you’re in. 

Photo courtesy of Axecadia.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.