Perfect Iowa Gifts from the Made in Iowa Holiday Gift Guide

on Nov 29, 2018, Updated Jul 18, 2020

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If you’re looking for the perfect Iowa gifts – here you go! Look no further than this Made in Iowa Holiday Gift Guide with the perfect local made gifts for everyone on your list!

Perfect Iowa Gifts from the Made in Iowa Holiday Gift Guide

Let’s talk gift giving. When it comes to gift giving especially to the adults in my family, we have a couple criteria – locally made whenever possible and consumable gifts get bonus points. My family decided years ago that we didn’t really need more stuff or things so we decided we would buy local wherever we happened to live and then enjoy the consumable items together!

My husband and I moved our little family to Iowa in 2006 and I have lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. I don’t have the Iowa Native sticker on the back of my car, but I have birthed two babies in this state and we’re not going anywhere else for a while.

Still, it’s always an interesting answer when someone asks me where I’m from. My dad was in the Army Corps of Engineers and my husband was in the Air Force, so it’s safe to say I’ve lived pretty much all over the world: on three different continents and in seven different states. I started life on the West Coast, then moved to the South, then to Germany, to the Midwest, back to the West Coast, to Japan, to the West… and finally to Iowa. After living here almost 13 years, is it safe to say that I am from Iowa? Beats me. 😉

Made in Iowa Holiday Gift Guide Favorites

I guess it doesn’t really matter. I’m in Iowa now, and love it. So I’m thrilled to share an amazing holiday gift guide, just full of gifts that are locally made in Iowa! If you’re from Iowa originally, currently live in Iowa, or just happen to love 2018’s #1 state in the USA (ranked by the US News and World Report!), you need to check out a few of my favorite Iowa gift ideas and have them delivered straight to your house!

Here are my favorite Iowa Gifts in 5 Different Categories

Babies and Kids – I don’t have babies anymore, but I think this wooden Iowa rattle is just adorable! Wooden toys seem so much more special to me than plastic toys. I think I’ve purged almost all the plastic toys we bought our kids over the years, but we’re saving many of the wooden toys for later.

Home Goods – Funny story. When Dan and I first got married over TWENTY years ago, we were gifted several Isabel Bloom concrete sculptures. Iowans love to gift them because they’re locally made in Davenport and they’re unique. Well, I have to tell you, I thought they were the ugliest things. Twenty years later, and I’m singing a different tune. How cute is this little snowman? And the gnomes. I could wax on about the gnomes pictured above for a long time. Named Gnora and Gned, they are my favorite things!!

Food and Cooking – So I mentioned earlier that we often give consumable gifts to our family. Every year my husband and my brother-in-law give each other some type of locally made whiskey and my mother and sister and I usually give wine or chocolates or something totally decadent. This year I’m loving the chocolates and the Bourbon Aged Maple Syrup from Great River Maple.

Nature Lovers – I’m totally a nature lover and we have the best nature. Amazing sunrises and sunsets, bald eagles, foxes, raccoons, and skunks! So pretty. As a nature lover, I love this Reclaim Iowa t-shirt. If someone wants to send it to me, I wear a size large. 😉

Finally, Stocking Stuffers – Everyone needs stocking stuffers and Iowa has great items to fill all the stockings in your house. My favorites are the Madame Mary’s Bloody Mary Mix for the grown-ups and the all natural Pretty Balms by Root for the girls in your life! Can’t go wrong with either of those items.