When life gives you lemons, get gifty.
Dayna Isom Johnson, the trend expert at Etsy.com, sees a turn toward “cheerful citrus” as a trend this holiday season.
“It's an escape from traditional themes for the holidays,” she said. “It's really allowing you to add a pop of sunshine.”
A look at holiday-brightening citrus gifts:
A HAPPY BOX: Check out the Main Squeeze Citrus Box at HappyBoxStore.com. It's filled with grapefruit gummy bears, orange blossom honey, a tangerine clove cocktail mixer, a lemon hydrating sheet face mask and more. A great embrace of happy citrus. $58.
A BOWL: A company called Vegetabowls moulds lifelike pottery bowls around actual fruit, including lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit. Each bowl is moulded by hand. They do vegetables, too. Prices range from $22 to a four-piece nesting set for $156. Available at Vegetabowls.com.
A WREATH: The Etsy shop GraceAndHome sells a citrus and cinnamon winter wreath perfect for windows and front doors. Oranges bring a pop of colour, fur branches a bit of nature and cinnamon sticks a homey touch. Two sizes at $40 and $48.
A CANDLE: A company called Tokyn uses orange slices and tiny, delicate flowers encased in clear gel around a hand-poured Minabé yuzu citrus soy candle. When lit, the outer botanicals are illuminated. The centre glass is reusable and can hold 3-ounce candle refills. $42 at TokynCandles.com.
A SIX-PACK: Because, why not? There's the Schofferhofer Hefeweizen Grapefruit Bier from Germany that comes in a six-pack of glass bottles. The Hefeweizen part means it's a wheat beer, but it's half wheat blended with half carbonated grapefruit juice, and it's easy drinking at 2.5 ABV (alcohol by volume). Widely available. $8.99.
A PIE: Gigi Butler, founder of the cupcake brand Gigi’s Cupcakes, has branched out into pies. She'll ship a Lemon Chess Pie from her home base in Brentwood, Tennessee. It's a cornmeal gluten-friendly crust filled with creamy lemon egg custard. It spells goodness. $32. Available at PiesByGigi.com.
A JACKET: The Approach Jacket from Canada Goose is designed to be worn on a mountain or in a city. Available in seven colours, including a lime the company calls aurora green. It features a removable hood, a draw cord at the hem and oversize cuffs that can be rolled up. $795. Available at CanadaGoose.com and Canada Goose retail stores.
A SNACK: Edible sells two holiday buckets full of mixed fresh fruit, including citrus. There's the Star of David in a blue bucket adorned with Jewish stars that includes orange slices for Hanukkah, starting at $64.99, and the Holly Jolly Village bucket with a Christmas wreath and pineapple chocolate-covered snowmen and reindeer, starting at $74.99. The company offers free same day or second day shipping. Available at EdibleArrangements.com.
A HAND SANITIZER: It's a pandemic, after all. The Cottage Greenhouse has made a lemon and aloe hand sanitizer gel packed with vitamin C and lemon, along with 70% alcohol. The aloe soothes as the alcohol does its pandemic thing. The packaging is pretty. $18. Sold at MargoTelena.com.
A FRAGRANCE: Kayali Citrus from Huda Beauty includes notes of Italian bergamot and pink grapefruit mingled with rhubarb, blackcurrant and pink pepper. Fans of the Instagram sensation Huda Kattan will understand. $85 for 1.7 ounces and $118 for 3.4 ounces. Available at Sephora.com, some Sephora stores and HudaBeauty.com.
A TUMBLER: Brumate's Uncork'd Wine Tumbler comes in daisy yellow and hunter orange, but they look lemony and orangey. More importantly, they're insulated and hold 14 ounces of wine. That's half a bottle, fyi. $19.99. Sold at Brumate.com and Amazon.
AN ORANGE LIQUEUR: Grown, picked, squeezed, produced and bottled in the Sunshine State. That's Tippler's Orange Liqueur, from the craft St. Petersburg Distillery. They use Florida Temple oranges, peels and all, to distill this all-natural orange liqueur from scratch in small batches. $19.99. Widely available.
A CHOCOLATE: Jacques Torres has dipped 5 ounces of orange peels in 60% dark chocolate from Belgium and placed them in a gifty box. $16.99. The company also has dipped orange slices, along with orange cubes that are bite-size made of candied peels. All available at MrChocolate.com.
A SWEET BREAD: The Bona Furtuna farm in Sicily has made an Olive Oil & Blood Orange Panettone. The traditional Italian treat features the farm's organic oil and local Tarocco oranges wrapped in packaging of a hand-painted blood orange design. $64.95. Available at BonaFurtuna.com and select retailers.
A VODKA: Really, two vodkas, from an Alameda, California, company called Hangar 1. There's one made with the blossoms of local mandarin orange trees and another with the pith of Buddha's hand citron. The taste is clean and bright. They're delicious on their own or mixed into cocktails. $29.99. Widely available.
A SPARKLE: The jewelry site JTV has some bling that fits the citrus bill but doesn't break the bank. It's a pair of stud earrings in striking orange citrine set in sterling silver. Citrine is a variety of quartz. The site has an entire collection of citrine in the same orange hue. $52. Available at JTV.com.
A HAND CREAM: The luxury soap brand Compagnie de Provence creates scents in a fragrance capital, Grasse, France, including nourishing hand creams in pink grapefruit and orange blossom. If hand cream can be decadent, this is it. $25 for 3.4 ounces. Available at Cieluxe.com.