Pecans, pottery, hand-blown glass, and more: 15 holiday gifts from Georgia makers, plus how to get your hands on them.
Anyone can browse Amazon. Finding real locally made gems takes plenty of patience, but those who put in the work are often rewarded with sweet fruit. While our signature peaches are delightful, they’re not exactly gift-worthy—or in season come the holidays.
Luckily, in Georgia, we make a whole lot more than peaches, which is good news for anyone stuck on what to give this year. And more often than not, those crafts come with a story.
Imagine a Kennesaw workshop where a pecan tree felled by Hurricane Helene is getting a second life as a live-edge bowl, or a coastal sewing studio inspired by the owner’s grandmother that turns out hundreds of cloth napkins a day.
These 15 picks, made everywhere from Columbus to Clarkesville and Thomasville to Athens, all carry meaning and a sense of place that can’t be replicated. Every one is available now, whether you order online or turn your holiday shopping into a Georgia road trip.
One tip before you start shopping: Most of these makers are small operations, and handmade goods sell out or slow down as the holidays get closer. Order early, and check each shop’s shipping cutoff before you count on a doorstep delivery by Christmas.
Stocking stuffers under $25
1. Flavored sea salts from Beautiful Briny Sea
City: Atlanta
Where to buy: Online
Woman-owned
Before she ever bottled a blend, Suzi Sheffield ran a small restaurant in Columbia, South Carolina. When she moved back to her hometown of Atlanta, she turned those cook’s instincts on one humble pantry staple: salt.
Her blends start with sea salt from Brazil, which she mixes by hand with herbs, spices, and even honey. Local chefs and bartenders sometimes stop by her studio to dream up custom combinations of their own.
Today, Beautiful Briny Sea turns out small batches of mixes like thyme-infused French Picnic, earthy Truffle, and hickory-smoked Campfire salt. The chipotle-smoked Gunpowder Finishing Salt won the grand prize at the University of Georgia’s Flavor of Georgia contest in 2019.
A jar or two fits neatly in a stocking, and it’s a smart gift for the cook who already owns every gadget.
2. Atlanta neighborhood candles from Sukie’s Candle Co.
City: Atlanta
Where to buy: Online
Black- and woman-owned
Sukie Jefferson built Sukie’s Candle Co. on scents she picked up traveling through Brazil, the Caribbean, and East Africa after graduating from Spelman. One of her collections stays much closer to home.
Each 4-ounce soy candle in the 10th-anniversary series is named for an Atlanta neighborhood: Little Five Points gets a spiced, woodsy blend of cardamom, cedar, and sandalwood, while College Park, just down the road from the airport, goes tropical with mango, pineapple, and coconut milk.
Buckhead, West End, West Midtown, and Decatur get their own scents, too. Pick the one that matches your giftee’s ZIP code—or the one they secretly wish they lived in.
3. Fresh-roasted coffee from Jittery Joe’s
City: Athens
Where to buy: Online, at its Athens-area coffee shops, or at select metro Atlanta retailers
Any UGA grad can tell you where to find Jittery Joe’s. The roaster has been caffeinating Athens since 1994, though casual fans might not know that the name comes from a diner in an episode of “The Simpsons.”
Beans roasted in small batches in the Athens roastery pay homage to their hometown in blends like Attack the Day, an officially licensed UGA dark roast of beans from Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Brazil, packed in a red, black, and silver collector’s can. The Athens Music Coffee Series honors homegrown artists like Widespread Panic, Drive-By Truckers, and Kishi Bashi. And Pete’s Groovy Brew, with its chocolatey notes, is a collaboration with Pete the Cat, the character created by Athens artist James Dean.
Whichever tribute you choose, each Athens-made can ships anywhere, so the Bulldog who moved away can still get a taste of home. For a gift that keeps showing up, go with a coffee subscription.
4. Cloth napkins from Dot & Army
City: Brunswick
Where to buy: Online or curbside pickup at the Brunswick shop (1426 Newcastle St., Suite 100, Brunswick)
Woman-owned
Sewing is in Jennifer Zamudio’s blood. Her grandmother Dot taught Zamudio’s mother, who started sewing with Jennifer when she was eight. Dot and her husband, Army, also hosted the family for dinner every month, so when Zamudio started a business of her own, she naturally named it after them.
From its home base in Brunswick, Dot & Army sews hundreds of cloth napkins a day in mix-and-match florals, checks, and stripes. Cocktail napkins and napkin rings round out the table—a line of “sweary” cocktail napkins makes an extra cheeky gift.
5. Photo coasters from GA Squared
City: Decatur
Where to buy: Online or in select Atlanta-area shops
Woman-owned
Atlanta never sits still for long. Denise Varnadoe, a DeKalb County native, keeps up with it anyway, turning her camera on the city’s neighborhoods, from the long-established to the brand-new, under the name GA Squared.
Those bold, saturated shots land on square coasters, printed in waterproof ink on sturdy maple plywood. One frames the World of Coca-Cola, while another catches a projection lit up across the Braves’ stadium. Other icons like the Fox Theatre, Waffle House, and Johnny’s Hideaway all appear in her collection.
Varnadoe has sold her coasters at HomeGrown Decatur since 2014, and her wares are also available at both Westside Market locations, WildArt in Covington, Corner Cup Tucker, and Gifts We All Want in Peachtree Corners. Mix and match a few for a new Atlantan, or for a homesick one who moved away.
Gifts from $25 to $75
6. Farm-grown bourbon from Doc Brown Farm & Spirits
City: Senoia
Where to buy: Online (doesn’t ship to Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, or Utah)
Woman-owned
Most brands tell you where the whiskey was aged. Doc Brown Farm & Spirits can point you to the field where the corn grew.
Amy Brown, who was raised in Buford, and her partner Paige Dockweiler, the Cordele native behind the “Doc” in the name, bought a Coweta County farm in 2018 with Brown’s son, Daniel Williams. Their reason was Jimmy Red, an heirloom corn once prized by Southern moonshiners that had nearly vanished.
The trio now hand-pollinate the rare corn in Senoia, and distill their own spirits from the harvest through a partnership with Distillery of Modern Art in Chamblee. The result is a taste of Georgia in a glass.
For gifting, choose one of its four-packs of small 200-milliliter bottles, which lets your giftee sample before picking a favorite. The Day Swigger pack lines up Honey, Hot Honey, and Butter Pecan bourbons, plus a bonus bottle of Butter Pecan bourbon cream. The bourbon cream pack bundles all four flavors—Butter Pecan, Salted Caramel, Espresso, and Peppermint Mocha—from a line that’s picked up a Garden & Gun Made in the South Award.
Serious sippers can look for limited releases like Effie Jewel or Addie Rose, which is finished with staves cut from Georgia pecan wood.
7. Pecans from Pearson Farm
City: Fort Valley
Where to buy: Online or at the farm (5575 Zenith Mill Road, Fort Valley)
Summer is for peaches at Pearson Farm, but the pecan harvest arrives just in time for gifting season.
Flavored pecans come in options like Champagne, Cinnamon Roasted, and Toasted & Salted, often packed in burlap bags or gift tins. Chocolate fans can go for pecan bark or chocolate-dipped halves.
Keep a few tins on hand for the host, the office party, or the relative who swears they don’t need anything. To go all out, the Holiday Joy Box throws in a custard pecan pie and is available November through March.
8. Chai blends from The Chai Box
City: Atlanta
Where to buy: Online or at the Howell Mill Road cafe (1963 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta)
Woman-owned
Monica Sunny grew up in an Indian household where chai was part of every morning. She was sipping it by age 2 and blending her own teas by 12.
When her three sons came along, she wanted to pass that daily ritual down. The result is The Chai Box, whose small-batch blends build on recipes from her mother and the generations before her, with flavors inspired by different regions of India.
The loose-leaf lineup runs from Hill Station, made with cardamom and rose, to Punjaban Party, which gets its kick from candied ginger and fennel. Sweet Monsoon brings mango and coconut for iced chai, and the rooibos-based Lavender Nights skips the caffeine entirely.
New to loose-leaf? A starter kit pairs a blend with chai concentrate and a strainer, and the Chai + Biscuits gift set adds chocolate biscuits for dunking.
9. Upcycled tin jewelry from Wanderlust Designs
City: Columbus
Where to buy: Online (U.S. shipping only) or at art festivals around metro Atlanta
Woman-owned
Columbus artist Courtney McClure caught the jewelry bug early, when her grandmother, whom she calls Meme, taught her loom beading in elementary school. These days, she hand-cuts vintage cookie tins into earrings and necklaces for Wanderlust Designs and stitches freeform beaded fringe with nothing but a single needle and thread.
The Columbus mom of two believes in marching to the beat of your own drum, and her work reflects it. Every piece is one of a kind, so whoever unwraps it won’t run into a twin.
10. Handmade pottery from Hickory Flat Pottery
City: Clarkesville
Where to buy: Online or at the storefront during its final weeks: Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and daily Nov. 19-29 (closed Thanksgiving). The last day is Sunday, Dec. 6.
Northeast Georgia has been turning out pottery for generations, a tradition on display at the Folk Pottery Museum in nearby Sautee. For the past 25 years, one of the best places to see the craft in action has been an old farmhouse on Scenic Highway 197 in Habersham County, home to a working studio and gallery.
Hickory Flat Pottery makes functional stoneware like mugs and bowls, with work from Cody Trautner, Kim Padula, and Bill Padula. New this year: a pottery line for kids, including a child-size tea set.
This season is your last chance to shop it in person. The storefront closes for good after Sunday, Dec. 6, and the pottery moves entirely online. A storewide 30% off sale kicks off Black Friday, so a holiday drive up 197 doubles as a proper send-off.
Pair a Family Mug with a can of Jittery Joe’s coffee (No. 3) for an easy, all-Georgia gift.
11. Hand-blown glass from Decatur Glassblowing
City: Decatur
Where to buy: At the Freeman Street studio (250 Freeman St., Decatur) or through its Etsy shop
Inside Decatur Glassblowing, a former machine shop on Freeman Street, molten glass becomes wine glasses, paperweights, bowls, ornaments, and even pendant light shades, with no two pieces turning out the same. Visitors are welcome to wander in and watch the magic happen live.
The studio belongs to Atlanta native Nate Nardi, who learned the craft working for glass artists in Pennsylvania and Tennessee before coming home in 2011 to open a place of his own.
For the person who’d rather make something than receive it, a glassblowing class makes a memorable gift. Or bring the whole crew to one of the studio’s free open houses, where local glassblowers give live demos.
12. Organic hand cream from SanRe Organic Skinfood
City: Young Harris
Where to buy: Online
Woman-owned
Winter is rough on hands, and a jar of Silky Hands from SanRe Organic Skinfood is a small fix that fits in a stocking. The 4-ounce cream is built on shea butter and aloe, with organic honey and beeswax in the mix and a scent that comes from jasmine, geranium, rosemary, and lemon oils.
The brand is the brainchild of a mother-and-daughter team that launched SanRe in 2007 in Sarasota, Florida, before relocating to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. Today, the team crafts its products in small batches, using ingredients from USDA-certified organic farmers. That explains the “skinfood” name: Much of what goes into its jars would look at home in a pantry.
The hand cream is an especially thoughtful pick for anyone who washes their hands all day, like nurses and cooks. SanRe’s Rose and Lavender gift sets cover both face and body.
Splurges over $75
13. Live-edge pecan bowls from Georgia Woodturner
City: Kennesaw
Where to buy: By request via website
When Hurricane Helene tore through Georgia in 2024, it flattened pecan orchards that took decades to grow.
Kennesaw woodturner Thom Suddreth drove to Dublin with a chainsaw to help clear the damage. He came back with wood from fallen pecan trees and turned it into the Helene Series of live-edge bowls for his brand, Georgia Woodturner.
Each bowl is numbered and signed, proving that each is a unique work of art. But the best part? Part of the proceeds go to the Weathered But Strong relief fund for Georgia farmers.
14. Leather goods from SouthLife Supply Co.
City: Thomasville
Where to buy: Online or at the Thomasville shop (130 S. Broad St., Thomasville)
Long before they were crafting handbags, Kelly and Heather Abbott were making jewelry from spent shotgun shells and stringing parachute bracelets. In 2015, they shifted their focus to leather and renamed the business SouthLife Supply Co., a nod to the hunting-and-outdoors culture of Thomasville, the heart of South Georgia’s quail country.
The shop has since landed in the old Jerger Jewelers building downtown, the same store where Kelly once bought clasps for those first bracelets. Every bag, wallet, and belt is still made by hand in Thomasville, and the business also runs a Makers Program that has taught more than 50 local high schoolers the craft.
The lineup runs from crossbodies to a full-size weekender. For something smaller, the Gordon trifold wallet, the Joey coin pouch, and a leather cover for a Field Notes pocket notebook all show off the same stitching.
15. A bamboo fly rod from Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods
City: Blue Ridge
Where to buy: Online or at the Blue Ridge showroom (494 E. Main St., Blue Ridge)
Bamboo was the original material for American fly-fishing rods, and Bill Oyster has built a career on keeping that tradition alive.
The former UGA art student crafts and hand-engraves each rod at Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods, a working shop and showroom on Main Street in downtown Blue Ridge. The address is no accident: The surrounding mountains hold trout streams that can be fished year-round, so a new rod won’t sit on the wall for long.
A finished rod is the ultimate splurge for a sportsman (or woman). Hats and small hand-engraved items make easier gifts, and patient anglers can sign up for a six-day class to build a rod of their own.
Bonus: Georgia-made gift boxes from Georgia Crafted
City: Atlanta
Where to buy: Online, with pickup available in Atlanta
Woman-owned
Let someone else do the curating. Georgia Crafted stocks more than 200 products from small makers across the state, from snacks and pantry staples to spa goodies and candles.
Choose one of its themed gift boxes, or build your own and fill it with a little of everything.
