Good news!  The Ultimate Healthy Living bundle sale is making an encore appearance for Black Friday weekend!  Some of you wonder what to do with books from the bundle that you don’t need.  Or maybe you just want to know how best to take advantage of the sale here at the beginning of the Christmas season.

In this post I’m going to show you some ways you can combine parts of the bundle with other items to make a variety of great gifts.  (Of course, you can always buy the individual books for these gifts, or use the basic concepts to create your own gift package ideas.  So the ideas apply even if you’re reading this after the sale has ended.)

The Main Principle

The main principle behind each of these gifts is that of combing related physical items with each ebook or group of ebooks you’re giving away. Here are some specific ideas that use books from the bundle.

DIY Beauty Kit

There are four different books in the natural skin care section of the bundle.  Any one of these books can be given together with the ingredients to make one of the recipes contained in it.  I’ve chosen Homemade Health and Beauty to use as an example, but any of the others will also work.  Or you could give all four books together.

In this case, I’ve matched Homemade Health and Beauty with the almond oil, beeswax, honey, and containers needed to make a lip balm recipe from the book.

Dinner Made Easy

Perhaps you know a busy mom who would appreciate some tools to make getting dinner on the table a little easier.  In that case, consider pairing Easy & Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes with a crockpot.

Eat Your Veggies

Do you have a health-conscious friend or family member who would like to eat more local, seasonal produce, but has no idea what to do with all those veggies?  Then how about pairing a CSA membership with The Veggie Book?  (This is one of my favorite books in the bundle, by the way.  We need to eat more veggies, so we’ve been working on finding new ways to try them.)

Cookies!

At perhaps the opposite end of the spectrum are cookies!  Everyone likes cookies!  Give your friend or family member the gift of healthy cookies when you give Nourishing Cookies along with some baking supplies.  For example, you could add a cookie sheet and cooling rack(s).

Or a wooden spoon & measuring cups/spoons.

If you’re looking for a bigger gift, you could go with all of the above – and maybe throw in a mixing bowl and whisk, too.  If you actually need to go small, then just add a fun cookie cutter.  (I chose this moustache one in honor of “Movember,” which aims to bring attention to men’s health issues.)

Cozy Comfort

If you’re looking for a more pampering gift, consider Steeped plus a tea cup or kettle.  You could also include “extras” like a tea ball and/or a honey dipper.

Friend with Food Allergies

Finding out you have food allergies can be overwhelming.  Having the support of friends can be huge!  So bundle up the allergy-friendly/special diets cookbooks & give them to a friend along with a small bag of quinoa or other gluten-free grain.  (Putting the package of quinoa in a pretty drawstring bag will increase the eye appeal.)

Get in Line

There are 2 eplanners in the bundle, plus you get three as bonuses.  Bundle these together and add them to a basket of small organization-related supplies.  These could be “self”-organization-type items like sticky notes & pens.  Or they could be “stuff”-organization items like wall hooks and labels.  (Just be sure the person you give these two is not the type to take them as a hint that they need to get it together!)

Natural Health

More and more people – moms, especially – are interested in learning more about taking care of their families by natural means, even when they’re sick.  If essential oils will appeal, gather up The {essential} Oiler’s Handbook, The Essential Chef, & Using Essential Oils Safely, and throw in a bottle or two of some basic essential oils (Lavender and peppermint are both great basic options.)

If herbs are more their thing, then go with Mother’s Little Herbal Helper, Herbal Adventures, Herbal Remedies for Children.  A strainer (for making decoctions) and a honey dipper or a certificate to Bulk Herb Store or Mountain Rose Herbs would be great additions.  (Also note that a free digital video about herbs from Bulk Herb Store is part of the bundle’s bonus package.)

For Your Honey

Need a gift for your honey?  31 Days to Great Sex makes a great gift.  Sheila (the author) even has printable coupons available for a lovely presentation.  Add some extra goodies to suit your tastes.  (Lube is a good bet.  Aloe Cadabra is excellent – good quality and natural/safe.)  Your spouse might appreciate something “romantic” like champagne or sparkling cider; or a blindfold and whipped cream might be more your style.

Growing Things

There’s something pretty amazing about participating in the process of growing things.  If you have a beginner gardener in your life, Growing & Using Culinary Herbs would be a good gift option.  Of course, an assortment of herb seeds make a perfect addition.

(I included the wrong seed picture above.  Oops!)

If your gardener is a bit more ambitious, The Gardening Notebook can be a good option, and your assortment of seeds can be less specific.  (By the way, there is a lot of information in this book!)

Kids in the Kitchen

My kids love to cook.  We don’t cook together often enough.  I’m just not good at making that work.  So Adventures with Kids in the Kitchen would be great as a whole-family gift for a family like ours.  Or it might make a good gift for an individual child.  Add some child-sized utensils like these by Bambu (we have these and love them!) or some small oven mitts and/or an apron.

Baby Gift

If your gift recipient is even younger (or, rather, if your recipient has a child even younger), Creative Ways to Calm your Baby might be appropriate.  It’s very practical and reassuring, and has the conversational tone of an experienced mama teaching a younger one.  A swaddle wrap is an excellent addition.

Clean Green

A cleaning-related gift might not be appropriate for everyone, but if someone on your list has been seeking to live more naturally, she might appreciate a Clean Green kit.  Bundle Clean Naturally, Simple Natural Green Cleaning Guide, and/or DIY Natural Household Cleaners with spray bottles and a cloth.  (I actually don’t use most cleansers anymore, as our Norwex cloths are effective with just water.  But emptied parmesan cheese containers are great for any sort of scouring powder, and we still occasionally use something along these lines.  So you could go with those instead if you wanted to.)

Fitness

You probably want to skip the Fitness section for this purpose unless you know your recipient REALLY wanted one of those books!

So Many Options!

All of this is with just one bundle!  (Apart from the cookie book, where I showed you three different variations, all of these can be taken from the same bundle, with books to spare!)  You can buy 2 bundles and get a third free, making your money go even farther.   Break up all three bundles. Give one whole bundle away, keep one whole bundle, and break up the third…the possibilities are nearly endless.

But Isn’t it Unethical to Give the eBooks Away?

No!  Think of an ebook like a physical book.  You can own it.  Or your friend can own it.  (Or you can purchase two separate copies.)  But you can’t both possess the same copy at the same time.  That principle is what governs the ethics of ebook sharing, as well.  You are free to give away any of the books in the bundle as long as each book is treated as a single copy.  So you can only give a book from the bundle away to one person, and if you give it away you must delete it from your own hard drive.

How Exactly Can I Give Someone an eBook?

You have a couple of options.  Depending on the book, you could print it out and give the person the printed copy.  (You’ll need to then remove the file from your computer, so you don’t both have it.)  That may not be cost-effective, though, if the book has a lot of full-color pages.  In that case, you can simply put the file on a disk (probably a CD), and give the disk to the recipient.  If you do this, you might want to print out just the page with the cover, so you’ll have something pretty to indicate what’s on the disk.

Other Kinds of Gifts

Of course, there are other ways the bundle could be used for gift-giving, as well, although some of them are more time-consuming.  Use the gardening books to help you grow produce to pass on to others.  (You’ll probably want to plan ahead for this one.  I doubt you’ll be giving anyone a Christmas gift from the garden this year as a result of planting instruction you bought Black Friday weekend!)  Use the recipe books to make food gifts.  Use the natural skin care books to learn to make lip balms, salves, and similar items to give away, or make herbal remedies or cleaning supplies based on the books in those sections.  Create service gifts (like a coupon for a “green” house cleaning) based on your newly-acquired knowledge.

How many ways can you think of to use the bundle for gifts?  Leave a comment with your idea(s)!