Beekeepers are indeed a passionate bunch, and buying a gift for a person’s hobby is always well received, but where to start? Beekeeping is confusing even to the beginner beekeeper, so how does a non-beekeeper find the perfect gift? Don’t worry; we will take care of you as we are beekeepers who keep bees and sell equipment for a living and know what is a good gift vs a waste of money.
This particular gift guide is written for the person who wants to get something unique and special for the bee lover in their life. You will not find any cheap or knock-off products on this list, as we have personally used and vetted these products. Buying gifts for a beekeeper couldn’t be easier if you read through this guide, and your beekeeper and their honey bees will both be happy.
Read below for a great overview of list or hop over to our collection to shop.
Table of Contents
We have another very popular blog with beekeeper gift ideas you can buy directly from Amazon that are all under $40. Most are around $25, but there aren’t any over $40. Be sure to check it out if your budget is in that range.
The gifts for beekeepers listed below are general beekeeper presents that can apply to nearly all beekeepers; both beginner beekeepers and experienced beekeepers can appreciate the products below. Not all gifts are universal for every beekeeper, but we will note that below when we talk about it.
All of these products are available on our beekeeping website, and we can ship them directly to you or the person you are buying for. The prices range from $25-200, so you can find something in your budget. If you can’t find anything that works, there is always the classic beekeeping gift card.
- Leather Beekeeping Tool Belt
We started carrying these tool belts because we thought they were just so cool. You can get the entire tool belt or buy the pieces separately from each other. The whole belt comes with a leather belt, a smoker holder, a utility pouch, and a magnetic hive tool holder. The whole thing is the Swiss army knife of tool belts.
But you could buy the pieces separately and get the ones you think are most helpful. The hive tool holder and pouch are probably the most popular pieces out of the 3.
- Full Size Ventilated Beekeeping Suit
The beekeeping suit is the classic visual you imagine when you imagine beekeepers. Traditionally the white cotton suit was worn by all beekeepers, but the beekeeping apparel market has come a long way. Those white suits are still available, but most beekeepers use the ventilated beekeeping suit because it provides more protection and comfort at the same time.
Bee suits are often worn by beginning beekeepers worried about getting stung by bees for various reasons. Or they are worn by commercial beekeepers who are working a lot of hives and cannot be as patient with the bees.
This particular bee suit is very well made with smart features we have designed into the suit ourselves. We wear this suit and have worked very hard to make it a great suit at a great price. Besides beekeeper white, it’s available in an olive green color as well, which has been very popular.
- Beekeeping Technology and Hive Monitoring
Keeping bees and harvesting honey seems to be a hobby as old as time, but it has received a refresh in the past decade, and there is a broader appeal to taking care of bees. With that comes advances in beekeeping and technology.
There are a smattering of tools available that you can use to connect a hive to the internet. These devices are extremely helpful in monitoring the health, production, and size of a colony without having to enter the hive. These bee hive devices constantly monitor the changes in weight, humidity, and temperature inside the hive as well as outside. The included software will then alert you when certain changes are made.
If you have a techie beekeeper who loves this type of stuff, please take a look at our Beekeeping Technology section or look at our Live Hive Data to see what the devices do.
- Ventilated Beekeeping Jackets
Even though bee suits are ubiquitous in beekeeping, bee jackets are what most beekeepers will where when in their bee yard. This is because the average beginner beekeeper is comfortable with the occasional sting, even though it still hurts. A beekeeping jacket is much easier to put on than a bee suit, and that convenience is worth a lot.
As you get better at keeping bees, the bees are much less likely to sting, and the ventilated material is comfortable while still protecting against stings. In fact, these ventilated beekeeping jackets are what we wear every time we go into the bee yard. This protective clothing works great against all kinds of bees, including Africanized bees.
If you are looking to upgrade your favorite beekeeper’s gear, you won’t go wrong gifting them a high-quality jacket like this. It’s made extremely well and has great reviews. It’s available in either Beekeeper White or in Olive Green.
- Steel Beekeeping Tool Box
Nearly every time a beekeeper opens their hive, they light a bee smoker to make the task easier. The smoker works by lighting fuel on the fire in the bottom of the smoker and allowing the smoke to puff through the top. Sometimes you need to put away the smoker while it is still hot, or you have to move it from one bee yard to another apiary and don’t want to extinguish it.
This metal tool box for beekeepers makes it much safer to store your smoker. It fits every standard and pro smoker and includes a nice handle and lid, as well as a separate compartment for storing beekeeping tools like hive tools or frame grips. If your beekeeper constantly leaves the smoker outside or throws it in a bucket, this toolbox is for them.
- Topical Beekeeping Books
There are many, many beekeeping books available, and they are all very similar. Some are old books, some are new, and some are new versions of the old books. It doesn’t make sense to give your favorite beekeeper a beginner beekeeping book if they are an advanced beekeeper. Some books are specialized and topical that an experienced beekeeper will like. If you are buying for a beginner beekeeper, we recommend these beginner beekeeping books.
If you are looking for a special beekeeping gift for the more advanced hobby beekeeper, check out these gift ideas below.
Swarm Essentials – The go-to guide on how to catch and trap a swarm of wild bees
Comb Honey Production – Teaches you how to make specialized comb honey
Queen Rearing Essentials – A classic book that walks you through raising your own queens
Increase Essentials – If wanting to raise your own bees for sale or production, this will teach you how.
Honey Bee Biology – The comprehensive guide to beekeeping used in universities
- Pollen Collecting Traps
These traps are placed on the beehive and are used to harvest pollen from the bees as they bring it back into the hive. They don’t remove all of the pollen, just some of the pollen so the beekeeper doesn’t have to worry about starving the bees of their food.
Pollen traps are specific to the size of the hive the beekeeper uses. Most beekeepers use either a 10-frame or an 8-frame colony. So it’s important to buy the right size pollen trap to fit their hive. You can ask them, “What size equipment do you use, 8 frames or 10 frames on your hive”? Or, if you want to be more secretive, you can say you heard about 8-frame hives and 10-frame hives and want to know the difference.
There is a top-mounted or bottom-mounted version of the pollen trap. Most beekeepers will use the bottom-mounted design, which is a safe purchase.
- Beekeeping Smoker
Every beekeeper uses a bee smoker when taking care of their bees, and they do wear down after a while. Honey bees react to the smoke when it is used which makes it easier for the beekeeper to open the hive and inspect the colony. It is an essential part of the normal beekeeping equipment used.
So upgrading or replacing their bee smoker is a great gift idea. There are typically two versions available, a standard-size bee smoker and a pro bee smoker. The pro version has a larger chamber and is great for beekeeping who has more than five hives. Otherwise, the standard smoker is a great option.
We sell these two sizes and are very proud of their design and features. We have worked hard to make an excellent smoker no matter if you are buying for a beginning beekeeper or an experienced beekeeper, they will appreciate it.
- Comb Honey Cassettes
If you don’t know what comb honey is, you should. Comb honey is the liquid honey stored in the cells exactly the way the bees made it. It is cut from the hive and served whole instead of extracted and poured into a bottle.
Comb honey is one of a kind and can be a real mess to harvest. These comb honey cassettes will work in the standard equipment nearly all beekeepers use, and their design allows you to place them in the hive easily and remove them. There is no mess, cutting, or dripping from them. You serve or sell the whole wooden frame in convenient little squares.
These comb honey cassettes come in two sizes, fitting deep frames and medium frames. Both will work for most beekeepers, but to be safe, buy the medium cassettes as a beekeeping gift. They come in multiple-sized packs to find one that fits your budget. You would want at least 4 to complete a whole frame, but 40 is a good size that your beekeeper friend will understand.
- The Best Beekeeping Gloves
You don’t often see a beekeeper who doesn’t have beekeeping gloves because, you know… bees have stingers. Bee Jackets and Beekeeping Suits are more expensive than gloves, so if you are looking for a budget buy that a beekeeper can appreciate a new pair of bee gloves.
These are the same gloves that we wear, and they come in a heavy-duty beekeeping glove and a ventilated bee glove. Each one is available in white or olive green. Both work great and fit nicely while also protecting the beekeeper from stings.
Many beekeepers are frustrated with low-quality gloves, but these ones are exceptional. They have thick enough leather and material to stop stings but still provide comfort and dexterity in the fingers.
Honorable Mentions
There are many products that beekeepers could use that we didn’t mention above because they may be too expensive or unique for the average gift. But we listed a few of them below if you are looking to purchase a truly awesome gift for a beekeeper. Don’t forget we have another gift guide for products that are around $30 and can be purchased directly from Amazon.
Honey Extractor – There are multiple sizes and styles of extractors available on the market. Many of the ones purchased on Amazon are very cheap and will not last very long. We have Civan branded extractors that are excellent. For the beginner beekeeper, the 3-frame manual extractor is an affordable entry-level extractor. For the average backyard beekeeper, the nine-frame electric extractor will serve them very well for a long time.
Honey Bottling Tank – A stainless steel, jacketed bottling tank with a dripless valve is on every beekeeper’s wish list. They are pricey, but if you have a beekeeper friend with more than four hives, these are worth their weight in honey. They solve so many problems for the beekeeper and make it bottling honey fun again. We have a 10-gallon honey bottling tank and a 20-gallon bottling tank available.
Adjustable Metal Hive Stand – These metal stands can hold a lot of hives and are adjustable for the area where your beekeeping friend keeps their bees. If they keep bees on un-level terrain and it looks a little messy, this hive stand can help clean up that area. You purchase the legs, and the beekeeper adds the size supports that they want, up to 16 feet long. A hive stand is one of those unique beekeeper gifts the average person would know about.
Battery-Powered Oxalic Acid Vaporizer – This product is the latest edition of the popular vaporizers used to help keep bees healthy. This vaporizer is battery powered whereas most other units have to be plugged in. If your beekeeper has hives in a place that an extension cord cant be run to, this tool is perfect. It uses the standard tool batteries you buy from Lowes or Home Depot, like Dewalt, Makita, or Milwaukee. This is a great gift and comes in a small package. We pretty much guarantee a smile if you get them this.
Honey Uncapping Tank – The uncapping tank is an extremely useful tool for beekeepers when harvesting their honey. It helps reduce the sticky mess, helps separate comb from honey, and allows wax cappings to drip in a controlled way. It’s a big container, so if you are looking for a big gift to give that won’t break the bank, a honey uncapping tank is a great tool.
Bee Hive Kits – When keeping bees, every honey bee lives in a man-made hive, and this is true for hobby beekeepers and professional beekeepers. Both types use the common Langstroth hive. These kits usually come in assembled, assembled, and painted or unassembled options. So if you are looking for the perfect gift to support their beekeeping hobby, a beekeeping kit with all the frames, boxes, tops, and bottoms is perfect. When you buy one of our kits, you get everything the bees need to live in for their first year.
