Umrah Gift Ideas: 12 Gifts Pilgrims Actually Use, Before They Leave and When They Come Home

Gift Guides

Someone you love is going to Makkah this winter. Here is what to put in their hands before they leave, and what to have waiting when they come home.

Salam, friends. Every fall our inbox fills with the same question in slightly different words: "My parents are going for Umrah in December, what do I get them?" Winter break is peak Umrah season for American families, the weather in Makkah finally cooperates, and the flights from Columbus, Chicago and New York are full of people carrying gift bags from relatives who did not know what to put inside.

So here is our list of Umrah gift ideas that pilgrims actually use, sorted by when to give them. We asked around our community, and we threw out everything that tends to end up sitting in a hotel room in Aziziyah.

Umrah gift ideas to give before they leave

1A tote bag with their name on it

Ask anyone who has done Umrah what they carried every day and the answer is a bag: slippers, a water bottle, a small Qur'an, a shawl for the cold marble at Fajr. A sturdy cotton tote with their name printed in Arabic is light, folds flat in a suitcase, and is very easy to find in a sea of identical black bags at the shoe racks. It is the gift the aunties mention most.

2A travel prayer set

Hotels in Makkah and Madinah have prayer mats, but the journey has layovers, and the days in between have long waits. A compact prayer rug and beads set in a gift box is the kind of present that gets opened at the airport gate.

3A pocket Qur'an with translation

Phones die and phones distract. A small Qur'an with an English translation gives them something to read in the Haram between prayers and on the bus to Madinah. Pick a size that fits the tote in idea number one. Our Qur'an gift set with English translation bundles one with a rug and beads if you want to give the whole kit at once.

4A digital tasbih counter

For the Tawaf laps and the long nights of dhikr. The ring style ones are a dollar store staple, so look for one with a solid clicker and a screen you can read in the dark. The three piece set with a digital counter pairs one with pearl beads for the traditionalists in the family.

5Comfortable slip-on shoes and a shoe bag

Not glamorous, deeply appreciated. They will take their shoes off a dozen times a day. Slip-ons and a drawstring shoe bag turn a hassle into a non-event. Write their name on the bag with a fabric marker; everyone's sandals look the same at 4 a.m.

6A dua journal

Give them a small notebook with the first pages already filled: the names of everyone in the family and one line each of what you are asking Allah for on their behalf. They will cry in the airport. Then they will carry it through every Tawaf.

While they are away: the gift is your dua list

Resist the urge to send packages. Hotel mail in Makkah is a lottery and their suitcase is already full of Zamzam containers. The one gift pilgrims genuinely want from home is specific: text them the names and the needs, and let them carry you with them. If you want to do something physical, stock their fridge for the day they land. Nobody wants to grocery shop with jet lag and a heart still standing in front of the Kaaba.

The best gift a pilgrim can send home is a text that says: "Done. Prayed for all of you by name. Twice."The message every family is waiting for

Umrah gift ideas for when they come home

7A proper box of dates

Yes, they will bring Ajwa home. Give them the good stuff anyway, because the returning pilgrim becomes the host for two weeks of visitors and runs out by day three. A Bateel gift box of filled dates looks the part on the dastarkhwan.

8Something that smells like the Haram

Many pilgrims skip scented products while in ihram, so save the fragrance for the homecoming. A bottle of amber oud will take them straight back to the marble courtyard every morning for a year.

9A sweatshirt that says what they are feeling

The first Ohio winter morning after two weeks in Makkah is a shock. Our Alhamdulillah sweatshirt is the one we reach for; it is the word every returning pilgrim says most.

10A frame for the photo

Everyone takes the same picture in front of the Clock Tower and nobody prints it. Print it, frame it, hand it over at the welcome dinner. It is the cheapest gift on this list and the one that ends up on the wall.

11Their name, kept

A trip like this marks a before and an after. A necklace with their name in Arabic is the gift we see given most often by adult children to a mother who just came home, and it is the one she does not take off.

12Your time

Returning pilgrims want to tell the story, in detail, more than once. Clear a Saturday afternoon, make the chai, and ask about the first time they saw the Kaaba. Then ask again next month. That is the gift.

A note on timing

Personalized items take a few extra days because a real person checks every name before it prints. If the flight is in two weeks, order the tote today; if it is in two days, give the dua journal and promise the rest for the homecoming. Everything on this list ships free in the United States.

If you liked this, our weekly emails bring one piece of good news from the Muslim community every Tuesday and one halal food find every Saturday. Join the family at humraha.com.

Humraha means "companion" in Urdu. We are Humza and Amraha, a married couple in Columbus, Ohio, making personalized gifts and apparel for Muslim families. Free U.S. shipping, 30-day money-back guarantee, at humraha.com.