A closed terrarium is a lot of fun to build and is perfect as a gift for people of all ages. Since closed terrariums are completely independent of the weather and the season outside and form their own little ecosystem, you can build and admire them at any time. If you want to give a closed terrarium as a gift, for example for Christmas, you can either build it yourself or buy a complete set online. Closed terrariums are great for any celebration and are also a great activity for groups of friends or families.
By the way, here you can still read about the pros and cons of buying a closed terrarium or building it yourself.
Individual closed terrarium as a gift
The most personalized solution for a closed terrarium gift is, of course, to make it yourself. If you're making it for a specific person you care about or whose interests you know, you can customize the closed terrarium specifically for that person. You end up with several options for customization at each step of the closed terrarium process.
- Choosing your container
- Form
- Color
- Size
- Choosing a false bottom
- material
- Color
- Choosing a substrate
- material
- Color
- Hardscaping
- decorative objects as you wish
- plants
- depending on substrate and container size
If you decide to DIY a closed terrarium for a gift, read the ultimate guide to a closed terrarium here. There I go into deep detail on how to build your own closed terrarium step-by-step.
Complete sets for closed terrariums
Disclaimer: The following reviews were written for the German readership of the Terrarium Blog and thus, feature German Amazon links. Said products are not availbable on the American Amazon store, apart from the grow light at the very end.
Since closed terrariums are so popular, they are of course also sold online. The various manufacturers largely distinguish between real complete sets and so-called Just-Add-Plants variants. In the latter case, everything is provided, except for the plants. You have to find them yourself. Here on the Terrarium Blog I have already looked at some such closed terrariums and present them to you now again briefly. Maybe there is one that is perfect for your friends or family.
They are all in a price range from about 30€ to 60€.
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Expensive version: Ecoworld Jungle Biosphere
The Ecoworld Jungle Biosphere is a complete set that is available with different plants. It costs about 60€. You can choose between the Jungle variant with three different species of ferns and the tropical variant with other tropical plants. In both you get substrate, coco tablets and moss. The lid even has LED lighting, which looks very nice in the dark.
You can read the review of Ecoworld Jungle Biosphere here. It received 4 out of 5 stars.
Middle version: Growing Concepts DIY Ecosystem
Also, the Growing Concepts DIY ecosystem is a complete set for a closed terrarium. It costs about 45€. It differs from the Ecoworld Jungle Biosphere of course on the one hand in shape and size, but also in that it has no LED lighting. But it is also a little cheaper.
Here is the review of the Growing Concepts DIY ecosystem. It also received 4 out of 5 stars.
Cheap version: The Jodeco Bottle Garden XXL
The Jodeco Bottle Garden XXL is not a complete set, but one of the so-called Just Add Plants variants. Since no plants are included, it is again significantly cheaper than the previous two closed terrariums. It is about 30€.
You can read the review of the Jodeco Bottle Garden XXL here. The quality is good, but since the plants are missing, it only got 3 out of 5 stars.
Additional aid: plant lighting
Most closed terrariums are not lit by themselves and therefore need to be next to a window most of the time for the plants to grow well in them. After all, light is the only thing that can enter a perpetual terrarium and thus forms the only energy supply. If you want to specifically light your closed terrarium or place it in a slightly darker location, you can turn to grow lights.
The CXhome plant lamp LM301B is a very promising variant of a grow light and features an automatic switch-on function, a dimmer and a light spectrum optimally adapted to plant growth. It is with 40€ in the middle price range of plant lighting.
The review of the CXhome LM301B plant lamp can be found here.
