Gift Giving Guide for RVers

Every year at the holiday season, we get asked what are ideal gifts for RVers. And as the holiday season quickly approaches again, it’s time to update our gift giving guide.

Whether you have a RVer on your holiday list, or are a RVer looking for ideas to suggest … this guide is for you.

We even have some tips this year for giving gifts as an RVer.

Quick Video Version (new: Nov 2017):

Considerations When Gifting an RVer

Giving gifts to full time RVers can be a tricky endeavor – for they have so little space to store things. Most RVers have painstakingly gone through everything they owned and purged most of it to be able to travel full time.

• If there’s something they need, they probably already have it.
• And if they don’t need it, they don’t have room for it.

 

So our guide isn’t a list of ‘things’ to go click the buy-now button on – sorry, we’re not going to make it that easy for you.

While there is RVing Gear we absolutely love,  just because something works for us, doesn’t mean it’s going to work of anyone else.

If you give an RVer something they don’t need, it’s not just a matter of them sticking it the basement until they host a garage sale. They really don’t have room for non-essential stuff.

Cutesy gadgets, decorations, holiday sweaters, garden gnomes and random stuff you pick up on Black Friday sales just become clutter. Even more so than in a sticks-n-bricks home.

 

Carefully consider any gift to a RVer for if will they have room for it? Is it breakable? Will it serve a needed function? And most importantly, did they request it?

If you don’t have ideas for a useful gift for the RVers in your life; they’ll probably much more appreciate a gift card, act of service or a experience.

Note to our fellow RVers: You can also do your part by reminding your loved ones of your limited space and that you really do want less ‘stuff’. Offer ideas and consider sharing a wish list (we utilize Amazon’s Wishlist – think it would work to put a boat on ours?).

Gift Ideas for RVers

So what are some things that a RVer might appreciate and that won’t take up a ton of space?  Here’s some ideas:

Memberships

Memberships to various clubs, groups and resources can be of great value to RVers, and take up no space while enhancing their travels.

Of course, you’ll want to check in to see what memberships they already have – because two is not better than one.

Passport America – $39

Passport America members enjoy 50% discounts at RV Parks across the country.  There are limits on the number of nights, and blackout dates – but it’s very worthwhile.  We use this discount quite often, and we’ve more than paid for the membership cost in our savings.  (This is an affiliate link.)

America the Beautiful Pass – $80

This is an annual park pass that gives the owner free entrance to most national parks, forests, BLM Land and monuments.  This can be a huge money saver for RVers, and because we always keep one of these passes, we never hesitate to route through our gorgeous national park lands.  Keep in mind that seniors can buy this pass for $10 for their lifetime, so many over 62 already have it.

Mobile Internet Aficionados – $65

If internet access is essential to your mobile loved ones, then consider the gift of connectivity. We host the RV Mobile Internet Resource Center – providing guides, forums, webinars & product reviews for mobile internet gear. Our goal is to help keep RVers connected and educated about these constantly changing options. (Note to our loved ones: please don’t get us a membership here, we’ve got this one covered 🙂 ).

 Zoos & Aquariums, Museums

Did you know that your local zoo, aquarium or museum may be part of a nationwide network?  If you get an annual pass to your local organization, often times the pass also includes free or discounted access to the entire national network. Us travelers get to benefit by increasing our exploration in new locations and you get to support a wonderful resource in your community. A win-win!

Clubs

There are many organizations that cater to RVers that will give the RVer in your life access to discounts, road side assistance, services and even lots of potential junk mail. Some such larger organizations include Escapees/Xscapers, Coach-Net, FMCA,  and Good Sam.

And there are membership sites run by independent tiny businesses that provide access to directories of unique overnight RV options including: Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts.

More Info: Our guide to RV Clubs

There are also non-RV clubs like shopping wholesalers (Costco, Sam’s Club, BJs, etc), massage chains and gyms that are nationwide enough that might be useful to RVers.

eStuff

Gifts that are digital make great gifts and only take up a fraction of hard drive space.

Digital Goods

Music, movies, apps and books in a digital format take up no physical space, and make great gifts!  Many stores that sell them allow you to pick out specific content to gift, or you can buy a gift credit to allow your recipient to choose what they want.  We love keeping iTunes credit on account for buying apps, movies, books and TV shows.

Movie Rentals

Gift credit to DVD rental services like Netflix and Redbox can be wonderful assets to RVers. Many Redbox kiosks are at overnight free parking spots at Walmarts or even in walking to distance to campgrounds – making it super easy to grab a newly released flick for the night. And the Netflix DVD mail service is surprisingly easy for RVers to keep up with, and offers a wider range of content from movies, concerts, documentaries and TV shows. If your RVer has regular access to an uncapped internet sources, memberships to a streaming services can be super appreciated too.

Charitable Contributions

If the RVer in your life supports a cause, perhaps consider making a donation in their name?  Of course, do your due diligence to make sure the organization meets your & their requirements for a ethical, well-run organization.

Intangible Gifts

A lot of things we appreciate most these days are not things found on store shelves.

Experiences

Do you have an idea of your RVers upcoming travels? Perhaps seek out experiences in the places they’ll be visiting and get them a gift certificate (or cash gift with a note of your intentions). Perhaps they’ve always wanted to go hang gliding, stand up paddle boarding or there’s a concert in town they’d love to attend? Or attractions along their route, a night out on the town, a local craft brewery or a trip to the spa.

Acts of Service

Do you have a special skill that could aid the RVer in your life? Maybe you’re handy with wood, appliances, plumbing, technology or mechanics? I bet the next time your RVing loved one passes through town they’d love some help with a project.

Keeping in Touch

Make a point to reach out to them – they may not be on your daily radar because they’re not always nearby, but knowing you’re thinking about them really is appreciated. Most likely, they’d love to get a non-Facebook version of what’s up in your life.

Edible Gifts

Gifts that can be consumed – like food and booze – also can make great gifts. They’ll take up space at first, but if it’s something yummy that problem won’t last long. As with any food gift, make sure you know of any food restrictions before gifting.

Stocking Stuffers

Small stuff can be a lot of fun to give, doesn’t take up  much space and can be quite affordable!

Roll of Quarters – $10

Seriously. For us RVers without laundry machines in our rigs, a quarter can be worth its weight in gold.  Why?  It’s the only currency a RV Park laundromat will take. When we pull into a campground after office hours with no clean underwear left – it’s not about the actual dollar amount charged, it’s about the number of quarters we have available. One quarter can make all the difference. Increase joy (and clean underpants) in the world – and gift quarters!

Gift Cards

Since I hit the road, I’ve found I actually rather appreciate gift cards now. They take up no space, and allow us to choose what fits in our space when we need it. We keep an active Amazon Prime account, which gives us free 2-day shipping on anything they stock – so Amazon gift cards are something we’ll always make use of. And a pre-paid fuel card? Oh yeah, that’ll make any RVer’s heart sing!

Cat Treats

Kiki would like to add that cat treats, catnip and cat toys make great gifts! Even if your RVer doesn’t have a cat, they are sure to rendezvous with us, and Kiki has an *entire* cat treat drawer to fill up. So yes.. cat stuff. Lots of it.

Gifts for Dreamers

If you have someone on your shopping list who is currently in the preparation phase of hitting the road, it may be even more difficult to shop for them.

Unless they have already purchased their RV and are actively stocking it – then they don’t even know what their storage space is yet, or what accessories they’ll need.

Any technology purchased now could most likely be obsolete by the time they hit the road.

Any membership purchases would likely be expired by then.

My suggestion would be things that help their life while they’re preparing, but yet do not add clutter to their purging chores.

Maybe gifts to help relieve stress during the prep process, such as gift certificates to things they enjoy locally – spas, massages, movies and dinners.

If you’re local, perhaps experiences together to share quality time before they hit the road – tickets to a show, a local attractions or promises of time to help them run errands while they prepare.

If they’re far away, perhaps ‘to be redeemed’ experiences for when they visit during their travels. Or perhaps the gift of promising their treasured items happy new homes to help make their purging easier emotionally.

 

Tips for RVers Doing the Gifting

Giving gifts as an RVer can also be challenging. We don’t have the space to store and assemble many packages, so we have to think carefully about what we’re giving. Of course, having things shipped directly to our recipients is fantastic (thank you Amazon Prime!).

But as travelers, we love gifting our loved ones things that share in some of our adventures.

Some of the things we’ve done in the past:

• Photo gifts of our travels are usually appreciated. We’ve made personalized calendars, canvas prints from favorite photos and even gifted regular Postcards from the Road.
• We try to pick up unique items in the places we travel that we can easily carry with us until gift giving time. Last year, most of our recipients got hot balloon related items after our visit to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. They year before, the theme was lighthouses after volunteering at Cape Blanco Lighthouse.
• We use old maps as wrapping paper, which is a great way to re-purpose them and make no doubt who the sender is.

Gifting Each Other

And then of course, living in a small space with the person we love the most – our travel companion, is also a challenge. It’s near impossible to surprise each other when there’s no where to hide something special.

Some of the things we’ve done for each other:

• Put together unique adventure scavenger hunts exploring our new location that ends up following clues to the gift (perhaps a special restaurant, or theatre performance.)
• Designed out a gift coupon for each other to redeem later.
• Gift upon delivery – since we don’t have the space to hide a gift, we usually just give once it arrives. After all, it’s not the day that matters, but the thought.
• Since space is at a premium, we sometimes just shop online together and pick out what we want.
• And sometime we just agree.. no gifts. After all, our life on the road together is the best gift of all.

 

 

We are sending you lots of warmth this holiday season, and urge you to keep the important stuff in focus. Quality time with loved ones is where the memories that last a lifetime are created. That’s our favorite kind of gift.