5 Cool RV Christmas Gift Ideas For Under $50
It’s the time of year where carols fill the air, the smell of fir trees (or cactus, depending on your location) waft through the RV, jolly thoughts of eggnog and food fill the belly and gifts are exchanged. Yes, my favorite holiday is fast approaching and I’m already in the spirit. Now each year since our very first on the road I’ve created a handy dandy Christmas Giving List for RVers. I’m a little late starting it this year (and a few other bloggers such as Technomadia and GoodLuckDuck have beat me to the punch), so I’m combining some of their ideas with some of my own for my brand new 2012 list. Here goes:
1/ Gift Cards
Gift Cards are simply the perfect item for the minimalist RVer. I mean who isn’t going to be at least somewhat minimalist when your life belongings are crammed into a tin can? Most RVers are pretty picky about what they want in their rigs and this gives them the opportunity to chose exactly what they want, when they want it…and not an excess item more. Whether it be Amazon
2/ Cool & Useful Tools
No RV ever has the complete compliment of tools and there are several super-useful and inexpensive ones which every RVer will love:
-> Thermal Gun – For checking RV tire temps, food temps, ground temps or even your forehead. There are at least 101 uses for this thing in an RV and you can get a decent one such as this basic one for cheap or slightly fancier one for a smidgen more.
-> Compact Flashlight – Everyone can use a super-mini flashlight especially when you’ve dropped your favorite do-diddy for the 20th time into an RV black hole (yes, RVs have many of these). And you can always use more than one. You can buy a cheap Mini Creed or a snazzy Protac one. Or go mobile trendy and get one for your head.
-> Multi-Use Tools – With the limited space of an RV the more tools you can combine the better and I love, looove multi-use stuff. Take for example this self-adjustable Robogrip plier, or this one piece integrated 16-size ratchet wrench, or this 32-piece ratcheting screwdriver set. Droool….my kinda tools!
3/ Pet Stuff
An RVer with pets will always appreciate the gesture of something for their special furry family. Send your doggie-pal a natural rawhide chips or meaty bag of treats or buy your kitty-lover this techno-cool and very compact thermal mat (my cats loooove these and they’re great for self-generation of kitty heat in the boondocks!) And who doesn’t appreciate a little extra help to pick-up pet hair?
4/ Really, Really Good Maps
What, actual paper thingies? You mean something that’s not technologically cool at all? Yes, any RVer worth his salt will love getting a good quality paper map. Anyone who’s been on the road any length of time knows you can’t always trust your GPS and there are many interesting and unusual places your software simply won’t be able to take you. They come out with new map versions each year and the upgrade is always welcome. For overall planning I like the Rand McNally spiral-bound jobs, but for boondocking, finding BLM land boundaries and detailed work the Benchmark Map
5/ Stuff Made By Other RVers!!
How much cooler does gift-giving get than sending an RVer something made by another RVer? Instead of reinventing the wheel I’m just going to go ahead give you the same 3 links from Technomadia’s blog post since there’s really not much more to add to this one:
- Good Luck Duck’s Shop Mobile Guide
- Technomadia’s Shop Mobile – Nomadic Vendor Listing
And just for good measure (before I go back to lying in my lounge-chair and enjoying the Christmas cactus view) here are my super-duper gift-giving posts from the past 2 years:
- ‘Tis The Season For RV Gifting! -> My Top 5 RV Gifts for 2011
- RV Christmas 2010 Wishlist -> For the Bookworm
- RV Christmas 2010 Wishlist II -> 10 Stocking Stuffers for Under $20
- RV Christmas 2010 Wishlist III -> Last, Last Minute Gifts
Should you decide to go nuts and buy them all (and end up with too many gifts) DO go ahead and send the excess to me 🙂
So, any cool RV gift-giving ideas which I missed?
Great list NIna – this gave me a couple good ideas for Mom who has EVERYTHING and needs nothing for her RV.
RE: Maps … you can visit a store in the Phoenix, Arizona area and exchange your OLD, dated maps for new ones at Wide World Maps. There are a few locations in the valley! Talk about paper map DEPOT, they have them ALL 🙂
http://zipcodemapphoenix.com/faq/locations.shtml
So happy I could give you a couple of ideas. And THANK YOU for that link to the Phoenix store. What a cool place!!
Nina
Thermal Gun…very interesting. I need to check into this for Paul.
We gave Bella her Christmas give early…a new collar and tag. She was thrilled. So much so, she is taking a nap…hehe
Good for Bella…nothing as lovely as a happily napping cat. And hope Paul enjoys his Christmas present.
Nina
Thanks for the great ideas! I love the thermal blanket for the cat. My mother has a cat that gets cold easily and they live in northern NY. We may have one much warmer cat this Christmas!
If you have a source of ready electricity you can go one step further and buy a pet electric blanket…that will definitely keep kitty warm! The thermal blanket is great for RVing and especially boondocking since it uses kitty’s own body heat to keep warm, but probably not as toasty as a real full-on electric blanket. So, that’s another idea for ya 🙂
Nina
Is it Christmas already? I go for no 1, in the comfort of your chair somewhere in the desert, you can click, click and off your gift it goes.
No 4 is quiet appealing but wait, we have you, the best referencer ever…. ha ha … speaking of which we are now happily nestled by Dome Rock Rd in Quartzsite with the help of your coordinates. And yes, there is only a handful of us here for now and really enjoying it. When we come back in Jan, we know this will be a madhouse.
Oh I’m so happy you guys are enjoying the area. We were there end of Nov last year and really enjoyed the peace and quiet.
Nina
I am stuffing my stocking with several of these!
Coooool! Nina
Do you decorate your rig for the holidays? I love Christmas decorations but am having some difficulty imagining what I might be willing to carry just for the holiday season.
Your gift ideas are great!
Oh YES…in fact I’m a huge Christmas decoration lover. This year I’ve been thinking I need to expand my decor since I’ve only got very mobile stuff at the moment. I use alot of traditional Danish decorations such as kravlenisser and woven hearts. Here’s a pic of my nisser from last year:
Christmas Elves And A Gift of Hearts
And a few pics from our RV park last year of other rigs:
Getting Into the Christmas Spirit…And a Few Exciting Repairs
This is making me think I should do another post with how to make those hearts…..hmmm….
Nina
Love the Thermal Gun. Thanks for the great idea for my gadget guy 🙂
Excellent! Glad I could give you a good idea.
Nina
Dear Nina and Paul:
Just a note to tell you how much we love your website. You are absolutely living our dream. We are on track to join you in four years, so it’s really nice to have the constant source of inspiration from your blog. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a great new year. Thanks again for your excellent blog!
Jennifer & Kevin
St. Louis, MO
Thanks so much for the lovely comment…AND for coming along on our journey thro’ the blog. I’m sure you guys are counting down those 4 years. Here’s hoping all your fulltiming dreams come true 🙂
Nina
I see a thermal mat under my kitty’s Christmas tree. Thanks for the suggestions!
Our kitties really seem to love them, so hope yours do too.
Nina
Maps, I could never have too many maps. How about offering your RV related skills to other RVers.
It’s a fabulous idea! My blog is kinda my learning center and I’m hoping to expand that (and make it easier to search and find things) as I go along. BIG update planned for the blog at some point…when I get my act together.
Nina
Nina – do you guys use a thermal temp thing to watch tire temps? I do not but I did remove my TPMS recently due to it’s being more trouble than it is worth.
I just put the thermal gun on my own wish list for that exact reason! Haven’t had one so far, but that’s one of the things I want to use it for. Very handy to check tire temps when you’re stopped on the road. So far we’ve relied on checking tire pressure and doing a quick visual check every time we drive. Next step is the thermal gun..and then one day maybe we’ll buy a TPMS.
Nina
I checked out the Benchmark Maps but they are only for out west. Do you have a recommendation for a similar quality map for out east? Specifically the NE?
Thanks,
Barbara
Oh yes! For out East I recommend the Delorme Maps (Atlas & Gazetteer), most definitely. In fact it’s a tight choice between the Benchmark & Delorme Maps -> you’ll find HUGE fans of each, even for the Western states. Here’s the link to the Delorme series:
http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10096
You can also find some of them on Amazon.com (which will give you reviews too).
Hope that helps!
Nina
What ….no wine on the top 5? After doing an Ironman last month and a marathon yesterday I would add something massage related….or wine to mask the pain:) Loving your lists and look forward joining you all on the road.
Haha…well wine is almost a given (we’re so spoiled). I must say, I’m very impressed with your Ironman from last month….huge accomplishment! Looking forward to hearing more as you guys get closer to fulltiming next year.
Nina
Hey Nina. Deb here. I would add quick dry bath towels. Bought some at target for $4.99 each. Plush feel, super absorbent but light weight & quick dry. Great for rv living. Also love tervis tumblers with a lid-insulated for hot or cold, virtually indestructible when bouncing down the road & they come with a lifetime warranty. Been doing a little pre planning! 🙂 Now off to give hubby a foot rub
Neat ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Nina
Such wonderful info… I am pretty new to rV’ing and surely glad to learn about the Benchmark maps! I will be ordering some. Thanks for posting this. Have a wonderful Christmas!!
They are wonderful! We’re ordering some more for ourselves this winter too.
Nina
I will have to check out the thermal gun…never heard of it…we love both of the maps delorme and benchmark…have used them for years as you are so right that sometimes GPS just isn’t getting it…
It’s a cool little tool esp. for checking those RV tires on the road.
Nina
Hi Nina, I am Joe Anderson’s wife and we appreciate your blogs very much! However, we can’t find the name of the cat harness you recommended. Please tell me the name and I promise to write it down!
Murlene Anderson
Hi Murlene,
It’s the HDW Cat Walking Jacket. I put a link to it in my last comment to your hubby, but just in case he didn’t see it here it is again
http://www.hdw-inc.com/walkingjackets.htm
Hope that comes one through!
Nina
Thank you, Nina!!
Merry Christmas to you and your hubby.
Murlene
Dear Nina and Paul,
Thank you very much for the Christmas gift ideas. I used two of your book ideas from 2010 to select gifts for family members.
If you are driving through West Los Angeles, there is a excellent new danish bakery that opened earlier this year in Culver City right near the 405 FWY. It is called Copenhagen Pastry and has wonderful pastries including a great Kringle. Their website is copenhagenpastry.com and click on “Download Our Order Form” to see some pictures of the sweets. I enjoy your RV blog, photos, and campsite reviews!
–Jon from Culver City
So happy my ideas were helpful! And cheers on the tip for the Danish Bakery in West LA. If we go through there again we’ll definitely look it up.
Nina
Murlene and I would like to wish you and Paul and all your four legged friend a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We’re hoping to meet up with you in 2013.
God Yul
Joe
I am new to Rv life…..what is the thermal gun used for? Am learning lots from your site Thanks
The main thing we use it for is to check tire temps on the road. A quick walk around the rig when were stopped to check none of the tires are overly hot (= a sign something is wrong). We also use it to check grill temp and just for plain fun (e.g. Checking the temp of the rig when it’s hot, looking for leak points when it’s cold).
Nina