The Best Gift Types for RV Road Trippers (Caravan/Camper/Vanlife & Overlanders)

1. Considerations When Choosing RV Gifts
2. Types of Gift Suitable for RVers
3. RV Gift Ideas
   1. Virtual Gifts
   2. Things We Wouldn’t Be Without
   3. On Our Wish List
   4. Gifts Which Support Vanlifers
4. More Vanlife & Travel Product Inspiration
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Considerations When Choosing RV Gifts

However sumptuous, all RVs have contstraints that you will have to bear in mind when choosing gifts.

1. SPACE – Most RVs have limited storage space, so you must ask yourself, will the recipient have room to accommodate your gift? Or will it need to be put in storage when not in use?
2. WEIGHT – All RVs have very limited payload, and often can’t carry much extra weight, so you need to bear this in mind.
3. ELECTRICAL POWER – Unless connected to an electrical hook up (EHU), there may be limits as to what electrical gadgetry the RV is able to support.
   • Does the gift need lots of power (things that heat often require the most power) or regular charging?
   • Without EHU, RV electrical power is usually 12 volt, so if your recipient is frequently off grid, they will need 12V appliances.
4. ROBUSTNESS – When travelling, items get shaken around in RV cupboards and drawers. Fragile items can get broken, or need extra effort to secure them before moving on. Will the recipient be happy with this?

Types of Gift Suitable for RVers

Think SLUM! Some of the best RV gifts are:

1. Small
2. Lightweight
3. Useful
4. Multifunctional

RV Gift Ideas

Virtual Gifts

These weigh nothing and take up no space!

• E books – Did you know you can schedule sending gift e books on Amazon to people in the same country as you up to 45 days in advance? Just select Buy For Others from the book detail page. On the checkout page, add recipient email addresses to send each person an email with the link to redeem the eBook. (Redemption links can be refunded, but cannot be resold.) For more details on how to gift e books, check out How To Send An E Book As A Gift (And Why You Should). Whether stories or guidebooks, e books can provide travel inspiration. And you can always check out my books for road trip inspiration!
• Digital Magazine Subscription – Magazines Direct offers digital and print subscriptions to over 60 magazines. Their offerings include Practical Caravan and Practical Motorhome magazines, although they it’s easy to filter on interest, and they have categories that cover everything from Sport to Equestrian, with Food, Music and Gaming in between.
• Memberships & Vouchers
  • A National Trust or English Heritage gift membershop gives the recipient free access to hundreds of historic buildings or sites all over the UK. There are similar memberships to national parks or historic sites in countries around the world.
  • Both The Camping and Caravan Club and Caravan and Motorhome Club offer gift memberships, or gift vouchers that can be redeemed against a stay on one of their sites.
  • Amazon Prime Membership gives access to free delivery, Prime Music, Prime Video, Prime Reading and a whole lot more. In countries where Amazon delivers, we can order what we want (our UK Amazon account lets us order from Amazon in Europe) and have it delivered to our campsite reception (with agreement from the campsite) and have even had Amazon deliveries to ‘The Big Green Army Truck in a Field’, so long as we tell them which field. To gift Amazon Prime, purchase a gift card. The recipient can then add the gift card to their account and select “gift card balance” when paying for their Amazon Prime membership.
  • Kindle Unlimited gives unlimited access to read over 1 million e books – including my bestselling and award-winning books! It is perfect for those who love reading, but don’t want to carry heavy books in their suitcase, RV or down to the beach. Kindle Unlimited also includes a rotating selection of popular magazines and for those without a Kindle, they can read any time, on any device, with the free Kindle app. For givers and receivers in the USA, KU Gift Memberships are available on Amazon.com. Sadly, elsewhere, KU gift subscriptions are not available, but you could gift the cost of the subscription with something like a pre-paid credit card. (Gift cards cannot be used to pay for this subscription because the subscription requires a payment method for renewal.) If you provide a pre-paid card, you’d need to reload it in anticipation of the renewal.
• Festival Tickets – check out my blog 2024 UK Van Life Festivals, RV, Caravan, Camper, Motorhome, Overlanding & Self-Build Events for some funky festival ideas. Tickets for some are already on sale.
• Charitable Donation
  • We are members of Dogs’ Trust and also give direct to Animal Veterinar Hospital in Fier, Albania, to support their work in rescuing and neutering strays. You can donate directly via Paypal: animalhospitalveterinary@gmail.com. However, in the cost of living crisis, any charity will welcome a donation, so you can choose a cause close to your giftee’s heart.

Things We Wouldn’t Be Without

From the Kindle Paperwhite E Reader onwards, these are not budget options, but we would definitely not be without them! They are suitable as a special gift, or if a few

• Eco-Friendly ‘Dry’ Toiletries always come in useful. We love our shampoo bars and compostible dishcloths. Check out some ideas on Zero Waste Caravanning – Save Money, Weight, Space & The Planet!

• Bridgedale Merino Hiking Socks – I mean, who doesn’t need a great pair of socks that keep your feet comfortable while walking or trekking, that will wash well and last for ages? Not only that, these socks can be used to cushion jars or protect our crystal stem ware and other drinking glasses, when we’re in motion! Definitely the epitome of a SLUM gift!
• Karcher Window Vac – an absolute MUST for cold weather camping – removes condensation from your windows and roof lights in moments. Also useful to clean the windows and dry down the shower.
• Eufy Security Panoramic Smart Indoor Wi-Fi Cameras are great for RV security and to keep an eye on the dogs if we need to pop out for a short time. Blink Security Cameras are also popular. Click here to see Blink a review & installation.
• Kindle Paperwhite E Reader – I love books, but they are not compatible with my nomadic lifestyle. Besides the weight, if I run out of reading material when I’m abroad, English language books aren’t always available. With Kindle, I can get pretty much any book I want instantly! I simply couldn’t manage without my Kindle. This 2022 Kindle Paperwhite is less than half the price of newer models, but still has 16 GB of storage —double the storage capacity of the previous generation. That’s a lot of books! Plus, with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you don’t even need to store the books on the device.
• Portable Washing Machine – the one we currently own is not available on Amazon UK, but this model previously gave us many years of service – and saved us a fortune on laundry!
• Tom Tom Go Camper Satnav – check out my review if you’re not sure about how useful a dedicated campervan/caravan satnav can be – and it works even for a camper of the size and majesty of our truck, The Beast!

On Our Wish List

• The Gift of Clean Water EVERYWHERE! – LifeSaver® water purifiers give you the ultimate protection, removing 99.99% of protozoa, bacteria and VIRUS. Turn dodgy tap water, questionable bottled water, or even dirty water from rivers, lakes and puddles into safe, drinkable water instantly. Ideal for everything from hiking, backpacking, travelling, camping and overlanding to emergency prepping. LifeSaver® offer everything from filter bottles, ideal for hiking or trekking, to the LifeSaver® jerry can, which can be used as an emergency water supply in your RV. Curiously, a friend of a friend actually worked on developing this product, and several of my full-time vanlife and overlanding friends swear by it, even to make sure tap water is safe to drink.
• Wonderbag Non Electric Thermal Cooker – I did covet a Mr. D’s NO POWER Thermal Slow Cooker but I checked out this one recommended by Back Roads and Other Stories blog and have changed my mind! The Wonderbag great for safe, low condensation, low energy slow cooking (which saves 70% of the energy you would otherwise use). It is also lightweight, easily stored, doubles as a cool bag, and supports comminities in South Africa, none of which applies to Mr. D’s.
• PackTowl Luxe – Our Favourite Microfibre Camping Towel – still going strong after a couple of years’ use! These have a velvety texture, but fold up to a fraction of the size of a normal towel. They can be tumbled dried, although they dry naturally much more quickly than a cotton towel. Antimicrobial silver also stops the stink!

Gifts Which Support Vanlifers

There are quite a few creatives out there, living the van life. I promised a mention to these people, who make beautiful handmade items that would make ideal gifts!

If you are a vanlifer and create beautiful things, please feel free to add a link to your wares in the comments.

• Bright Beam Laser Creations – Steve creates personalised products to any design, lasered on to wood, slate, or other suitable materials. Think coasters, clocks, keyrings, decorative plaques… He does not yet have a website but a few of his creations are shown below. Turnaround time is usually a couple of days. To order, message Steve through his Bright Beam Facebook page.

• Ryan @thejerrycanman creates wonderful Jerrycan mini bars – or Jerrycan radios, USB chargers, Bluetooth speakers . You can see the ones he’s previously made on his Instagram. Prices start at £75. Also, if you have a design in mind, he’s happy to have a go a making it.

More Vanlife & Travel Product Inspiration

For more ideas, check out my Gift Guides, Travel Essentials, and Product Reviews to give you inspiration for vanlife gifts and product recommendations.

For your BFF (Best Furry Friend) check out 21 Best Gifts for the Travelling Dog.

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