What are the best gifts for RVers living in small spaces over the holidays? The best Christmas gifts aren’t things that take up space. Start thinking creatively, looking at experiences, checking out unique food baskets or giving the gift of your time when searching for gift ideas this year. These are the unique RV camping presents that will be remembered this holiday season.
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Best Gifts for RVers in Small Spaces
Our first Christmas in our tiny travel trailer in Tucson was an adjustment! We strung pinecone lights up on the awning and hung tin snowflakes on the fence around our RV pad. The propane fireplace burned brightly outdoors.
We’re not full-time RVers. No – we’re Canadian snowbirds. Like many, we hope to spend part of the winter biking and hiking and exploring in temps on the plus side of freezing.
We sought out unique gift ideas for each other for the holiday – things that wouldn’t take up too much space. Practical gifts.
Give the gift of adventure – like an RV adventure in Scotland!
There are 3 best types of gifts for RV living in small spaces:
- Gifts that are experiences. Perhaps a ticket to a theatre or musical performance. Or a sporting event. How about a winery or brewery tour?
- Presents that mean presence – such as the gift of time.
- Things you can eat or drink! Consumables are popular for a reason. Goodie baskets are received, savoured and then done. Nothing is left hanging around to take up space!
Let’s dive into this deeper as you go beyond gift cards for RV friends and family this year.
Make Memories with Memberships & Experiences
Our daughter is the best at giving this type of gift. One gift was a combination of time watching birds together followed up by a felt-making course. We spent the afternoon making felt sculptures of the birds we’d just spent the morning observing!
Gear guru is darned good at finding unique experiential gifts too. A surprise sunrise hot air balloon ride is a gift I’ll never forget!
For example, if you’re giving an experiential gift to someone spending the winter months in or near Tuscon, Arizona – although these ideas work anywhere – you could give them:
- Tickets for the SAVOR Southern Arizona Food & Wine Festival at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
- Likewise, a gift certificate to a Tamales workshop from Cuisine Classique Cooking School will bring smiles for foodies.
- How about a Brewstillery Tour? This Tuscon tour highlights 3 local breweries and 2 distilleries and includes tour, beer flights and spirit samples!
- Do they love the outdoors? Consider a pass or gift card from Arizona State Parks. The card can be used for state park day-use, overnight camping, cave tours and more across the state.
- Stargazers will appreciate the chance to experience a Mt. Lemmon Skycentre Observatory program.
- If your RV enthusiasts are planning on moving on to explore the USA as the weather improves, consider an annual pass to the National Parks. It’s a year-long gift that gives them access to several thousand federal sites across the country – including all of those in Arizona!
- Take them away on an educational jeep tour learning about desert ecology with Trail Dust Tours.
- RVers who enjoy actively seeking the past would love an historic bike tour in Tucson where they can roll past vibrant barrios, old forts and adobe-lined avenues.
Get Creative with Unique Gifts for RVers
Experiential gifts can also include things such as art classes (painting, drawing, sculpting, metalsmithing, woodworking…). What about private music lessons for the wannabe ukulele or keyboard player on your list?
Check into area writing classes if that special RVer on your list has an interest in the written word. There are always great classes to be found on writing memoirs, travel writing and blogging to be found in person or online.
Language classes are another creative gift idea. If you can’t find a local class to gift, consider a membership to an online app such as Super DuoLingo (my personal fave).
Gift Your Time
There are countless ways you can gift your time if you happen to be close to the RVers on your list. Create a gift certificate for 5, 10 or 20 hours of dog walking or pet sitting. Design an RV wash or oil change certificate.
Think about adventure time where you can offer to be a kayaking/walking/hiking/biking partner, a birdwatching bestie or geocaching cohort. Take them on a personal guided tour – one you’ve designed on your own – of a few of your favourite places in the area. Include a picnic and you have the perfect gift!
If you’d like more traditional gift ideas, check out
21 Best Camping Gifts
Gifts for RV Owners: Under $50
12 Unique Gift Ideas for RVers
Please the Palate With the Best Food Gifts for RVers
Consumables are the perfect Christmas gifts for RV owners lacking in extra storage space. Bundle up a picnic basket, a fruit basket, or savoury snack or wine & spirts or coffee & tea or local specialty foods, or homemade desserts or an everything chocolate basket.
If you can’t deliver on your own to their RV site, consider buying a basket from a local vendor. Simply Google “gift basket” with the closest town to your RVers. In Tucson, for example, I found Basket Butler within seconds.
No matter what you choose, whether it’s an experience, giving the gift of time, filling their souls with the joy of food – or a combination of all of these unique gift ideas – think small RV spaces and people who live life to the fullest!
Be sure to let us know what you’d add to this list in the comments below.
[…] your gift list! Find a few more ideas in Gifts for RV Owners: Under $50 and more unique presents in 40 Best RV Gifts for RVers. What else would you have added to this list? I’d love to know. Leave your comments […]