I’ve been thinking about creating a gift giving guide for awhile now. I started thinking about it during last year’s holiday season but didn’t feel I’d been on the road long enough to offer gift ideas. But it’s been a year, so now I’m qualified. This list focuses on gifts for RVers but many make good gifts period. I also added some fun bonus gift ideas at the end, including one that will make you laugh yourself silly. And one from Supersize LIFE.

I hope you enjoy your week as the holiday gift buying and giving season begins.

Affiliate Link Disclosure: This  post contains affiliate links. I earn from qualifying purchases.

Gift Cards

Duh! How could a list of gifts for RVers  not begin here?

Gift cards are such an amazing, albeit obvious, gift. Reasons gift cards are the ideal gift for the RVer is because they are:

1. Compact;
2. Low-cost to ship, you can tuck them into a holiday card;
3. Able to allow the recipient to choose what they truly need or want;
4. An easy, low-stress option for the gift-giver.

If you are going to be giving these this season, I want to tell you about a great place to buy them. You might be asking why I recommend buying your gifts from eGifter rather than the zillion other places you find racks of gift cards.

1. eGifter has more than 250 retails to choose from, not just the big and obvious ones.
2. You can group buy (more on that in a bit).
3. You can give a gift without the physical plastic card that inevitably ends up in a landfill.
4. As the purchaser, you earn points to use later for discounts on future purchases.
5. You just might stumble on a deal. See the coupon code and current deals on the banner of their website.)

Let me share a few I found as I perused their site.

• For the traveler, there’s Hulu or CityPASS.
• There is Name Cheap for the blogger or website owner (for both buying domain names as well as hosting).
• Callaway is always a welcomed gift for the golfer. And with this link you’ll save 20%, so get a $100 gift card for just $80.
• For the RVer, consider cards from Bed Bath and Beyond, Adidas, Papa John’s (comes with a discount).
• Or for those hard-to-buy-for folks, simply buy the eGifter Choice card and let the recipient select the card.

One of the coolest features about eGifter is the group purchase. Let’s say your grandparents are playing with the idea of taking a cruise. You start a group gift then invite other family members to contribute to the collective gift. Each contributor writes a personalized message. There are a couple of videos on the site that illustrate how the group purchase works.

It’s easy, fun and delivered on the day you request.

Of course, I don’t know an RVer or anyone, really, who wouldn’t love to get an Amazon gift card where they can purchase exactly what they need or want.

Quarters

Rolls of quarters make a great gift for an RVer. You can probably guess the reason. Laundry!

Being on the road doesn’t mean the mundane chores of life cease. On a regular basis RVers need clean clothes, bedding and towels (even if using the PakTowl).

And quarters are needed. Lots and lots of quarters. I’ve also found that banks aren’t always willing to let you buy rolls of quarters unless you have an account with them. When did that happen?

Some of the bigger rigs do have washers and dryers. But often, a rig’s washer and dryer will not be large enough for comforters, winter coats, etc. Plus, an RVer might not want to launder pet items in their rig’s appliances.

In other words, at some point, all RVers need quarters for coin-operated laundry.

And the bonus with this gift is that quarters are awesome to have on hand for parking meters as well.

Harvest Hosts Membership

I talked about Harvest Hosts in a previous post. It is a unique super fun alternative to the campground or RV park. A membership gives the RVer access to a map of nearly 900 participating wineries, breweries, museums, farms and other attractions that serve as Hosts. When RVers are looking to overnight in an area, they look on the map for a nearby Host. Then call ahead to make sure it works for the Host. The payback for the free overnight spot is the RVer is expected to patronize the business.

I’ve stayed at some lovely wineries, drank awesome wine and met fabulous owners and vintners. It truly doesn’t get any better.

And when you consider a single night at an RV park can cost up to $50, it’s a no-brainer that every RVer needs a membership. Do the math. If the RVer stays at a Harvest Host spot a few times during the entire year, the membership has already paid for itself.

Annual membership is $79 which easily pays for itself with just two or three uses in a year. Use it more than that and it’s all gravy. (Is that the right expression?) By clicking HERE or below, you can save 15%, just grab the discount code that will appear across the banner at the top.

Stamps

No doubt, this was more true years ago than it is now. Still, there are always items that need to go snail mail.

If you buy postage stamps online, let me share a tip. Be sure you aren’t paying more than the value of the stamp. If you are, consider going into your local post office. I found stamps on Amazon at cost. But, be careful. Do the math. I also found many of the options on Amazon more than cost, sometimes double.

I love sending postcards from the road (more on that in the last Supersize LIFE section of the post) so, these days, I buy 20 postcard stamps for every letter stamp. So, I’ve wandered into many a small town post office.

And, in case you are wondering, letters are currently 50 cents to mail while sending a postcard will cost you 35 cents.

Socks

A very strange phenomenon began after I left sticks-and-bricks life. My socks started disappearing.

I’m not kidding!

In sticks-and-bricks life, a sock might go AWOL for a little while only to be found in the fold of a towel or in a pant leg. But in RV life, they just disappear. Gone. Forever. Never to be heard from again.

It must be elves in the public laundry mat washers and dryers. There is no other explanation. None. I swear, I do a last washer and dryer check to make sure they are empty. But I get back to the RV to fold the clothes and, inevitably, a sock comes up missing.

Add to the elf thieves the fact that I spend a lot of time in socks-only in my RV life. Socks-only wear out much faster than when you also wear shoes.

It means I buy a lot more socks in RV life.

I found a fun online option for my sock purchases. Renfro Socks offers a big variety.

There are brands you’ll recognize such as New Balance, Dr. Scholl, Fruit of the Loom, Hot Sox and many others. They offer socks for specific needs such as diabetic and compression socks. As well, they carry specialty sizes such as big and tall.

I use footies for my around-the-rig socks. According to the Renfro Socks website, these are now called no-show socks. I assume it means you can wear them with shoes and they don’t show. For me, those never show because they ride down my foot. I don’t find them good for shoes but they are perfect, easy on and off, rig socks.

Then I buy the ankle socks, now apparently called low-cut socks. (Seriously, this is making me feel old. Reminds me of my grandmother calling her couch the davenport and me thinking she was so old fashioned.) The ankle socks are for outings when I put on a pair of sneakers.

Finally, and even though I don’t wear them often, I love looking at the novelty socks. Renfro has a lot to choose from. Sadly, I have to report I didn’t find any RV ones. But on the bright side, it put a smile on my face to find ones with coffee, a beach scene and one pair with hot air balloons.

I buy socks in bulk as I’m sure you figured out by now. So it’s great that all orders over $45 are shipped for free. Check them out and let me know which novelty ones you love.

Paperless Books

I love books. Love, love, love books. I love story and the experience of reading. I love the feel and smell of paper, love turning the page. Love the first page filled with possibilities. You might guess, I haven’t embraced the e-reader. And, the truth is, I haven’t had to.

Yet.

I had hundreds of books to downsize during my four years of planning for RV life. In the end, I kept a handful of books I’d previously read that I couldn’t bear to part with (favorites like The Glass Castle, The Giant’s House: A Romance and Riding the White Horse Home: A Western Family Album).

But I could not bring myself to get rid of books I hadn’t yet read. It seemed like such a poor financial decision since I’d already paid for them. So, despite all logic, I brought six boxes of books with me into RV life.

I thought I’d get through them super-fast. But that hasn’t come to pass. I don’t read as much as I imagined I would on the road. But after I make my way through all six boxes, my plan is to purchase an e-reader (my current top pick is the Kindle Paperwhite). I know the reading experience won’t be the same but the compactness of an e-reader, I hope, will outweigh my love of holding a physical book.

I’m currently listening to The Shooters by WEB Griffin. Another favorite, though not a mystery, is Wild by Cheryl Strayed. You might say I’m a little obsessed with this book. I read the physical book twice, picked it for my Book Club and have listened to the audiobook three times. It’s a fantastic road trip audiobook. Oh, yeah, and, most recently, I purchased the movie.

In addition to my six boxes of books, I came to RV life with one box of audiobooks. But once I am through them, I’m going to transition to Audible, an audiobook service where you download the selection. It’ll get me away from the physical product. Besides saving room, this is a much better deal economically for someone like me who listens to a lot of content.

Audiobooks are great for driving days for the RVer.

And here is an unexpected tip. Audiobooks are also great for those who have trouble falling asleep. You’d think it would make falling asleep harder but it becomes like white noise. But more than that, I think it probably hearkens back to childhood and the lull of being read to. There is something soothing about it, even if you like murder mysteries. Try it.

Any of these would be a fantastic gift for an RVer. The Kindle Paperwhite, CD audiobooks or a subscription to Audible.

Eye Mask and Ear Plugs

Speaking of a good night’s sleep, let’s talk about how unsettling it can be at a new campground or RV park. In sticks-and-bricks life, the sounds you hear outside your bedroom window—be it dogs barking next door and garbage trucks backing up—are so every day to you, you no longer hear the noise.

But when you go someplace new, you hear everything for the simple fact that they are new to you. They haven’t yet blended into the background of your life.

Now imagine as an RVer, being someplace new with new sounds, new light patterns and new smells on a regular, even frequent, basis.

It can make for a rough night’s sleep. RVers regularly talk about this. The first night or two in a new place doesn’t make for the best sleep.

If you want to help an RVer avoid this, consider gifting an eye mask and ear plugs. Blocking out sound and light can go a long way toward a good night’s sleep by keeping croaking frogs, street lights and passing trains at bay.

Maps

I had no idea this post was going to basically turn into a confession about all the ways I’m behind the times, technologically speaking. After all these confessions, you’re probably going to be left wondering how I even manage to get a blog post up on the world wide web thingamabob, week in and week out.

Well, let’s just say, it ain’t easy.

For those keeping track, the tally so far: I read physical books, write paper checks, send those checks snail mail, all my music and audiobooks are physical CDs, all the movies I watch are on physical DVDs, and, though I’ve heard of Pandora I’ve never once used it.

My sister often muses that it’s a wonder I function at all in the world, being so “granny” and all.

That all said, I do use my phone to help me drive from place to place. It’s not perfect, to be sure. For example, there was the time I got off the highway to get a coffee and instead of telling me to get back on the highway, the phone led me down a bumpy dirt road, into a National Forest and up a mountain. I thought it would eventually lead me back to the highway. It didn’t.

Then there was that time—and this cracks me up—that instead of going straight on the highway, it had me get off, drive one block perpendicular, then turn and left drive one block parallel to the highway I’d just gotten off of. And, yep, you guessed it, I did a third turn and ended up back on the highway.

I thought it might be taking me a secret special way and instead it, basically, drove me in a circle. I did all of that at 20 mph instead of the 55 I could’ve gone had I stayed on the highway. That was five minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

Seriously, I think phones know exactly what they are doing and laughing their electronic behinds off around the water cooler.

When I ended up driving through the hay field, I was brand new at RVing and still scared most of the time. So, you can imagine, I got really scared 20 miles later when I was on a narrow forest road and lost my cell service. I had no idea where I was. It was sleeting. No one else was on the road. The road was so narrow I wasn’t sure I’d be able to turn around.

The experience left me shaken. But, in case you are wondering, I lived. I ended up finding a place to turn around (though if a car had come from the other way around the corner, I’d be telling a very different story) and drove back exactly as I’d come. Back through the hay field on a bumpy road, back to the coffee shop, which by the way was only about six blocks from the highway I’d gotten off of to begin with.

So, I got my wits scared out of me, lost an hour and ended up back where I started. I returned to the highway before I asked the phone for directions again.

It was a good lesson. Now I have a Rand MacNally’s Atlas and miscellaneous road maps tucked in my van.

Electronics aren’t perfect and, no doubt, upgrading to a better GPS system than my phone would help. But I’m guessing many RVers don’t carry paper maps. It’s a mistake.

Take it from me, they should. Everyone should.

National Park Pass

Let’s start with a trivia question. Do you know how many national parks there are in the US? Think about it and I’ll provide the answer at the end of this section.

Everyone knows national parks are a national treasure. Did you see Ken Burns’ 6-part documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea? I loved it, looked forward to each new episode. It was fantastic and informative.

RVers and national parks are a natural perfect pairing.

A National Parks Annual Pass for the national park system is an amazing gift for an RVer and one, no doubt, that will get a lot of use. Like the Harvest Host membership, it only takes a few visits for the pass to pay for itself. The pass is $80 but a 7-day pass to the Grand Canyon is $35. If you wanted to stay two weeks, double the price. Yellowstone? Ditto.

And for those over 62, a lifetime pass can be purchased for the same $80. The same senior pass gets you 50% off campground fees in many of parks.

The pass, please note, is much bigger than the national parks. It actually gets you in to more than 2,000 places including wildlife refuges as well as day passes for national forests, grasslands and other areas managed by BLM. However, it doesn’t include state parks.

If you want to include a little something extra to the gift, a great addition is Your Guide to National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 59 National Parks. It’s a book filled with photos, maps and descriptions of each glorious one.

And there you have it, the answer to the trivia question. There are 59 national parks in the US.

For the Stocking

I did a post about the nine most used, must have RV gadgets under $10. I thought about including a mixed box of fuses. The box of 100 I purchased before embarking on RV life was under $10. They are a must have item for any RVer.

But, in the end, I couldn’t put them on the list because if you are doing things right they should not be one of your most used items. In fact, hopefully, you use them rarely. Because replacing a fuse means you’ve done something wrong, creating the need for a new one.

The biggest culprit is overloading your outlets and using too much RV amp juice. Honestly, I don’t know how it all works but I know sometimes you can flip a switch, just like in sticks-and-bricks life. In that case, you go to the breaker box and flip it back and you are good to go.

But there are times when the fuse just blows and must be replaced. A mixed box of fuses ensures you are prepared when that day arrives. It was an easy, no-brainer, $10 purchase.

Be sure to also pick up a pair of needle-nose pliers because they can help you pull the blown fuse out. Sometimes fingers are too big to get a grip without upsetting other fuses nearby.

And as an added bonus, I found needle-nose pliers on the recommended supply list for a well-stocked pet first aid kit. They remove sticker-things (I don’t know what they are called but Solstice stepped on a lot of them in Texas) and tics from your pet.

So needle-nose pliers do double-duty.

For the Laughter

Apparently BeanBoozled has been out a while but just last week I discovered it. According to the Jelly Belly website, the game has been around since 2008. Hopefully, I’m not the only one who hadn’t played it.

My sister came for a visit and we ended up in a seaside candy store. I bought purple M&Ms. And guess what? Turns out purple M&Ms taste better than regular M&Ms. I swear.

As I picked different flavors of taffy for us (because of course when you are in a seaside candy store, you must get saltwater taffy), my sister found the display with the BeanBoozled game. You know it’s going to be fun when the packaging alone makes you laugh.

How it works is that there are two flavors of Jelly Bellies for every color. So a white one could be yummy coconut (my very favorite Jelly Belly flavor) or spoiled milk. You could get buttered popcorn or rotten egg.

It is hilarious and terrifying all at once. You’ve never been so afraid to bite into a little ol’ jelly bean. There are five different editions of the game, making for many opportunities to twist and scrunch your face when you bite into skunk spray, canned dog food or booger.

But it’s not all bad and scary. Just think, you might get lucky and bite into tutti-fruity or juicy pear.

Since I’m writing about it here, the cat’s out of the bag. I’ve already been back to the candy shop and bought several more boxes of the game. Merry Christmas, friends and family!

If you aren’t laughing hard enough after playing it, go to YouTube and search “BeanBoozled” for other people playing. Be warned: you might pee your pants from laughing.

Hmm, now there’s a flavor idea for sixth edition.

For the Blogger

For those on my email list, recently I sent a special email to let you know of a class I took called Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. Affiliate marketing, for those interested, is an advertising model where a company pays a third party (someone like me or you) a small commission on products or services the third party promotes.

Amazon is the biggie and the one almost everyone has heard of before. You’ve probably seen my notices and disclosures about my Amazon links. But there are thousands and thousands of companies who have affiliate programs, including those listed in this post and on my Items I Love pages.

If you have a blog and are interested in pursuing making money via the blog, this class is a great first step. There are bloggers out there making five and even six figures a year through affiliate marketing. It’s serious business.

Gifts for RVers and For Everyone

I’ve teased Supersize LIFE’s products and services for a couple of months now. Today, I am ready to share one of those items.

Maybe you figured it out in the Stamps section above?

Postcards! I want to send readers postcards from the places I visit.

Once a month, for 12 months, I’ll send you a postcard from wherever I am. During 2019, you’ll get postcards from Oregon, Alabama, Wisconsin, Wyoming and New Mexico. Those are the places I know for sure because I’ve already made plans and reservations. Who knows where else? That will remain a surprise until the picked-out-just-for-you postcard arrives in your mailbox.

The cost of $34.95 covers postage and postcards with a little left over to support the blog.

It would be a great gift to give yourself—and what holiday season is complete without at least one gift to yourself? Or a fun, different gift to a friend, family member or co-worker.

Click on the Buy Now button below. There is a note section. Because it isn’t long enough for an address, write your email address. Then I’ll get in touch to verify the name and address of who you want the cards to go to. If you gift it to a friend, I’ll make sure they know it’s from you.

And watch for the first postcard within a few weeks!

In the Coming Weeks

I know this was a long post. I know lots of bloggers offer holiday gift guides so I appreciate you reading mine. But I didn’t want to just put a bunch of products in a post. I like sharing the stories of why I think the items are good ideas.

Next week, I offer a few more. Next week will be all about the RV kitchen appliances and the week after will be able RV kitchen gadgets on my must-have list. 

Links to Referenced SSL Blog Posts Above:

• A Unique Camping Option
• 9 Most Used RV Gadgets Under $10
• Best RV Kitchen Appliances
• Best RV Kitchen Gadgets