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Finding the right gift for someone can be hard. Gift giving for who live on the open
Before Mike and I began full-time RV life, we thought we’d made a habit of avoiding the accumulation of “stuff.” That perception quickly changed once we started the process of downsizing for our transition into the travel trailer. Like most homeowners, we lived to the constraints of our home by filling every nook and cranny of our house with….. well, everything. While we were sorting through our things, we discovered plenty of items we’d completely forgotten about!
Now living on the road full time, we are working hard at abiding by the “one in, one out” rule. I must admit, Mike is better at this than I am.
The first real test came when planning for our first Christmas in the small space of the RV. We had arrived at a crossroads of gift giving and “the rule.” What to do?!
We decided this new lifestyle called for a change in our approach to how we celebrated the holidays in general. Up to this point, we’d not given any thought to the many things we loved about the season; decorating, cooking, finding ridiculously over-lighted neighborhoods to tour, and HOW SANTA WAS GOING TO FIND US!
After a few “practicality discussions” (snooooooooooze), we decided to keep it small by gifting experiences for each other. Things we had talked about doing since embarking but not yet accomplished. It created the best Christmas memories we have to date!
With all of that also came the questions from friends and family of how they could get cards and gifts to us without any real address.
So, we came up with a few things they could send that didn’t require us to boot something out of the RV…..
Experiences –
Living small means we just do not have room for stuff. As I previously mentioned, Christmas found us deciding on a daylong adventure in lieu of giving gifts. Instead, we spent a fantastic day at Disneyland enjoying all of the holiday festivities, decorations, and FOOD!
If you know where your friends or family will be (or are headed in the future), find out what local experiences you can gift them.
Think about how wonderful it would be to gift a ferry ride to the Channel Islands or the Statue of Liberty. How about yoga or rock climbing classes in a National Park? Concerts, festivals, and fairs are happening in just about every corner of the world ALL THE TIME.
Check Groupon and Living Social where you can search by city, and there’s an option to purchase as a gift. Many cities also offer CITY PASSES which provide admission to all of the main tourist attractions and public transportation for one discounted price.
Streaming Memberships –
Living the RV life means we try to #optoutside as much as possible. However, some lazy days (or Walmart parking lot nights, more on that in a minute) call for the most indulgent form of entertainment, streaming TV!
While we don’t watch like we used to, it’s nice to watch with intention rather than flipping channels. Our go-to’s are Netflix & Hulu which take up no space and are easily giftable for any length of time. It’s worth mentioning, we were basically forced to pick up some form of service for TV as most parks and camping areas have zero TV reception.
Listening has become so much more important to me since we’ve hit the road and Audible has been a life changer in the amount of “reading” we are able to do. I’ve also found that The Great Courses Plus is a wonderful watch for those times we want something a bit more educational like photography classes or history lessons. I’ve even gone as far as downloading some of the courses so we can listen to them on travel days without worrying about a wi-fi connection.
Audible credits can be gifted individually through Amazon (which is fantastic!), and The Great Courses Plus is a monthly subscription service.
Hotel Stays –
When I was discussing the content of this article with Mike, this didn’t even occur to me!
I don’t miss much from our stationary life. However…..LONG SHOWERS ARE AT THE ABSOLUTE TOP OF THAT LIST! (and baths)
We’ve found ourselves on a few occasions making excuses just to head off for a night or two in a hotel. Meeting friends in a nearby city is the best way we’ve justified sneaking out of the RV for a weekend. You can bet the first order of business is taking the longest, hottest shower I can handle!
Gift cards –
I know this is an obvious one but let’s face it, gift cards have overcome their antiquated “impersonal” status.
In my opinion, Amazon and Walmart are the two most valuable cards and here’s why.
In our experience, most short-term stay RV parks don’t accept mail but WILL receive packages. This has been very convenient for a few reasons. Many of our household staples are either impossible to find on the road or substantially cheaper online, so we prefer to get them through Amazon when we can.
On several occasions, we’ve needed non-emergency auto parts or RV accessories. Ordering these items and shipping them to our next site has allowed us to stay on course and avoid delays or detours to a specialty store.
Amazon has stellar customer service which makes returns, shipping charges, and pick-up a breeze. The recent addition of Amazon Lockers has made using this option even easier. They’ve also contracted partners like Kohls Dept Store where they will box and ship Amazon returns at no charge!
What do we buy from Amazon? The answer: A wide variety of things. We choose whether or not to buy an item online for two reasons, convenience and/or price. For instance, the rapid-dissolving toilet paper we prefer has become increasingly hard to find. We discovered, ordering this case not only ensures we never run out, but it’s also substantially cheaper! No one can beat Amazon’s price of Spumoni’s favorite dog treats either.
Walmart is incredibly friendly to the RV lifestyle.
Most stores allow for overnight RV parking and stay open 24 hours. They carry a small selection of RV accessories and supplies should the need arise, and you’ll usually find other RV’ers which makes us feel a bit more comfortable.
Chain Restaurants get an honorable mention in this category
We rarely went to chain restaurants before we lived on the road. Although we still don’t frequent them, we’ve found ourselves in many situations where we were both tired and hungry. Though it doesn’t happen often, we will go to Chili’s Bar and Grill. With locations across the country, they have always been fast, convenient, consistent, and they have healthy options (and margaritas). There are just about as common as fast food places, and it’s an excuse to get out of the truck for a short time.
If you know what your loved ones like, get them a gift card for that chain. National chains like Brinker (Chili’s, Maggiano’s) even have cards that span both of their concepts. It may come in handy when they are in a pinch, and they’ll get to think of you over a meal.
Not all gifts need to fit in a box with a bow. We’ve found that the best gifts for us, take up no space in our tiny home.
So glad to have you here.
