Our first Christmas in our RV was wonderfully cozy, but also filled with hard lessons. And one of those lessons? That strategic gift giving is necessary when you live in a teeny tiny space with kids—which is to say, gifts for full-time RVing kids need to be well thought out.
These days, we know exactly what types of gifts to encourage our kids to include on their Christmas lists. Here are our top ideas for full-time RVing kids. These include all of the best things we’ve gifted our own kids over the years, as well as some items we’ve seen other RVing kids receive and love.
Top Toys for RVing Kids
Let’s start with the toys. Currently, I only have one kid who cares about toys at all, and I am very selective about what we buy her. The same was true for her older brother when he was little.
The toys below are things that have been used on a regular basis (and therefore earned their place) during our travels.
Ride-On Toys
Bikes, scooters, and other ride-on toys have always been popular with our kids, as well as with the other kids in campgrounds we visit. They are a great way for kids to get exercise and play with new friends, and they offer an easy mode of transportation when you need to get around a large RV park. Just make sure you have a way to transport whatever ride-on toy you choose.
Sand Toys
We love to have a good collection of sand toys on hand at all times. We use these when visiting beaches, of course—which does happen year-round because of how we follow the weather—but also to play in the dirt and mud at various campsites.
Play Silks
I love open-ended toys that allow kids to use their imaginations and can be used for a variety of different purposes. Play silks fall perfectly into that category. They can be used as dress-up clothes, baby doll clothes, or even toy food.
Building Toys
In our house, LEGO is the building toy of choice, and we absolutely love our LEGO blocks. That said, Magna-Tiles and the like have also been fantastic members of our kids’ toy collections over the years. Basically, any building toy that gives kids the opportunity to get creative and build whatever they desire is perfect!
Toy Dishes and Kitchen
For whatever reason, toy dishes get more use than pretty much any other toy we have ever owned. Both of our kids have loved pretending to prepare and serve food. We even went so far as to create a tiny kitchen out of a cardboard box for our oldest, and when our youngest was ready for a kitchen, we got the portable Little Tikes sink and stove, which is small and easy to store and offers a space to store the dishes.
Small Playsets
The one you choose will depend on your child’s tastes, but the idea here is to choose a type of playset that is both small enough to store easily and can be endlessly expanded upon to offer tons of new play options.
Some examples include:
- Playmobil
- Barbie
- Hot Wheels
- Imaginext
- Polly Pocket
Whichever you choose, stick to it and make a point of gifting (or asking loved ones for) expansions to this type of playset rather than accumulating bits and pieces of several types of playsets. For one thing, this makes it easier to organize and store the toys. On top of that, a single enormous playset with several expansions is much more appealing than several small playsets.
Consumable Gift Options
I love consumables as gifts for RVing kids because while they do take up space for a month or two, eventually they run out and no longer require that precious cabinet space. There are tons of fun consumable gift options out there, and sometimes these are the gifts that my kids get most excited about.
Art Supplies
Art supplies are a must-have in our RV. We always have a tub of supplies on hand, and items to restock the box are always appreciated as gifts. This can include paints, paper, markers, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, glues, glitter, popsicle sticks, and pretty much anything else you can think of to put in an art-making collection.
Bubbles and Chalk
Bubbles and chalk are fun things to play with outdoors, especially if there are some RVing friends in the campground to play with. Unfortunately, both chalk and bubbles have a tendency to run out really quickly. That’s why I include these items in pretty much every Christmas stocking (and Easter basket, Valentine’s Day present, birthday gift, etc).
Special Snacks
There are certain snacks that my kids beg for, but I refuse to buy them on a day-to-day basis—not only because they shouldn’t be consumed on a regular basis but also because the price tag is outrageous. These include things like Kinder Joy eggs, Dunkaroos, and for the teenager, Starbucks Frappuccino bottles.
Christmas is the perfect time to gift these things, and stockings are the ideal size to hold such gifts!
“Experience Gift” Ideas
Experience gifts are my absolute favorite of all the gifts for RVing kids. These gifts take up zero space (or close to it) but provide tons of fun and excitement, as well as some amazing memories. To make the receiving experience more fun, we like to set up scavenger hunts that lead them to the gift reveal.
Reciprocal Memberships
Easily my favorite of the experience gifts, reciprocal memberships (offered by places like museums and theme parks) are the gifts that keep on giving. They are perfect because they can be used at participating locations all across the country, meaning they work well for nomads and can be used over and over all year long.
Some reciprocal membership ideas include:
- ASTC: Free admission to science museums
- AZA: Half-price or free admission to zoos and aquariums
- NARM: Free admission to art and other niche museums
- ACM: Half-price admission to children’s museums
- Six Flags Gold Pass with All Park Passport
- Cedar Fair Season Pass with All Park Passport
- SeaWorld Platinum Pass
- Merlin Pass: Access to LEGOLAND parks and discovery centers, Madame Tussauds, SEA LIFE aquariums, and more
Attraction Passes
Even if a reciprocal membership doesn’t quite fit the bill for your gift-giving needs, even a pass to an attraction you’ll be traveling near could work out well. We purchased annual passes to Universal Orlando one year, and another year we paid for our son to swim with sea lions. Take a look at your upcoming travel plans to see what you can come up with!
Event Tickets
In the same vein as attraction tickets, you could also find out what sorts of events are coming up in a given area and then purchase tickets to something you know your kids would enjoy. Think concerts, performances, workshops, classes, festivals, etc.
Gift Cards
Gift cards can also be a nice way to give an experience. For instance, if your kids have been wanting to see a specific movie, a movie theater gift card might be just the thing. A gift card to an ice cream shop or coffee shop could also be nice, as could a bowling alley or skating rink gift certificate.
Other Useful Items for RVing Kids
As my oldest heads into his teen years, I’m finding toys are not really his thing anymore, and I have to find other items that he enjoys without giving junk. Some things we’ve given in the past couple of years include the following.
Tablet or E-Reader
Generally speaking, I don’t love giving my kids screens. That said, they do have their place.
For instance, we can’t always have all of the physical books we’d like to own, so a tablet or e-reader allows us to have a limitless library of digital books instead, something my kids appreciate. If your kids don’t already have a way to read digital books, something like this could be a good option.
Headphones
On long driving days or boring rainy days, the screens will be used for things other than reading. Unfortunately, multiple tablets playing different videos and games can get really annoying really quickly. For this reason, I like for every member of our family to own a pair of headphones. If your kids don’t have headphones, consider making them one of the gifts for RVing kids you give this year.
Hobby Supplies or Tools
As my son gets older, he finds more and more hobbies. I love this, really, but it can get pretty expensive. This is why many hobby supplies and tools end up being Christmas gifts. This ensures my son loves his Christmas gifts and gets lots of good use out of them.
Needed Clothing Items
Obviously, I don’t make my kids wait until the holidays for clothes. That said, if there is something they happen to need around Christmas time, I will absolutely buy that item and wrap it up for Christmas.
When I do this, I like to try to make an extra special version of that item. Something like character underwear instead of plain white, or a sparkly shirt rather than a solid colored one.
New Water Bottle or Water Bottle Sling
Something we use every day? Our water bottles. Because of this, our bottles have a tendency to look dinged up and worn out pretty quickly. Our kids have gotten new water bottles as gifts on more than one occasion, and I’m sure it’ll happen again. We’ve also purchased water bottle slings as gifts, something that has worked out quite nicely on trips to national parks and the like.
Obviously, these are far from the only great gifts for full-time RVing kids, and you know your kids and what they most want and need better than anyone. That said, I do think this is a pretty solid list of ideas for someone who has no clue what to get the full-time RVing kids in their life. I know I’m getting a few things from this list myself!
