If you’re looking for the best National Park gifts for the park lover in your life, then you’ve come to the right place! These gift ideas range from unique gifts to traditional gifts and will fit any price range that you are looking to spend. This post gives you our best gifts for National Park lovers and outdoor enthusiasts!
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My Personal Favorite National Park Gifts: Ideas for Anniversaries, Brithdays and Holidays
Customized National Park Coaster Set: My husband (the best gift giver in our household) gifted me this set of coasters for the holidays. He chose 4 of the parks that had particular importance to us. When you order these beautiful keepsakes on Etsy, you will be able to select the 4 parks that you want to include in your gift.
National Park Passport (Park Passports and Supplies)
National Park Classic Passport: Get “Stamp Cramp” with your own National Park Passport! Our passport books have fueled our discovery of the National Parks, and we evangelize the passport program. Get a book of your own to collect cancellation stamps and stickers at each park unit!
National Park Collector’s Edition Passport To Your National Parks: The Collector’s Edition Passport is a beautiful collection of full-color pages that are spiral-bound and contain a write up on the various National Park Units. This passport is organized by region, and allows space for the official National Park sticker as well as cancellation stamps for each park unit.
National Park Gifts for Kids (Games, Passports and More)
Road Trip Activity Pack (Printables): This 35-page printable provides games to play on a road trip for kids of all ages. One thing that I love about printable gifts is that you can print them again and again. If you and the kids find a particular game that you like, then play it again on the next trip!
54 Travel Wordsearches (Printables): For kids that love word searches and seek-and-find puzzles, this is a great set. You will find a wordsearch featuring each state and more. This is a great gift for a long road trip where you will traverse multiple states.
Junior Ranger Activity Book: This book from National Geographic features National Park inspired gampes, puzzles and trivia. It’s a great activity book for kids between 8 and 12 years.
USAopoly Trivial Pursuit: Test your National Park knowledge with this great trivia challenge. This is great for learning, and fun on long road trips!
Gifts to Capture the Action of a National Park Trip (GoPro Cameras and Accessories)
GoPro Hero 9: GoPro cameras record amazing video when engaged in active outings. From hikes to canoe trips, bike rides to scenic drives, a GoPro can capture it all with outstanding quality! The GoPro Hero 9 boasts 5K HD, industry-leading stabalization, and waterproof action. Older versions also make great gifts and can save you a little cash, so we can walk back a few generations: GoPro Hero 8, GoPro Hero 7
If your gift recipient is already a GoPro lover (and has one or more of their own), they will always benefit from additional batteries, organizing cases, and components as well. I recommend the following items below:
- GoPro Battery (compatible with the GoPro Hero 9)
- Prior Generation GoPro Battery: (for GoPro Hero 6, 7, and 8)
- GoPro Shorty (mini extension and tripod accessory compatible with any GoPro – this is by far my favorite GoPro accessory as it is compact and travels well while inviting a variety of uses – i.e. short selfie stick, tripod for creating great static video views and for recording time-lapse video, and hand held video clips)
- GoPro Handler Floating Hand Grip (compatible with any GoPro – for water sport enthusiasts)
- GoPro Suction Cup Mount (this is great for scenic drives – I mount it on the front of the vehicle, and it works beautifully to capture the nuances of the landscape)
- GoPro Casey (great for organizing your GoPro, batteries and accessories – this is a MUST have to keep everything together)
- SanDisk Extreme 256GB MicroSD Card (for additional memory for recording your video footage)
Gifts for National Park Lovers that Also Love to Read (Kindle, Audible, and Great Reads)
Kindle Paperwhite: I love my Kindle. It’s great to take with me on road trips and outdoor jaunts where I can just sit outside, enjoy the breeze and read! Kindles are great because they are lightweight, water resistent, and contian enough memory to carry hundreds of books with you wherever you go. I particularly like the Paperwhite because it helps to reduce the glare that you might experience otherwise when reading outdoors. Consider a Kindle Unlimited subscription as well to get unlimited access to thousands of great titles.
The following Kindle Accessories also make outstanding gifts! These recommendations accompany the Kindle Paperwhite above. If your gift recipient already owns a Kindle, you’ll want to make sure that the accessories are compatible with their specific version. Below are a few of my favorite cases for the Kindle Paperwhite.
Audible Subscription: Listening to books is reading – that’s where I fall on the debate! It’s great to be able to listen to a book that you’re enjoying while walking the trails or driving to an off the beaten road destination. Your Audible subscription will allow you to create a library of books in an audio format that you can listen again and again. Try Audible for free for yourself or give the gift of Audible to a book lover in your life and purchase a 1 month to 12 month subscription by clicking the button below. A good set of Earbuds is a great addition to make this gift complete!
National Geographic National Park Guide: Getting a good travel guide helps with ideas and inspiration for selecting your next trip. This guide in particular talks about each of the National Parks as well as other park units that are managed by the National Park Service (i.e. National Monuments, Battlefields, Historic Sites, etc). There is some beautiful photography and good reference material.
National Parks Keepsakes and Memory-markers
National Park Scratch Off Map: This beautiful map is a great way to keep track of the parks that you have visited. In addition to being able to track your park trips, you will have a beautiful piece of artwork to display in your home for visitors to admire. Discussing park adventures provides great topics of conversation with friends!
National Park Stickers (100 count): These are great stickers that represent the designated National Parks. This pack of 100 stickers is great for decorating water bottles, laptops, and bags when you want to show off your love for the National Parks.
Protect Our Parks Vinyl Sticker: This is a beautiful, custom-made sticker that features a rainbow and a great message to Protect Our Parks. This is one of the coolest stores for National Park stickers and outdoor adventures. Check out the store here!
2022 National Park Foundation Calendar: These beautiful wall calendars inspire us throughout the year! They are full of vivid color and feature a beautiful National Park each month. Even more, the National Park Foundation is the official fundraising arm of the National Parks, so your purchase supports our parks!
National Park Quarter Collection Book Folder Map: This gift allows you to collect all of the National Park commemorative quarters. It arranges the quarters according to their geography in the U.S.
Best Gifts During Quarantine: Projects and Gifts (for Yourself and the Family!)
National Parks Jigsaw Puzzle (1000 pieces): Early on in quarantine, we worked this puzzle together over the course of several hours. Trust us, this was a great quarantine project that caused us to reflect on our trips and also get excited for the next parks that we want to visit. This was the best gift during quarantine!
National Parks Paint by Number: I have fallen in love with Paint by Numbers during quarantine! This is a great gift for yourself or for others that produces a beautiful result worthy of hanging up on your wall (at least I think that my cow painting is… 🙂 ). If you do end up getting this kit or a similar one, you may want to consider investing in some additional paintbrushes as the ones that come with the kit are not the best. I purchased these, and they are working out great for me!
National Park Journal: I received this journal as a gift from my husband a couple of years ago. I never wrote in it because I thought that it was too nice as it’s leather-bound and is filled with beautiful quotes and full-color images. I have started to write in it – recalling some of my favorite memories from our travels, and find the quotes to be super-inspiring on days when I’m feeling sad about not traveling these days. It’s a great outlet!
Outdoors / Hiking Gift Ideas
Life Straw: These have made great gifts for us. These straws filter out bacteria and microbes from up to 1,000 gallons of water. This is a great gift for someone that loves to hike and / or camp.
Coleman Backpack Cooler: This is a great, sturdy pack. It is insulated and has separate areas for keeping items cool, and keeping items dry. We carry this pack frequently when hiking or fishing.
Nalgene Water Bottle: These water bottles are a must-have for our hikes and road trips! Not only do they save us money while we travel by keeping us from purchasing extra beverages while on the road, they also great to carry throughout the day and to take to work with us. I personally like the 32 oz bottles (featured here) because it’s a meaningful amount of water to carry, but not too heavy or awkward to carry. Simply a great product!
Headlamp: These lights come in handy on our trips that include cave tours. Honestly, even when we’re not planning to go to a park, we tend to take these because they are super lightweight to pack and we always find ourselves needing some additional light in the night time.
Safety Gifts
- First Aid Kit: A good First Aid Kit is a must have for any road tripper and outdoor lover. Make sure that you are never caught without the basic safety items for cuts and scrapes with this great gift.
- Safety Whistle: These extra loud safety whistles will give peace of mind and keep you safe when hiking or camping. Alert others of your whereabouts and feel secure that you can sound for help if necessary.
