Gifts for Campers (2026): 55 Picks From 379 Nights Outside
I picked up an unlabeled stuff sack, unzipped it, and found it full of straps. "Oh, these go with the hammock," I said, looking around to pair it up.
That was a Sunday in August 2025, in a public storage unit, sorting the Outdoorithm Collective's gear with two board members, Kay Fernandez Smith and Michelle Austin, and one of our youth leaders. Standing there with the straps in my hand, I was flooded with memories: kids figuring out how to set up that hammock, younger kids clamoring for turns, squeals of laughter as they piled on together. What started as inventory became something sacred.
So when someone asks what to buy the camper in their life, we take it seriously. This is what we'd put in the box after 156 trips and 379 nights outdoors: gear we own and use, plus a few things we tell friends to buy. Where it's a recommendation instead of ours, the entry says so.
Quick picks, if you only read this far
| If you're shopping for | Get this | Buy it |
|---|---|---|
| Someone new to camping | NEMO Roamer sleeping pad | $259.95 at REI |
| A family that already camps | Helinox Cot One Convertible L | $399.95 from Helinox |
| A kid | Big Agnes Little Red 20 sleeping bag | $99.95 at REI |
| Under $25 | Rolla Roaster marshmallow forks | $21.95 at REI |
| The one who has everything | Bosch handheld vacuum | check price at Amazon |
| The splurge | Springbar Classic Jack 140 | $1,299 from Springbar |
Shop by budget
| Budget | Gifts in this guide |
|---|---|
| Under $25 | Coghlan's egg holder, UCO Sweetfire tinder, Sawyer picaridin, Hydro Flask camp plate, permethrin, GSI cutlery, Rolla Roaster forks |
| $25 to $100 | Black Diamond Wiz Kid, Kelty Chef Roll, Rumpl pillow, Coast RL35R, Dometic GO jug, ENO DoubleNest, tarp pole, Petzl Actik Core, Little Red 20 |
| $100 to $300 | cot leg extensions, Wawona Bed 20, Rocky Talkie Expedition radio, Helinox Sunset chair, Big Agnes Echo Park 20, NEMO Roamer, Ignik FireCan Elite |
| $300 and up | Helinox Cot One Convertible L, YETI Roadie 60, Wawona 6, Wawona 8, Springbar Classic Jack 140 |
Sleep: the upgrades nobody buys for themselves
The secret is your sleeping pad, not your bag. On our first group trip at Bothe-Napa, the friends sleeping on the ground were awake at 3am wondering why anyone does this for fun. We were in the canvas tent on cots. Same campsite, completely different night.
NEMO Roamer sleeping pad
A NEMO Roamer on a cot sleeps better than most hotels, and on the ground it still turns the night into one you'd repeat. If you buy a new camper one thing, buy this. Skip it for backpackers; this is a car-camping pad.
Buy it: Our pick: $259.95 single, $279.95 single wide, at REI
Helinox Cot One Convertible L
Cots changed our camping: off the cold ground, flat, with storage underneath. Ours is the long version, the Helinox Cot One Convertible L, and it fits the Roamer and other large pads like it. The leg extensions raise it higher. We wrote a setup guide from our own setup. It needs a tent tall enough to stand in. On a budget, a Naturehike cot gets the job done.
Buy it: Our pick: $399.95 from Helinox · leg extensions, $114.95 at REI · Value pick: Naturehike: check price at Amazon
Big Agnes Echo Park 20, long wide
Get a bag rated 10 to 15 degrees colder than the lowest temperature you expect; spring nights in California drop into the 40s after 70-degree days. We've slept in the Big Agnes Echo Park 20 long wide on our trips. It's warmer than our NEMO Jazz, nearly as comfortable because there's room to move, and the liner is soft instead of slick synthetic. For less, the Wawona Bed 20 is a great starting point. Here's the order we'd buy a first kit.
Buy it: Our pick: $219.95 at REI · Value pick: Wawona Bed 20, $150 at REI
Rumpl pillow and puffy blanket
The most forgotten item in camping is a real pillow. The Rumpl adjustable pillow is the one we recommend; it packs small. The Rumpl Nanoloft blanket lives in our bedding duffel for the nights you need one more layer.
Buy it: pillow, $59.95 at REI · blanket: check price at Amazon
For kids who camp
Eliza carries a small backpack with her own water bottle, a flashlight, and one stuffed animal. She packs it herself, and she hasn't lost any of it across half a dozen trips. Gear that fits a kid is gear they take care of.
Big Agnes Little Red 20 sleeping bag
The Little Red 20 is the kids' bag when the temperature drops.
Buy it: $99.95 at REI
Black Diamond Wiz Kid, the headlamp for little hands
Our kids five and under use the Black Diamond Wiz Kid. A good, simple headlamp for little hands.
Buy it: $34.95 at REI
Glow sticks
A glow stick or two per kid, and the tent stops being a dark place. Eliza wears hers as a necklace through dessert.
Walkie-talkies: Rocky Talkie, or Midland for less
When the kids head off to explore the campground, they grab a walkie-talkie. On a big group hike, the front and rear leads each carry one, so we keep the group together and don't lose anyone. More and more, the radios we use are Rocky Talkie Expedition radios; our Midland walkie-talkies are the value pick.
Buy it: Our pick: Rocky Talkie: check price at Amazon · Value pick: Midland: check price at Amazon
The camp kitchen
The kitchen is where a campsite becomes a camp. Everyone flips pancakes. Everyone washes dishes.
Camp Chef Everest 2X stove
The Camp Chef Everest 2X has two burners with real output and honest simmer control: eggs on one side, coffee water on the other. We cooked on one before the Jetboils took over our table, and it's still the stove we recommend. The rest of our kitchen is here.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Napoleon TravelQ 285 grill
The piece of our kitchen we love beyond reason. The Napoleon TravelQ 285 has two burners you control separately, which means indirect heat, which means you can bake at camp. We know what a morning without it looks like: we once left it at home and made pancakes on a griddle balanced over a little fire can.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Kelty Chef Roll
Our kitchen utensils live rolled up in the Kelty Chef Roll instead of loose in a bin, so nobody has to keep digging through the tote to find the spatula.
Buy it: $44.95 at REI
YETI Rambler and a water jug with a faucet
Our morning trick: boil a full kettle, pour it into the 46-ounce YETI Rambler, and there's hot water for coffee and cocoa all morning without relighting anything. The Dometic GO 11-liter jug puts water with a faucet on the table, so nobody walks to the spigot eleven times a day.
Buy it: Rambler: check price at Amazon · jug, $70 at REI
YETI Roadie 60 wheeled cooler
We hauled a YETI Tundra 45 for years, and loaded it's heavy. Now we roll a YETI Roadie 60. It isn't certified bear-resistant the way a padlocked Tundra is, so check the campground's food rule. For a few trips a summer, the RTIC 45 is the same idea for less.
Buy it: Our pick: Roadie, $475 at REI · Value pick: RTIC: check price at Amazon
Ooni Koda 12 pizza oven
Pizza night converts camping skeptics. Prep the toppings at home and let the kids build their own on the Ooni Koda 12. Never leave the dough unattended in bear country.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Fire, light, and the evening
MPOWERD Luci solar string lights
Hang the Luci string lights before dark, because it's easier now than later. Solar, so there are no batteries to manage. When friends walk into our tent and see a rug, string lights, and actual furniture, their whole idea of camping shifts. The lights aren't fluff. They're hospitality.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Coast RL35R voice-controlled headlamp
A kid needs the bathroom at 11pm and your arms are already full. The Coast RL35R runs on your voice. The kids tell it to turn off from inside their bags, and they've figured out they can stroll past me and order it to go bright green, purely for the giggle. Prefer buttons? The Petzl Actik Core is the classic. One headlamp per person, not one per family.
Buy it: Coast, $69.95 at REI · Petzl, $87.95 at REI
Outland Living 870 propane fire pit
We run two Outland 870 fire pits on every group trip. They light with a knob, throw enough heat to circle up around, make no smoke, and are usually allowed during fire bans when wood isn't. For one that also cooks, the Ignik FireCan Elite is the little can Justin once balanced a griddle on to make pancakes, half hot, half not.
Buy it: Outland: check price at Amazon · Ignik, $299.95 at REI
Rolla Roaster marshmallow forks
We use Rolla Roaster forks on every trip. No more hunting for a stick and stripping it. Roast the marshmallow, then burn the old melted mallow off the tines and they're ready for the next round.
Packing for a trip? Our free interactive checklist tracks everything, tent to toothbrush, so nothing gets left in the garage.
Open the camping checklistBuy it: $21.95 at REI
EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus power station
We run EcoFlow batteries with solar panels, so phones, lights, and speakers stay charged. The RIVER 3 Plus is the size to start with.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
ViewSonic M1X portable projector
Some nights the kids would rather huddle around a movie than a fire. The ViewSonic M1X is light, has a small footprint, and runs a movie on its battery. We string up a screen, or just project onto the side of a canvas tent.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Chairs, hammocks, and the gifts nobody admits to wanting
Helinox Sunset chair, or the Cascade Mountain Tech for less
Camp chairs are where camping happens. We've watched dolphins from ours on the bluffs at New Brighton. Helinox Sunset chairs pack small and sit at conversation height; the kids have the smaller Helinox Beach chair. The Cascade Mountain Tech High-Back gets you 80 percent of the way for a fraction of the price. Two good chairs beat one fancy one.
Buy it: Our pick: Helinox, $189.95 at REI · Value pick: Cascade: check price at Amazon
A hammock: the ENO DoubleNest
Our hammock has cradled every giggling kid we've handed into it, and on a slow afternoon it does more for morale than any gadget we own. For a gift, the ENO DoubleNest is the classic: room for two, and it packs small. Skip it if their favorite campground is a beach with no trees.
Buy it: $74.95 at REI
Ruggable outdoor rug
A washable rug defines the space, keeps dirt at bay, and makes everything feel intentional. The Ruggable Campo 5x7 is the size for a family tent floor, and at home it goes in the wash.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
IRIS weathertight storage bins
We used to pack in laundry baskets. Things fell out, got lost, got wet. Clear IRIS bins with weatherstripped lids fixed all three. Give a set with the bin system post.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Bosch handheld vacuum
The gift for the camper who has everything. Pine needles, cracker crumbs, a startling amount of dog hair. The Bosch handheld vacuum lives in our gear bin. Two minutes over the cots and the rug while everyone's at the fire, and the tent feels lived-in instead of gritty.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Thetford Porta Potti 365
Nobody puts this on a wish list. At Lake Alpine West Shore our favorite site is a long, dark walk from the toilets. We started bringing our own bathroom during COVID and never stopped. The Porta Potti 365 is the difference between kids who hold it until they're miserable and kids who just go. How we run it.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Starlink Mini
Yes, we bring Starlink Mini when we're working remotely. Reliable internet means we camp more often.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Rain and bugs
AquaQuest Safari tarp, with two adjustable poles
Joshua Tree, New Year's Eve, ten at night, pouring rain. I held the pole while Justin staked. In the morning everything under our AquaQuest Safari tarp was bone dry, and we built a fire under cover. Add two REI adjustable tarp poles and rain camping stops being a big deal.
Buy it: tarp: check price at Amazon · poles, $79.95 each at REI
Thermacell E55 rechargeable repeller
Set the Thermacell E55 on the picnic table at dusk and the space where you sit and eat goes quiet. Light it before the bugs arrive; wind is its enemy. The whole mosquito system is here.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
Stocking stuffers
| Gift | Why give it | Buy it |
|---|---|---|
| Coghlan's 12-Egg Holder | Cartons go soft in a cooler and the eggs crack. This case ends both. | $6.95 at REI |
| UCO Sweetfire tinder | Lights soaking wet. We learned what that's worth at Pfeiffer Big Sur in a December rain. | $6.95 at REI |
| Exotac titanLIGHT | The refillable lighter we've carried since 2019. | check price at Amazon |
| Sawyer picaridin | For skin. At Kings Creek in Lassen we put it on after the bites instead of before. | $10.95 at REI |
| Sawyer permethrin | Sprayed on clothes at home the night before. | $18.50 at REI |
| ThermoPro thermometer | The probe says done, not the clock. | check price at Amazon |
| Hustle Clean body wipes | Four days at Indian Cove, forty people, no running water, and nobody complained about the lack of a shower. Black-owned, and an REI Embark partner of ours. | check price at Amazon |
| Hydro Flask camp plate | Insulated, so dinner is still warm when the kids finally sit down. | $16.95 at REI |
| GSI Glacier cutlery | Real forks beat rest-stop plastic. | $19.95 at REI |
| HotHands hand warmers | On snowy hikes and snow-play days we drop hand warmers into our gloves. | check price at Amazon |
| A deck of cards | A storm afternoon under the tarp at Gerle Creek. The kids still talk about it. | Any deck |
Merino wool socks
Whether we're out hiking or camping, we only wear merino wool socks: no stink, and they stay warm even when they get wet. We have thin ones, thick ones, tall ones, and short ones for different weather and activities. A pair like the Darn Tough merino hiker is a good start to a collection.
Buy it: $26 a pair at REI
The one big gift: a tent you can stand up in
Justin is 6'3", and after years of hunching in dome tents we refused to buy anything under 6'6" of peak height. When you can stand up to change clothes, camping stops feeling like a compromise.
Not ready for canvas: the North Face Wawona 6 or Wawona 8. Near-vertical walls, real standing room, and our own step-by-step setup guides.
Buy it: Wawona 6, $585 at REI · Wawona 8, $785 at REI
The value canvas tent: the Kodiak Flex-Bow. Maab put a 10x10 up solo, the first canvas tent she had ever pitched, and beamed.
Buy it: check price at Amazon
The one we'd buy again: the Springbar Classic Jack 140. Four years and six canvas tents later, this is the one we'd keep: six and a half feet of headroom, five cots with room to spare. At Indian Cove the high-desert wind hit the tents all night, and in the morning not a single guy line was loose. Springbar versus Kodiak, in full.
Buy it: $1,299 from Springbar
The gift that isn't gear: a campsite, booked
The actual camping is the easy part. It's the booking that breaks you. The best summer sites open six months out and fill the moment they do, so the best gift we know is a site with their name on it. Look up when their campground opens, book it the morning the window opens, and put the confirmation in a card. If the weekend is already gone, set a cancellation alert on it. It can't promise a site, but it watches for the cancellation so they don't have to.
Two more that aren't gear: an America the Beautiful annual pass, and an REI gift card for the thing on this list you weren't sure about.
What not to gift
Don't buy the core kit for someone who already camps. They have a tent, a bag, a pad, and opinions about all three; buy the upgrade they'd never buy themselves. Skip sized apparel without them in the room, and skip the giant lantern with the harsh white light. A headlamp per person plus some string lights is the whole lighting plan.
Back in that storage unit, I watched one of our youth leaders carefully organize gear for families she's never met but already considers community. Every tent has held families with their own stories. The hammock has cradled giggling children. The grill has cooked meals shared between strangers who became friends. That's what you're buying when you buy any of this. What we tend today becomes the gift we pass along tomorrow.
How we chose
Printed prices are the live REI, Helinox, or Springbar price, checked September 20, 2026, and can change. Amazon doesn't let us print prices, so those links always say check price. Some links pay us a small commission at no cost to you. The picks would be the same without it.
Gift FAQ: questions people ask
What is something every camper needs?
A headlamp per person and a sleeping pad with real insulation. The pad is the piece beginners skip and regret; a NEMO Roamer is the one we'd give.
What is the most forgotten item when camping?
For glamping, a real pillow. On the basic list, the camp stove; we've left ours at home twice. Our packing checklist has the rest.
What do you get an outdoorsy person who has everything?
A handheld vacuum for the tent, a portable toilet they were too proud to buy, or a campsite booked in their name for a weekend they'd never have gotten around to booking.
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