Just before Christmas I did a post on children’s outdoor presents. These can be ideas for any occasion, and they are practical. That was for children though, and although I love being able to buy my three outdoor gifts, I have an outdoor wish list too. So I thought I would put together a list of outdoor gear that is fun for grown ups to have and then it could be used as a resource for outdoor gifts. It is by no means a definitive list of everything that is essential, just a wish list of some non essential outdoor gifts 🙂
Outdoor Gifts For The Grown Up Outdoor Adventurer In Your Life (Or Yourself!!):
A Waffle Iron:
Now my waffle iron is a very old hand me down from my Norwegian mormor (Grandmother) so goodness knows how old is it (she lived to be almost 92 and died over a decade ago just to give it a bit of context!). It is cast iron, totally impractical to carry (it is heavy and when out hiking we are already carrying quite a lot of weight), but boy oh boy is it yummy and cosy to make waffles on the campfire and eat them!! The good news is there are newer versions of these available now in outdoor shops. They also make toasting irons too (which I have my eye on) so you can make lovely toasties too out in the wild.
Gloves:
Bear with me on this one….I have gloves, and lots of them. However, I have not found a glove (yet) that can keep me warm and that I can still do fiddly tasks things in. My fingers get very cold (painfully so), very fast, so the only gloves I have found so far are the chunkier Gore-Tex outer, fleecy lined ones. Now when you are trying to take lots of photos with a camera, deal with children and what they throw at you, prepare food, make hot drinks, and deal with campfires, I have to remove them to achieve anything, and then my fingers are goners. You can not underestimate how lovely it would be to have amazingly warm and waterproof gloves that you can still do things in! If you know of some make sure you drop their name in the comments below 🙂
Funky Outdoor Clothing:
You can still look great as well as wearing practical clothing in the great outdoors. I adore my fritids byxor by Revolution Race (you can read my review about them here) and they look really good too. Best of all I get to wear my favourite colour purple, feel good about myself, and be dressed to meet the demands of the great outdoors.
A Tinder Pouch:
I used to carry any tinder I collected in a plastic carrier bag, which served to do the job, but after the children getting a leather pouch each for Christmas, I also invested in one for myself. It is a little bigger than theirs (let’s face it, I do most of the tinder collecting!!) and is made from Swedish Sami reindeer leather.
A Fire Steel:
There are many ways to light a fire, but I find this way one of the most enjoyable! I love using our fire steel and it makes lighting a fire such fun.
Knife:
As outdoor gifts go, this is such a useful piece of kit, even though you can get by without one. This is something I am currently dreaming of. A nice sharp tool in a handy belt pouch to help peel tinder so it is easier to light, or to assist with the food preparation. Any recommendations would be gratefully received in the comments below!
Kelly Kettle:
It is no secret that I adore this piece of kit, (read our user guide here) and it comes with us on all our adventures. It is extremely fun to use, and provides us with hot drinks to keep us warm.
Kelly Kettle Whistle:
This is an accessory for the Kelly Kettle that whistles when your water is boiled and ready to use. A fun, totally unnecessary accessory for your camp kettle 🙂
Hobo Stove:
This little gadget is a stove that sits on the base of your Kelly Kettle, instantly transforming it from a kettle to a hob to cook on. It fits inside the Kelly Kettle when it is packed away so takes up no extra room, and is very light. It is really fun to use and makes cooking safer than on the ground.
Mini Axe:
I would love a mini axe to help with firewood. Don’t panic I am not about to start felling trees, but this is more for the wood found on the ground, or even at the fire pits when we are walking (some lovely people leave firewood near the pits here in Sweden). It would be easier to use if I could split them, and then I could start carrying less of my own wood from home too. Again I will take any recommendations as to what you think is a good tool in the comments below 🙂
A Good Billy Can:
Before I got my lovely billy can, I was carrying saucepans! Not very practical to pack in a rucksack and carry. In this I can carry the meal so that doesn’t take up extra space and it works so well on the campfire too.
Outdoor Fire Gloves:
I am currently carting around our fire gloves from our indoor log burner. These are not especially weather proof and have taken a battering from being used out in nature. They are also very large. Any recommendations, drop them in the comments below!
A Fun Mug:
I love having an enamel mug for our hot drinks when we are outside. I realise Moomins might not be everyone’s cup of tea (Ha!) but we have gone with a set of 5 different ones and it just adds a little bit of fun and glamour (?) to being in the great outdoors.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about what I think would make great (non vital) outdoor gifts. Any other recommendations or ideas would be gratefully received in the comments below, and my wish list may grow even longer!!
Comments 38
What a great wish list! We discovered camping last year so we would love all of these things too!
Author
Thankyou!! Maybe you will enjoy using some of these on your camping trips
I didn’t even know you could get a waffle iron for outdoor cooking what a fab idea!
Author
They taste really good and even better because it is outdoors!
What an amazing selection of gift ideas – I can’t wait for my daughters to be older, so that we can go on outdoor adventures and use some of these things 🙂
Helen recently posted…RECIPE: Nutella & Roasted Hazelnut Chocolate Cake
Author
Thankyou!! I hope you get to use some of them in the future
How cute is that mug, I am all about a mug., well when their is a kettle and I could survive the outside world lol!
London Mumma recently posted…How To Manage Holiday Savings
Author
We have a lovely outdoor kettle that boils faster than our home electric one with just bits of wood 🙂
What a great gift guide. I love some if these ideas to get me feel more outdoorsy.
Joanna Bayford recently posted…My fairy unicorn garden (Tactical Tuesdays )
Author
Ah thankyou…hope they get you out there!
Great wish list! We love camping and these would be ideal for it
Author
I hope you see something that takes your fancy!
I love our Kelly Kettle and I think it has to be the waffle iron that is next on the list
Kara recently posted…Martinhal Cacais – the perfect location for a family holiday in Portugal
Author
We have had such fun with our kelly kettle too, and I adore making waffles in the outdoors on the campfire too
I really like this gift guide. I love the outdoor kettle a lot.
Author
We have a lot of fun with ours
These are great ideas, and coming at the perfect time; I have a friend with a birthday coming up and she’s asked for gifts that would be useful on a camping trip since they just bought a camper! I had no idea what to get her but now I have some ideas, thank you!
Author
Oh that is great, I hope you find something she likes!! Glad it was helpful
Great list. I used to love camping as a child, and remember using a Kelly kettle. Perhaps I should attempt it again.
Author
We have the best fun with ours. We use it a few times a week
That’s a great list. I’d be very interested in learning about the type of gloves you mentioned for our trip to Lapland in December. So if anyone makes any recommendations please send them my way too!
Cath – BattleMum recently posted…Is it worth visiting the Portland Childrens Museum?
Author
I will do!! I haven’t heard of any yet though!
Oh my you are speaking my language! I love cooking outdoors especially at our beach hut. Our hobo stove is an old Swiss army stove and we love it!
Author
It is so fun and cosy too! I’d love to have a beach hut 🙂
Oh so cool, I could also do with some of these gifts. I want to do some outdoorsy holidays this year so they would come in super handy 🙂
Author
Ooooo I hope you find something that takes your fancy 🙂
I was just thinking about making a Christmas list myself! Great ideas 🙂
Author
Ah thankyou 🙂 Some are still wishes currently!!
Absolutely digging this wishlist. I want a fun camping mug too.
Author
I adore our Moomin tin mugs 🙂
I love seeing all the gear you use! Holy cow on the waffle cast iron! It is pristinely preserved to still be of great use! I laugh because, in America, we always go crazy over all this new gear, but you keep it simple and the experience is probably the same!
Author
Thankyou!! We have had a lot of fun and a lot of mishaps as well with the waffle iron but we love it when it works. Keeping it simple is the easier sometimes
So many great things on this list. Lot’s of useful things for around the fire.
Author
Thankyou…we do love a good fire!
Lovely gift guide! I too struggle with finding the perfect gloves. I have a pair of “flip mitts” that I pair with liner gloves. So I can “flip” my fingers out of the mittens, but still have the liner gloves on.
Author
Thankyou…your “flip mitts” sound interesting
I love your list. I would never think to give a woman an axe for Christmas. I used to have a whistling kettle when I was a teenager. I still don’t like tea but I loved the sound it made.
Author
Ah thankyou! I don’t like tea or coffee but it is fab for hot chocolate, hot squash, and glogg too 🙂