Are you looking for the perfect gift for your favorite outdoorsy mom? Here are 29 outdoor gifts for all budgets. This gift guide contains gifts that would be perfect for Christmas, Mother’s Day, birthdays, or whatever the special occasion might be.
29 Gift Ideas For Outdoorsy Nature-Loving Moms: Ideas For All Budgets
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1. Personal Safety Alarm
If your mom loves to run, hike, or bike solo, give her the gift of increased safety with a personal safety alarm. After reading the reviews on this one, I put it on my to-buy list and plan to give the extras to family and friends.
2. Compact Outdoor Ground Blanket
Few things are worse than sitting down to enjoy an epic view along a hiking path only to get up and discover you are now going to have a muddy bum for the rest of the hike. Help the outdoorsy woman in your life avoid this by giving her a compact waterproof ground blanket. It makes an excellent ground cover for outdoor picnics too.
3. Put Together A Backwoods Beauty kit
Fill this outdoor-themed toiletry bag with chapstick, nail clippers, tweezers, a compact mirror that is not too small but not too big either, and a travel-sized hand lotion.
If you want to give a more significant gift, purchase a mesh shower caddy (perfect for shower houses at campgrounds) and fill it with a shampoo soap bar, a conditioner soap bar, and a body soap bar. Don’t forget to put those bars in reusable soap cases and throw in a quick-dry washcloth or two. Why soap bars? Outdoorsy women tend to want to do their part to keep the earth green, and soap generates less waste than its liquid counterparts.
Photos by Holly Mandarich on Unsplash
4. Water Filtration System
Does your mom like to go on long hikes? Keep her from having to tote gallons of water on her back by giving her a Sawyer Mini water filtration system which will allow her to turn pond water into safe drinking water.
5. A Rumpl Blanket
A friend gave me a Rumpl Blanket for Christmas, and I instantly fell in love with it. It is lightweight yet warm. It has a small clip system that allows you to wear it as a cape. It even has two loops that you can stick your thumbs through to keep it closer to your body in cape mode.
6. Travel Pour-Over Coffee Makers
I bought this durable silicone collapsible pour-over for truck camping a few years ago. It allowed me to stop drinking nasty instant coffee while traveling (sorry if you like instant coffee–it just isn’t for me).
If the outdoorsy mom in your life prefers french press coffee to pour over, Stanley is now making a travel-sized stainless steel french press that looks pretty sweet!
7. Buff Headband
Buffs come in a variety of colors and materials. They are incredibly versatile, making into many more things than a headband, such as a beanie, face mask, hood, neck warmer, and more. Learn from my mistake–go for the name brand Buff; the knock-offs are not worth the money you save.
8. Items That Will Help Hide The Fact That They Haven’t Showered
Just because we outdoorsy moms are willing to go places that mean we won’t have access to a shower for days doesn’t mean we want to look like we haven’t showered. Here are a few ideas of what to put in a “no shower-shower kit.”
Powdered dry shampoo is more environmentally friendly than the aerosol type.
Unscented Baby Wipes (the scented ones attract bugs).
And something to cover hair frizz and grease, such as a baseball cap, or my favorite, a yoga headband.
9. Fast Dry Travel Towel
I bought these travel towels for camping years ago, and they are still going strong. We use them every time we go camping, which is one to two times a month all year long. At first, your mom might think that the material is weird, but trust me, she will fall in love with them once she realizes she will no longer have to put up with finding a place to dry her towel or dealing with drying off with a damp smelly towel on day two of camping.
10. Nalgene Bottle
My husband and I have tried all sorts of different no-name brand reusable bottles for hiking and camping before finally biting the bullet and purchasing Nalgene bottles. They are worth the hype!
We have two of the 32-ounce narrow mouth Nalgene bottles that fit perfectly into the side pockets of the backpack that we bring on our long day hikes. They also work in the water bottle sling we take on short hikes.
And if your nature-loving mom camps in the cold, let her know that she can put boiling water in these bottles and place them inside her sleeping bag to warm it before going to bed.
11. Stainless Steel Coffee Mug
One Christmas, my husband surprised me with a 14 oz Yeti stainless coffee mug and it has become one of my favorite camping gifts yet. It is the perfect size to wrap your hands around to warm them on a chilly morning as you are getting ready to hit the hiking trails.
If you want to turn the gift into a gift set, include the collapsible pour-over I mentioned above and a pound of her favorite coffee.
12. Spork
If your mom is a backpacker, she understands the need for a good spork. This one is stainless steel and includes a bottle opener end, plus it comes in a set of two, so she has one to share with one of her outdoorsy friends should they forget theirs.
13. Garmin Inreach
All hikers who hike the less popular trails need a Garmin Inreach. This gift could save the lives of the outdoor women you love.
14. Warm Gloves, Hat, and Socks
These items make great gifts, even if they seem boring. No matter what type of outdoor adventures your mom loves, if they are done in colder temperatures, these three items will get used. Look for gloves, hats, and socks made with merino wool. Merino wool is known to be warm, hard-wearing, and odor resistant–making it great for outdoor items that are worn over and over again.
15. Waterproof Kindle Paperwhite
Did you know that there is now a waterproof Kindle Paperwhite that is made to withstand accidental submersion? That feature could come in handy if your backpacking mom loves to read on her backwoods camping trips.
16. Waterproof bag for electronics
And for keeping her other devices dry, consider gifting her this set of watertight pouches.
17. DayPack That Takes Up Little Space
I love my lightweight daypack by NEEKFOX. It has a pocket for everything, and you can pack it all away into a small zippered pocket allowing your adventure-loving mom to throw it in her suitcase and use it when she arrives at her destination.
18. Headlamp
I have an older triple-A battery headlamp, and I am putting this LED rechargeable headlamp on my gift list. It looks like it would be great for camping, early runs, late evening hikes, and so many other outdoor adventures.
19. Apparel with Outdoor Saying
If you have a mom that has every outdoor gadget there, the best gift for her might be a new warm sweatshirt with a catchy slogan that matches her outdoor style like this one for the mom who loves her RV.
20. Compact Binoculars
Those who love the great outdoors often come across wildlife that they would love a closer look at, but it isn’t safe for them to physically get closer. The answer to their problem is a pair of compact binoculars that they can easily pack in their daypack.
21. Plant And/Or Bird Identification Guide
If your mom prefers handbooks over Google searches, pick her up a plant and/or bird identification guide for the region she explores the most.
22. Super Wide Headbands
These are also called Yoga headbands. For outdoor gals, they are great for keeping hair out of your face when windy on the trail or the water. Plus, they also soak up sweat.
23. USB Heating Pad
I bought my husband this Sunbeam GoHeat USB-powered heating pad so that he could use it on his back during our long road trips. Now that we have it, we are finding all sorts of uses for it, including heating our beds in our truck camper and keeping them warm all night long by attaching it to a compact power bank like this one. So if you have a mom who dislikes being chilly while she sleeps, this would be a gift that would get used.
24. Handwarmer
Got a mom with perpetually cold hands? Treat her to a jumbo pack of hot hands. Or this USB hand warmer that she can wrap her hands around (she can also use it to charge her phone). I got my daughter one and she loves it. On cold days she is rarely without it. One more type of hand warmer is this Zippo brand hand warmer that uses lighter fluid as fuel.
25. USB Fan
I would not sleep on hot boondocking nights if it weren’t for my USB fan. The brand I have isn’t available any longer, but this one looks similar. It doesn’t need to be plugged in to run, making it an excellent gift for tent campers. To ensure that it lasts all night, include a small portable power bank with the fan.
26. Travel Hammock
I have this brand of travel hammock and am very satisfied with it. It packs down small and is nice and comfy. If your mom likes to read and nap in the cool of the evening at the campsite or wherever her adventures take her, a travel hammock will make an excellent gift for her.
27. Car Starter Battery
This gift isn’t super exciting, but it could help mom get out of a bind if she finds out her car won’t start when parked at trailhead miles and miles from civilization. My husband and I own a NOCO Boost Pro and although we have not had to use it to jumpstart our vehicle yet, its flashlight and its ability to charge our various devices have come in handy.
28. A Portable Propane Fire Pit
Usually, but not always, you can use a portable propane fire pit even in parks with campfire bans. So if you have a mom who has to have her s’mores every time she goes camping, she will love receiving a portable propane fire pit as a gift. She could even use it in her backyard and enjoy s’mores every night if she wanted to.
29. Subscriptions
And for the nature-loving outdoorsy mom who has absolutely everything, how about a subscription to one of the following?
Magazines
There is a magazine for every hobby, such as Backpacker for hikers or Runner’s World for runners. If she likes multiple outdoor activities, Outside magazine covers pretty much every outdoor activity there is.
Outdoor Gear Monthly Box
Cairn offers a monthly subscription box full of the newest outdoor gear on the market.
Kindle unlimited
Paperbacks weigh a lot, but your mom can load up her kindle with thousands of titles from Kindle Unlimited and not add weight to her backpack.
Audible
If your mom prefers audiobooks, consider gifting her a subscription to Audible.
Hopefully, this list of outdoor gear helps you find a gift that is just as unique as your mom. One that she can enjoy using on her outdoor adventures for many years.
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Want to know how we afford to travel so often? It is because we have developed thrifty living principles that allow us to live a full life for less money. You can learn exactly what those economical living principles are when you read my book, Thrifty & Thriving: More Life For Less Money. You can stop dreaming about travel and start traveling when you apply the 40 thrifty living principles shared in this book.
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