If you're searching for gifts for the national park lovers in your life, this guide offers inspiration on games, books, novelties, and more!
There's something mesmerizing about national parks. For some people, after you've been to a few, it seems to get into the blood, with future explorations turning from a hypothetical to a sure thing. Plus the day-dreaming in between trips.
Does that description bring to mind someone from your circle of friends and family? If so, guess what? You could probably brighten their day with a thoughtful national-park-inspired gift.
That's right — "national parks" can be an entire gift-buying genre of its own! In this guide, I'll share some of my favorite purchases that I think other national park lovers would enjoy. Maybe you'll get inspired to search out other ideas too!
This guide mostly focuses on gifts related to parks in the United States.
Park Passes + In-Person Purchases
An America the beautiful national park pass might be the perfect gift for someone who's set on traveling as possible in the next year. It allows entrance for the passholder plus their vehicle passengers, and it includes not just the big parks but many other recreational areas as well.
Are you able to travel to one of your friend's favorite national parks? Get them a gift in person at the gift shop! Not all park gift shops are equal, but some have really great inventory.
Items you'll find in stock at a gift shop won't necessarily be carried online anywhere, making your gift that much more special.
Want to focus on practical gifts only? Check out our guides to gifts for campers, the best camping kitchen gear, and the best backpacking gear.
Books for National Park Lovers
Leave Only Footprints by Conor Knighton is one of my favorite reads of recent years. It chronicles the author's experiences visiting every U.S. national park within one year. He groups parks together in unique ways, drawing out bits of insight that make for a truly memorable read. I highly recommend the Audible audiobook!
The Subpar Parks book and Subpar parks postcards offer a dose of irony for those who like dry humor. The artwork is captioned by some truly egregious one-star park reviews.
The creator, Amber Share, also makes puzzles, postcards, trail notebooks, and more on her website. (Her Instagram account is one of our favorites.)
The World's Best National Parks in 500 Walks is a nice overview of some (mostly easy) hikes in national parks across the world.
I love this next book: Scenic Science of the National Parks. It's a park-by-park guide to geology, botany and wildlife. Great for those who want to dig in to exactly what they're seeing at a park!
The National Parks Cookbook features recipes inspired by the national parks. Some pay homage to the history or traditional culture of a region; others highlight specific ingredients.
For those with a literary bent, the John Muir Wilderness Box Set makes for classic reading. It's a poetic look at the land from the early 20th century.
Games + Cards
For camaraderie in the great outdoors, the Campfire Stories card prompts are fun! They encourage storytelling and reminiscing for a group.
The Yahtzee National Parks travel edition would be fun to bring along on a trip.
Game time at home can also have a national park flavor! Trekking the National Parks is an easy game, similar to Ticket to Ride.
The Parks board game has slightly more complicated game play than Trekking, and it's one of my favorites.
Special editions of classic games could be fun too: Scrabble National Parks, Trivial Pursuit National Parks Travel Edition, and Monopoly National Parks.
Jewelry + Novelty Gifts for National Park Lovers
I really love my National Park sculpture necklaces, pictured at the top of the post. These are handmade landscapes depicted in tiny clay form. The colors and textures do a great job evoking memories of each park. Currently, there are necklaces representing 15 different parks.
Waypoint Wanders National Park Scratch-Off Map is a beautifully visual way of tracking progress through the country's parks and reminding you what's left to explore. We have one and have been working on it for a few years.
With a Rumpl blanket (a puffy, one-person outdoor blanket), you can pick your favorite park design. It's perfect for camping, picnicking, stargazing, and so forth.
I often see Nature Cast jewelry in national park gift stores, but you can also buy it online. The bear print is my favorite, but there are lots of pretty animal, landscape and plant designs.
I'd love to hear what other novelties you've picked up over the years that would make nice gifts for national park lovers! Let me know in the comments.
Leave a Comment: