I’ve been full-time in my RV for six years now, and every December I get the same mix of excitement and low-key dread when packages start showing up at whatever mailbox service we’re using that month.
People who love us want to give us nice things, but a lot of those nice things end up being the exact opposite of what we need on the road.
This isn’t me complaining—most of these gifts come from family and friends who are genuinely trying. I just want to save everyone some money and heartache by laying out the ten gifts that consistently miss the mark for RV life, and then point you toward stuff we actually use and love.
I’ll keep it real: limited space, weight limits, power constraints, and the fact that everything has to survive constant vibration and temperature swings rule our world. Ignore those, and even the most thoughtful present becomes dead weight.
1. Big Stand Mixers or Any Counter-Hogging Kitchen Appliance
My mom once sent me a beautiful red KitchenAid mixer because she knows I bake sourdough. I opened the box in a Walmart parking lot in Flagstaff, stared at it for a solid five minutes, and then quietly repackaged it to ship to my sister’s house. Counter space in most RVs is roughly the size of a large cutting board. That mixer weighed fourteen pounds—fourteen pounds I can’t afford when I’m already flirting with my axle weight limit.
We cook a lot on the road, but we do it with gear that nests, collapses, or pulls double duty. A stand mixer just sits there taking up real estate and guzzling inverter power.
What we actually want: A good immersion blender (the kind that comes with whisk and chopper attachments), a set of collapsible silicone measuring cups, or nesting stainless mixing bowls. My current favorite is the Magma nesting cookware set—ten pieces that store in the space of one big pot.
If you really want to spoil an RV cook, get them a decent portable induction burner and a cast-iron Dutch oven that works on it.
2. Regular Living-Room Furniture
Someone once gave us a full-size recliner. We laughed, cried a little, and donated it the same week. RV furniture is built in, lightweight, and bolted down for a reason. Anything you add has to fold, stack, or live outside. A standard recliner turns into a 75-pound projectile the first time you hit a pothole.
What works instead: Zero-gravity lounge chairs that fold flat and live in an outside compartment, or those lightweight Helinox camp chairs. Inside, we love the collapsible ottomans that double as storage. If you want cozy, a couple of good camp blankets or a thin memory-foam topper cut to the exact size of the RV mattress go a long way.
3. Cheap Tool Kits from the Checkout Aisle
You know the ones—$19.99 for fifty pieces in a flimsy plastic case. They look handy, but the screwdrivers strip on the first use and the wrench heads round off immediately. When you’re boondocking three hours from the nearest hardware store, you need tools that won’t fail you at 9 p.m. on a Sunday.
What we actually carry: A solid multi-tool (I’m partial to Leatherman), a compact socket set with actual chrome-vanadium steel, and a digital torque wrench for the lug nuts. A Viair portable compressor and a good tire plug kit have saved us more times than I can count. Those are gifts that feel like insurance—you hope you never need them, but you’re damn glad they’re there.
4. Purely Decorative Gag Gifts
The toilet-shaped coffee mug, the “Camping Hair Don’t Care” sign that’s two feet wide, the stuffed Bigfoot in a Hawaiian shirt. They’re funny for about thirty seconds, then they become clutter we have to find a home for. We already fight dust and dog hair daily; adding knick-knacks feels like punishment.
Better options: Small magnetic frames for the fridge door so we can rotate photos, battery-powered LED string lights we can hang inside or out, or vinyl decals for the outside of the rig that express personality without taking up interior space.
5. Yet Another GPS Unit
Most of us run RV-specific routing on our phones or tablets with apps like RV Life or CoPilot. An extra dedicated GPS just adds another screen to charge and another cord to manage. Worse, the cheap ones don’t understand height restrictions and will happily route you under a 12’6″ bridge.
What’s useful: A good dash cam (we have a Garmin Mini 2—tiny and reliable), a cellular booster if they spend time in fringe areas, or a Starlink gift card. Real game-changers.
6. Giant Perishable Food Baskets
Cheese logs, summer sausage, fresh fruit, chocolate that melts at 70 degrees. RV fridges are tiny, and we’re often driving in weather that turns the interior into an oven or a freezer. Half the basket ends up in a campground dumpster.
Stick to shelf-stable stuff: Good coffee beans, or interesting spice blends. Even better—gift cards to Trader Joe’s or local farmers’ markets along their route.
7. Large Wall Art or Heavy Decor
Anything framed with glass is asking for disaster. We’ve had pictures fly off the walls on mountain descents. Big pieces don’t fit the odd-shaped walls anyway.
We prefer lightweight canvas prints with adhesive strips, Command hooks for temporary hanging, or those thin metal prints that stick with magnets. A custom star map of a favorite boondocking spot is always a hit.
8. Standard Smart-Home Gadgets
Alexa dots, Nest thermostats, smart plugs that need constant Wi-Fi. Most rigs run on 12-volt systems and spotty hotspot data. These gadgets become paperweights fast.
Road-friendly tech: Solar chargers, power banks with decent capacity (Anker is king), or a Jackery portable power station if you want to go big. A compact Bluetooth speaker that’s actually waterproof survives our lifestyle.
9. Dollar-Store Safety Gear
The $12 fire extinguisher that’s been sitting on a shelf since 2018, the flare kit with expired flares. RV fires spread fast, and cheap equipment can fail exactly when you need it most.
Buy the real stuff: Kidde extinguishers rated for Class B and C fires, a quality first-aid kit designed for trauma (MyMedic makes good ones), or a TireMinder TPMS system so they know about pressure drops before a blowout.
10. Subscriptions That Require a Permanent Address
Magazine subscriptions, wine clubs, anything that mails bulky boxes monthly. Mail forwarding works, but it’s slow and expensive, and half the time packages get lost or damaged.
Digital wins here: Audible credits (we use all the time), a year of AllTrails Pro, a subscription to The Dyrt Pro for campground reviews, or even just a Spotify or Netflix gift card so we have entertainment when the cell signal sucks.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas!
If you’re shopping for someone who lives on wheels, the golden rule is simple: small, light, multi-purpose, and rugged. When in doubt, ask what they’re running out of or what broke last month—RVers love talking about their setups.
And if you’re an RVer reading this, maybe forward it to your gift-buying relatives with a gentle “just in case” note. We love that you’re thinking of us. We just want the gifts to actually travel with us instead of getting left behind at the next storage unit.
Happy holidays, safe travels, and here’s to a Christmas morning where everything you open fits in the rig without a game of Tetris.
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