10 Best Camping Gift Ideas Under $30
In this guide to camping gift ideas under $30, we share some of our favorite affordable gifts for people who enjoy camping. It is often worth checking whether the person you are buying for already has any of these items, but I bet there is at least one they don’t have, which should make a nice surprise.
When it comes to buying gifts for outdoor people, it can be hard to know what they really want without asking them to their face and ruining the surprise. Most outdoor people already have a large collection of camping and hiking gear, and to make things even harder, they can be ridiculously picky about brands and the exact type of equipment they use.
That is why I like smaller camping gifts. You aren’t trying to guess which $400 sleeping bag somebody wants; you’re buying something useful, fun and cheap enough that they can throw it into their camping box even if they already own something similar.
10 Camping Gift Ideas Under $30
Prices naturally move around, so I have refreshed this list with products that are still around the $30 mark at the time of updating.
Camping Hammock
Hammocks are, without a doubt, one of my favorite ways to spend a night outside. Throw a rain tarp over your head and you are pretty much set to go, and if you have never spent a night in a hammock looking up at the stars from inside your sleeping bag then I recommend trying it at least once.
The Grand Trunk Ultralight Starter Hammock is still a great cheap gift and, amazingly, Grand Trunk currently sells it for $29.99. It weighs about 12 oz and holds up to 300 lb, although the suspension straps are sold separately.
Grand Trunk is also a proper hammock company rather than a random Amazon brand, which makes this exactly the kind of present I would be happy receiving myself.
- Related: Top 10 Best Backpacking Hammocks
Personal Water Filter
Portable water filters make great gifts for outdoor people because they are useful for hiking, backpacking, camping, travel and emergency kits. You can spend well over $100 on complicated pump filters, but some of the smallest filters are also incredibly effective.
The Survivor Filter Straw I originally recommended is still available, but it has now crept above the $30 limit. The Sawyer MINI, on the other hand, is still right on target at around $29 and remains one of the easiest recommendations on this entire list.
It weighs about 2 oz for the filter itself, uses a 0.1-micron absolute hollow-fiber membrane and can be used with the included pouch, a standard bottle, hydration tubing or as a straw. It is one of those bits of kit that doesn’t look particularly exciting until the day you actually need it.
Hiking Socks
I don’t know about you, but as an outdoor guy I pretty much rely on Christmas and birthdays to replace all my socks with holes in on a twice-yearly basis. Hiking socks are even better gifts because decent ones cost enough that people are reluctant to keep buying themselves pair after pair.
Socks also avoid the problem of trying to choose someone’s tent, backpack or hiking boots for them. Get roughly the right size, choose a reputable outdoor brand and you are unlikely to go far wrong.
The Bridgedale hiking sock range is still excellent, while Darn Tough Merino Wool Hiking Socks remain one of my safest gift recommendations. Darn Tough’s popular Hiker models are still around $26-$28, so they actually still belong in a genuine under-$30 gift guide.
- Related: Best Socks for Hiking
- Related: Best Merino Wool Socks for Hiking
Power Bank
Unless the person you are buying for is a full-on caveman or woman, they probably carry something that relies on electricity. That could be a phone, GPS, head torch, camera, watch or all five at the same time.
People who spend long periods outdoors with electronics know that sooner or later the battery runs out. A small power bank is one of the easiest ways to extend a trip without rationing your phone battery like it is the last match in a survival film.
The old Anker PowerCore Speed 10000 pictured above has been superseded by newer models, but the idea is exactly the same. I would now look for the Anker 313 Power Bank / PowerCore 10K, which still gives you 10,000 mAh for around $26 and is slim enough to disappear into a backpack pocket.
- Related: 5 Rugged, Waterproof, and Shockproof Power Banks
- Related: Best Waterproof Power Bank for Travel
Knife Sharpener
Knives can be expensive, and people can be incredibly particular about the shape, steel, handle and brand they use. A sharpening stone avoids most of that problem while still giving them something they will genuinely use.
The Fällkniven DC4 remains a cracking little sharpener all these years later. It combines a diamond side with a ceramic side, weighs only about 65 g and is small enough to live permanently in a camping kit.
You could pair it with something simple like a fire steel and still have a proper little outdoor gift rather than buying some giant novelty survival kit containing 43 things nobody will ever use.
Outdoor Hat
Hats make great gifts for outdoor people because whether it is hot or cold, your head is always exposed to the elements. Seeing as Christmas is in winter for most people reading this, a warm woolly hat normally makes the most sense.
The Icebreaker Skyline Hat I originally recommended is an older model now, but Icebreaker still makes exactly the sort of merino hat I was talking about. The Icebreaker Merino 200 Oasis Beanie is the obvious current replacement and sits right around the $30 mark.
It is lightweight enough to hike in rather than just being a giant fashion beanie, and merino is naturally good at regulating temperature and resisting odor. Basically, it is the kind of hat somebody ends up keeping in their jacket pocket for years.
- Related: Best Hiking Beanies
- Related: 17 Benefits of Merino Wool for Outdoor Gear
Wood Carving Knife
If you have ever admired the skill of bushcraft or watched somebody turn a random chunk of wood into a spoon, then you know how appealing it looks to have a go yourself. It takes skill, patience and quite a lot of practice to make something beautiful, but you have to start somewhere.
Learning little outdoor skills is half the fun of camping, which is why a proper carving knife makes such a good gift. Some of Mora’s traditional carving knives now cost more than $30, but the Morakniv Woodcarving Knife Basic is still only around $22 and is specifically designed as an affordable beginner’s carving knife.
It is also made by Mora rather than being an unbranded knife-shaped object from a mystery factory, which is reassuring when the gift involves putting an extremely sharp piece of steel in someone’s hand.
Lighter or Fire Starter
Whether you grew up in the countryside or in a city, fire is as intriguing as it is forbidden to play with when you are a kid. Being drawn to flames isn’t just a term used for moths. Most people who enjoy camping know the true value of a campfire and also know how surprisingly difficult lighting one can become when everything is damp.
I try to carry two fire-starting methods whenever possible. The old UST Klipp Lighter pictured above has unfortunately been discontinued, but UST still makes some interesting outdoor fire starters.
A current option under the price limit is the UST TekFire PRO Fuel-Free Lighter, currently around $29, while a Fire Steel Striker is still the cheap, nearly indestructible backup I like pairing with any lighter.
Compact Camera or Phone Mount
Does your friend or loved one enjoy taking pictures of their camping adventures? A tiny tripod or mount is one of those things photographers don’t necessarily buy for themselves but end up finding loads of uses for once it is in the bag.
I originally recommended the JOBY GorillaPod SLR-Zoom, and I still love the GorillaPod idea because the flexible legs can wrap around trees, railings and rocks or balance on horrible uneven ground. The problem is that current GorillaPods capable of supporting larger cameras have moved well beyond the $30 budget.
For this particular gift guide, I would now look at something like the JOBY GripTight Cold Shoe Mount at around $30 if the person mainly shoots with a phone, or simply keep an eye out for a discounted GorillaPod. The original product idea is still excellent; inflation has just been less cooperative.
- Related: JOBY GorillaPod Tripod Review
Keyring Multi-Tool
Having a bottle opener or small tool on your keys might be standard protocol, but you don’t necessarily want a full-size multitool dragging your trousers down all day. Little solid keyring tools are useful precisely because you forget they are there until you suddenly need one.
The Gerber Shard is still going strong and costs about $8. It gives you a pry bar, bottle opener, screwdrivers, wire-stripper notch and keyring attachment without any moving parts to break.
The Leatherman Cam I originally included has now been discontinued. A much better current replacement for this particular list is the Leatherman OPNR, a tiny stainless-steel bottle opener, pry tool, screwdriver and package opener that is only around $10.
- Related: Leatherman Skeletool Multitool Review
- Related: Leatherman Squirt PS4 Multitool Review
Camping Gear Choices
As a self-confessed outdoor gear addict, I know how easy it is to garner a large selection of every kind of camping gadget you could imagine. But at the end of the day, there are only a handful of small items that I trust and use regularly, while everything else might only come out once or twice a year.
For that reason, I would never recommend buying somebody an expensive piece of specialist outdoor gear without first finding out what they actually want. Spend $300 on the wrong tent and they might politely pretend to love it for the next decade. Spend $20 on some really good hiking socks or a sharpener and you are far less likely to get it wrong.
Because outdoor people can be picky about the gear they use, I have tried to stick with established brands rather than padding the list out with cheap gadgets. There are always new and innovative outdoor products appearing, but the simple useful stuff is normally what ends up getting used.
Thanks for reading these 10 camping gift ideas under $30. Hopefully there is at least one thing here the outdoor person in your life hasn’t already bought themselves.
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