Alternative Family Christmas Gift Guide: Adventure Edition
Christmas is the perfect time to set up your next adventures – whether with the family, friends or going solo. Don’t settle for boring Christmas gifts – nobody needs another jumper or puzzle. Instead, think about what adventures you want to have in 2025, and get the kit you need (as a gift of course!)
This is a Christmas gift guide for those who love to adventure in the outdoors. If you’re looking for unique gifts for outdoor lovers and adventurers – from kids to pensioners – this is the place for you!
We have tried and tested all of the kit here and would 100% recommend it as the perfect way to get out adventuring as a family, a couple or on your own.
Feel free to contact us with any questions you have.
1. Gifts for camping enthusiasts
It may not feel like camping season, but this is a great time to set up your next camping adventures.
Have you tried wild camping? Sleep under the stars for a feeling of true freedom and wildness. Whether you’re starting out in your garden or heading for the mountain tops, a bivvy bag is a great piece of kit to have.
What is a bivvy bag?
A bivvy bag is like a waterproof jacket for your sleeping bag. It keeps you dry and saves the faff of carrying and putting up a tent. Bivvy bagging is truly sleeping under the stars.
Go Wild Go West choice: Alpkit Elan Hooped Bivvy Bag
This is a great all-weather bivvy bag. The hooped head-cover gives protection from rain and bugs. It packs down small and weighs very little. As a family, we all have a bivvy bag and it’s opened the door to so many adventures, I can’t recommend highly enough – brilliant for kids too.
Go Wild Go West choice: A CampWild membership
Set up in 2023, CampWild is unlocking wild spaces for those that want to connect with nature and have a go at sleeping in the outdoors.
Founders Tom Backhouse and Alex Clasper hope that using CampWild will give people the confidence and opportunity to get out and experience camping in the wild without having to worry about where to go, finding a discreet camp, or being told off.
You can buy an annual family membership for £20
Read more about CampWild here.
2. Gifts for water lovers
Stop hiring over-priced, low-quality canoes on holiday! Our kids love to be on the water and we found we were spending £££ on hiring canoes each year, but still finding the options for a real adventure on the water limited.
That’s when we discovered packrafting! This is a really unique and exciting gift idea for those that love to be on the water.
What is a packraft?
Packrafting is the new kid on the block when it comes to adventuring, and its popularity is rapidly increasing. Packrafts are essentially lightweight, inflatable and easily-transportable kayaks. They fold up small enough to fit in a bag so you can easily hike or bike to any adventure spot and head off onto the water wherever you please – coast, river, lake – make your own adventure.
Go Wild Go West choice: MRS Barracuda R2 and the MRS Adventure X2 from Paqualife.
Yes, this is an investment but we have spent hours and hours on the water with our packrafts, exploring the coast and adventuring downriver. With a packraft, you could make 2025 your year of family adventures on the water.
With the ziplock technology, you can even stash your camping gear for an overnight adventure. Epic.
Read more about packrafting here.
3. Gifts for campfire lovers
Whatever the season, everyone loves a campfire. Whether you’re staring into the flames on a summer camping holiday, huddling up close to the fire for winter warmth or cooking up an outdoor feast, a campfire is always part of an adventure.
There are many gift ideas for campfire lovers, but here are our favourites;
Go Wild Go West choice: Fold Up Firepit
Not only do we have one of these firepits, but we also give them as gifts. They fold up really small, are lightweight and leave no scorch marks so can be taken out into the wild (with caution of course).
Go Wild Go West choice: Caveman campfires
If you have kids that love a campfire, check out our very own Outdoor Adventure Guide with 3 caveman campfire-inspired adventures. There’s a handy fire lighting kit included too.
Go Wild Go West choice: Campfire popcorn maker
This was actually a gift from my sister and we use it on a weekly basis (any excuse for popcorn). Great for campfires in the garden or on a campsite, the campfire popcorn maker is easy to use and guaranteed to inspire the kids to get off their screens and lighting a campfire instead.
4. Gifts for wild swimmers – adults and kids
Good for mind, body and soul, wild swimming has rocketed in popularity in recent years. In truth, you don’t need anything for wild swimming, but there are a few things that make it more comfortable.
Go Wild Go West choice: Zone3 Yulex swimsuit
This swimsuit has been transformative for my cold-water swims. The warmth of a wetsuit without the faff, the Yulex swimsuit is flexible, comfy and insulating. It makes wild swimming far more appealing in all seasons! Plus, it’s a far more sustainable alternative to Neoprene. *available via other brands, such as Finisterre, if your size not available.
Go Wild Go West choice: Passenger toweling poncho
Very handy for getting changed under and far more transportable than a DryRobe, my Passenger toweling robe comes everywhere with me. It even has side slits to make changing underneath it even easier.
Go Wild Go West choice for wild swimming kids: Wetsuit hood and boots
Adding a cap and boots to the children’s wetsuit outfit means they can wild swim in all seasons… and it becomes even harder to drag them out of the water, winter included! These extras have made a huge difference for our kids.
5. Gifts for walking and hiking lovers
If I could, I’d spend all day, everyday out hiking so this is a category for me. There are a few great gift ideas to help with your 2025 hike planning.
Go Wild Go West choice: Barefoot hiking boots
Literally transformative. Comfortable, good for your feet and great in all weather. Enough said.
Go Wild Go West choice: Wild Guides
We love this series of books which shares the coolest wild places to visit across the UK. Perfect for planning hikes to less-known, secret wild spaces. Also great for camping and swimming. I’m writing a couple of them too, watch this space…
Go Wild Go West choice: OS maps/Customised OS map
When you know the area you want to explore, get yourself a map. These make a really lovely gift idea if you’re planning a trip with someone.
Our next stop is Snowdonia so we’ll be unwrapping some maps on Christmas day.
Go Wild Go West choice: Osprey Backpacks
As a family, we all have a backpack to take with us on hikes. Great for snacks, water, emergency supplies, maps and layers, a good backpack is essential. I’d 100% recommend Osprey for the entire family.
6. Gifts for adventure lovers
Rather than giving a physical gift, plan an adventure! Last year, we gave all the family an adventure voucher to choose where to go and what to do… that’s how we ended up wild swimming in Salcombe in January, wild camping on an Austrian mountain top and biking through the Brecon Beacons.
Sometimes, a simple handmade ‘adventure voucher’ is all you need at Christmas.
*Some gift ideas in this list have been gifted/lent to us for which we are very grateful. All are 100% genuine recommendations.