RV LIFE Podcast

Ultimate RV Gift Guide: Creative Holiday Ideas & Exclusive Discounts

• Dan & Patti Hunt

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Unlock the perfect holiday for the RV enthusiasts in your life! Join me, Patti Hunt, as I share gift ideas and some great exclusive discounts.


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* Motorhome Tires: $50 discount ...

Speaker 1:

Are you looking for holiday gift ideas for the RVer in your life, or just a gift for yourself? Today's episode is for you. I'm Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. I've been on the road for over three years and I've made a lot of connections with a lot of people. I've had experiences, on you know, giving gifts to myself and to friends who have been on the road, and today I thought might be a good day to share some gift ideas for the RVer in your life. The RV Life podcast was created to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle, with the mission to inspire you to live life to the fullest.

Speaker 1:

This week, what you need to know is brought to you by Open Roads Resorts. They have so many amazing locations, so they have locations in Montana, idaho, nebraska, new Mexico. They have a location in Santa Fe, new Mexico. I can't wait for the weather to warm up and go to that location, as well as two locations in Texas. So for those of you that are looking to escape the cold weather and go down to the Dallas Texas area, there are two fantastic locations. The one location, dallas Northeast, which is just northeast of Dallas. I had the opportunity to go to that location and it was beautiful. The campground has many amenities. The area has so much to offer. Part of it was pulling up in my pull through incredibly large site and being able to see the beautiful sunset every night that was off of this huge pond. As we go through the show, I'm also going to share with you a discount that Open Road Resorts is offering. You can go to openroadresortscom to find out all about their many incredible locations.

Speaker 1:

For today, what you need to know, I'm sure all of my listeners are aware the holidays are just around the corner and holidays anytime can be a little stressful. Being in an RV sometimes a little more stressful. I found a great article on RVlifecom and it was six ways to survive the holidays as a full-time RVer, and this could apply whether you are, you know, just out for the holidays or you are living the full-time life. Some of the great suggestions were the idea of maybe staying in an area during the holidays a little longer. Maybe, while you're staying in one of those locations, have a party, go out and invite friends to come over. The holidays is always a great time to be with other people. Mooch docking on a friend's property. Mooch docking is when you are staying on friends or family's property. The idea is that you're mooching off of them, and so by mooch docking, maybe you could be with friends and family, which would certainly add to the holiday. Volunteering during this time of year is another suggestion that was made in this article, and what a great way to feel good about, you know, during this time of year is going out and volunteering. I'll put that article in the show notes so you could read all about it. This, what you Need to Know, was brought to you by Open Road Resorts.

Speaker 1:

It is now time to jump in to gifts for the holidays, making it easier some great suggestions, and this episode today is just me, with ideas that I've come up with, as well as ideas I've. It is my RV community or my friends and family. I have gotten to the point where I enjoy the gift of adventure and experiences. For those of you who have listened to the podcast, you know, dan and I have five kids. Four of them are married. There are nine grandkids. They have parents and grandparents and all these people giving them gifts, and I had gotten, over the last several years, to the point where I wanted to do something that was an adventure something they would, you know we'd actually go out and do together and create memories and gift giving for our beers. You can give gift certificates to places like museums or attractions Some of the places I love. Right now I'm in the Pennsylvania area and I spent a lot of time in the Lancaster area. One of the cool experiences that I had the opportunity to do was the Turkey Hill experience, and that is near Lancaster, pennsylvania, and that's a great place for kids to go. As adults you could go there. There's a lot to do and see and certainly ice cream tasting. So of course that's one of my favorite things.

Speaker 1:

Bigger types of events the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. That is a more pricey activity, but if somebody is looking to go to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, maybe family friends can start some sort of fund so they can start putting money away and planning for an event like that, an experience like that. I've been to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta twice now and I highly recommend it as something to do. But there are other things that you could do in Florida Crystal River. I love going out. You could just walk out on one of the piers and see the manatees. You can make it a bigger adventure by renting a boat, going out on the boat to see them. These are some of my favorite things to do.

Speaker 1:

One of the things that, experience-wise, that is probably the most expensive thing I'm going to talk about is a Disney trip. I just returned from Disney last week before doing this episode, and it is one of my favorite places. Again, you have to plan. It is expensive, but what I've done with my family that was going to Disney with me, I have given them Disney gift cards that they could put away for the trip. So my first suggestion anywhere from very, very inexpensive to very expensive gifts that you could give is the gift of adventure and experiences. There are so many different attractions. Look for them in the area that somebody's going to be in, and that's a great, simple gift to give.

Speaker 1:

My second thought is campgrounds. Our RV community obviously loves to have places to stay, whether that's a campground or if they're moochdocking, boondocking, whatever it is. But for those people who are looking to go to campgrounds, a great gift idea might be a couple of nights that you buy for them in a campground. Again, you could give certificates. Most of the places, most of the campgrounds, I'm sure will have some kind of certificate they could create for you know, to give as a gift Some of the suggestions.

Speaker 1:

Like I talked about the beginning, open Road Resorts has many locations. They are offering you my RV listeners 25% off stays of two nights or more during the 2025 season. The code for that and I will put all of this in the show notes is RVLife25, all capitals. It is case sensitive. You have to book by January 31st 2025. So you have a little bit of time. Those days have to be booked by the end of January to get the discount.

Speaker 1:

If you're just looking to give someone a gift of maybe a couple days in an incredible campground Spacious Skies Campgrounds they have 15 campgrounds up the east coast and their campgrounds not only have full hookups, their campgrounds have amazing amenities and they're in locations where there's so much to do in the area. Now, if you don't have an RV, if your friend or family member does not have an RV, they have cabins, they have yurts you can rent. They have all different options for getting out there camping and they're giving 15% off. So 15% off all stays under 28 days at any Spacious Guys campgrounds. You must purchase by 12-31-24. So you have till the end of December to purchase this gift Now. The purchase is for any stay in 2025, keeping in mind that their campgrounds, most of their campgrounds close on October 31st 2025.

Speaker 1:

All of this information again in the show notes. You're going to use code ssc, so spacious skies, campgrounds, ssc, rv, life 15 and I will write that down for you. I know some of you are in the car, some of you are jogging, some of you are exercising. Whatever you you're doing, I will have that all there for you. Spacious guys want you to come experience their cosmic hospitality.

Speaker 1:

Another gift I would highly recommend the Thousand Trails membership. Now, for those of you who know about Thousand Trails membership, some of these memberships are very expensive, or more expensive, I should say. I have the upgraded membership and I am very happy with that membership. It has saved me a ton of money when traveling and needing campgrounds to stay at or wanting to stay at campgrounds. But Thousand Trails, if you're looking for a gift, they also have what's called the camping pass, which is reasonably priced. The camping pass you could give to your RV, friend or family and that is camping within a certain area of the country. There's actually five zones and you could buy a zone zone for somebody and they have the gift of camping. Thousand Trails also just came out with a brand new membership. It is called the Journey Membership. This membership is not a lifetime membership, it is brand new, just came out. You can buy this and it is a two-year or a four-year membership. What I really like about this membership it includes everything the camping pass, the trails collection, RPI and a cabin rental. One cabin rental a year. There are no dues to pay. Like I said, everything is included. For people who aren't familiar with Thousand Trails who want to know more about the Journey membership, I highly recommend my membership specialists, sharon and Warren Lewis, and I will put their phone number in the show notes and you can text or call them to get all the information you need about Thousand Trails membership.

Speaker 1:

A lot of people that live in RVs or travel in an RV. It is tough to have a lot of stuff. So you know the stuff because when you live in an RV you're worried about the weight, you're worried about where you're going to store things, where you're going to put things. So a lot of times gifts of types of gift certificates and those types of things is a more practical, easier gift to give your favorite RV friend or family member. There are some gifts, as far as services, that you could give as a gift. The one thing that, okay, it's practical. It's a very practical gift. It might not be the sexiest gift in the world, but it is the Innovative Toll Solutions and I highly recommend this toll pass because it covers all 48 states. And this toll pass because it covers all 48 states and, if you should have a problem, you know how we use our toll passes. I have my E-ZPass that I can use from Pennsylvania down into Florida, but as I moved outside of that area, it created issues for me, and so when Innovative Toll Solutions came out with the pass that covers all 48 states, for me it was a no-brainer. I've been using it for a long time now. It's worked great cost $24 for the year, but so practical, so useful to any of your RV friends and family. If you are looking for that, all of the information will be in the show notes. The way to save on diesel fuel is through OpenRoads fuel card, and you could go to myopenroadscom to sign up for that card, which is absolutely free. If you're giving a gift of gas or diesel fuel, I highly suggest you let your family and friends know about the my Open Roads fuel card because that has saved me a ton of money over the last several years me a ton of money over the last several years.

Speaker 1:

The other thing that I think is an absolute must have and it is a great and affordable gift idea is the RV Life Pro app. Of course, this is the RV Life podcast. I started using this app before we even bought the RV. We looked at trip planning. Once we signed up for the RV Life Pro app, we did our trip planning. We had fun deciding where we were going to go, what route we were going to take.

Speaker 1:

The most important thing for me is the RV Safe GPS. Anybody that has an RV absolutely needs RV Safe GPS. This is an affordable gift. It is $65 for the year, but go into the show notes there's a 25% discount for your first year. This app also shows campgrounds. So there's campgroundsrvlifecom as part of this app and it'll show people campgrounds across the country. It'll show people where the costco's are. The walmart's um harvest hosts are now on there. There's so much just on the campgrounds app. It is well worth it and, again, I highly recommend this for everybody. But it makes a great gift.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk a little bit about products that I really love and that as a suggestion. So again, with products, you want to be conscious of people having the space to store things. You know whether or not they're going to use it. You know whether or not they're going to use it. There's a lot to that. When you're looking to buy a gift for your friends and family that travel in an RV, you have someone on your gift list that loves to camp in the cold weather.

Speaker 1:

The inflatable RV skirt by Airskirts is a great gift idea. The RV skirting insulates and protects your RV's undercarriage. Rv skirting goes around the perimeter of your RV. The inflatable RV skirting by Airskirts is revolutionary in the way that it keeps cold air out and it keeps you warmer. Plus, it prevents your pipes from freezing. These air skirts, tube-like objects, inflate and deflate so easily with a pump that is provided and that means they store compact in your RV for use year after year. You could get $200 off your kid order by using RV pod. So that is RV pod. Go to airskirtscom to check them out and you will stay warmer in the cold weather.

Speaker 1:

So one of the things that I found is my outside my RV is so important. So when I would go into a campground I wanted to set up my table, set up my barbecue grill, and I wanted it to really look nice because I spent a lot of time outside. When you live in less than 400 square feet of space, you want to make sure your outside living is inviting, it's pretty, whatever it is you're looking for, you want to make sure the other thing is. Picnic tables are often gross, really gross, and you don't necessarily want to put your food on them. Lido Luxury in the Outdoors created a clean and stylish space with outdoor tablecloths. I have these tablecloths and love them. They have really beautiful designs. The quality is above any tablecloth I've seen. They really hold up and they do elevate my campsite.

Speaker 1:

Lido also has tumblers and lanterns, as well as other products. One of my favorite products is the light up dog collar and leash. So they have all different sizes but these colors and leashes light up. So when you're out at that campsite in the dark, there's no more tripping over those. So when you're out at that campsite in the dark, there's no more tripping over those leashes. When you're taking your dog for a walk, it is easy to see. They're very cool.

Speaker 1:

Lido is offering 25% off. $80 or more. That is an incredible deal 25% off for using code PATTI, and that is P-A-T-T-I. So go to alitoluxurycom. The code is PATTI, p-a-t-t-i. For the RVer in your life that likes to collect stickers, rivet Supply Company, the home of the original adventure board, has beautifully designed boards to display all of the stickers you collect from the places that you visit and the people you meet. This board is great. It fastens easily to almost anywhere with command strips. You can remove the stickers if you choose to and you can remove the board so you can put the board wherever you want. You choose the design, you pick the color and you make this a great keepsake. You can also receive 10% off your order by using code RVLifePodcast. So that is RivetSupplyCompanycom and receive 10% off your order with RVLifePodcast.

Speaker 1:

The other thing that I believe is more of a necessity product, as I've traveled around the country, clean, fresh water was most important. You know you're hooking up to campgrounds, you're hooking up to the water spigot, you know they're all different types of filter systems and I've learned a lot over the last three years on water filtration. I met the owners of Clear 2.0. They are amazing people. Keith, the owner developed all of these products with the idea of the cleanest, safest water that can be provided in an RV and he created all of it.

Speaker 1:

The water filtration system is very different because he uses a carbon block technology. Most filters are granular carbon, so your inline water filter system there's granular carbon. Or your two-stage, your dual canister, your three triple canister systems, they have granular granules that the water will flow through and that supposedly cleans the water. The problem is, as most people know, water takes the path of least resistance, so the water is quickly flowing through. With Clear 2.0's water filtration system, it is a carbon block. The water is sitting on that carbon block longer, making the water cleaner, safer, taking out the contaminants, the smell, the taste.

Speaker 1:

I've used their products for three years and I truly believe in their products. They have a whole lot of other products. They have a whole, a lot of other products. Tank Fresh is one of the things they also have to clean out your freshwater tank. It is easy to use, doesn't have a smell, doesn't have bleach. I did it myself. It's really a great product. Clear 2.0 is offering 15% off any of their products by using RV Life Podcast as the code you could probably get. I would imagine you could get a gift certificate from them if you want to give it as a gift, and your favorite RVer can then choose what they want or need. But clear2ocom is. They have great products and highly recommend them.

Speaker 1:

So much to think about. So many different gift ideas. As I was going through and doing this episode, there was so much I came up with. Gift cards are going to be a big one. I asked a lot of my RV community what they thought as far as gifts go. And again, gift cards aren't necessarily the most thoughtful gift. They're not necessarily the most creative gifts. They're very practical, especially for RVers, and you could give gift cards to places like Target, which are, you know, across the country. You could give gift cards if you know where people are going to be, if they're going to be in a certain area to go out for a nice dinner or, like I said in the beginning, some adventure, some experience. So gift cards are, I think, a really great option for the RVers in your life, really great option for the RVers in your life.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about some things that may be necessities if you're looking for or just want to help somebody else out. Motorhome Tires offers an incredible service where they will come out to you wherever you happen to be and they will install tires on your motorhome. They'll do it right in front of you, show you what you need to know about tires. I know I've had to replace two tires on my coach. Unfortunately, I replaced those before I know about motorhome tires and there are actually two more tires that are going to need to be replaced. Most people know I am in the process of selling the RV, but I highly recommend Motor From Tires. They are offering a discount and that is in the show notes and that might not be something you say okay, I'm going to give the gift of tires to my friends or family, but again, if you know they're people starting out and you know, maybe just give them a certificate and say, hey, here's some, here's the discount code and some money towards those tires you need for your RV. I would have loved that when I was buying tires for my RV, that would have been great.

Speaker 1:

There are also memberships that you can give to people, some of the memberships that I've used and love. I've talked about Thousand Trails. Thousand Trails is a great membership. Again, maybe you could just offer money toward it or the Camping Pass, the new Thousand Trails journey. I don't know what the price of that is. As I said, I'll do an update and talk about the Thousand Trails new journey membership. But Harvest Host, harvest Hosts and it's HarvestHostcom they now allow people let me back up a minute for people who don't know anything about Harvest Toast. Again, this is something I've had probably for two and a half years.

Speaker 1:

Most of my travel was from campground to campground and most of it was in Thousand Trails campgrounds. We bought the Thousand Trails membership. We really like it. We like going into a campground and not paying anything. But there are those days, there are those times, there are those areas where Thousand Trails doesn't fit.

Speaker 1:

So we purchased the Harvest Host membership and that, when we purchased it, allowed us to stay for a night on somebody's property. So, whether that was in a vineyard, we stayed in a beautiful vineyard. We stayed on a farm where we were with literally with longhorn cattle and had the opportunity that stay to actually watch a longhorn cattle give birth. Stay to actually watch a longhorn cattle give birth. Yes, there's a video on it over on my YouTube channel, exploring to Our Lens. So harvest hosts are amazing, unique locations across the country. You could stay at churches, you could stay farms. Like I said, there's so many different places you could stay and when I first bought it it was for a night, but Harvest Host just announced that they are allowing up to four extra nights at some of the host locations. Plus, some of the host locations also have water and electric hookups. This is huge news and I'm actually going to have a couple people on from Harvest Host to get all the details on that. And on top of that, they are right now offering 30% off for a year membership and that code is HOLIDAYHH. So all capital HOLIDAYHH H H. So all capital holiday H H.

Speaker 1:

That sale is from November 1st to January 1st and I know I'm giving a lot of information. If you are right now exercising while listening to the podcast or driving or whatever it is you're doing, don't worry, everything will be in the show notes for you. If I'm missing anything in the show notes, make sure you reach out to me. Either add something here on whatever podcast platform you're listening you could add a question, a comment or reach out on my podcast, rv Life Podcast in social media I'm sorry on social media, instagram or Facebook. I'm getting excited and yeah. So if there's anything I'm missing, any questions you have, feel free to reach out. I am not done yet. I have other suggestions for you Escapees. Now for those people who don't know, harvest Toast acquired Escapees RV Club. I had Joel Holland, the owner of Harvest Toast, acquired Escapee's RV Club. I had Joel Holland, the owner of Harvest Toast on a couple months ago, put it in the show notes and he talked about that acquisition and that part of the acquisition is about the Escapee's events that Harvest Toast is now going to to take on the events and those kinds of things.

Speaker 1:

Escapees is still offering their mail service. A lot of people ask about this. I have new people who are starting down the RV road and they say well, how do I get my mail? I have used escapees since I started RVing. They get my mail. I have a mailing address. They get my mail. I could go on and see the front of the letter to see if it's just junk and I ask them to destroy it, or I could ask them to open and scan it so I can read it. If I need that mail sent to me, they will then mail it to me. This again is one of those necessities for people who live on the road. It's a great gift idea and you could go to escapeescom to find out more about that.

Speaker 1:

All right, so, as I talked about, I just got back from a trip to Disney World. It's funny, I was talking to my editor producer before the show and he's a West Coast guy, so he was talking about Disneyland Disney World in Florida and I am going to be doing because I did just come back and I've spent a lot of time in Disney World. I've been going to Disney World since I'm 16. I had the opportunity to go to Disneyland one time, but I am doing an episode that will come out in December Tips and Tricks on Navigating Disney World, which you could apply to Disneyland as well. Navigating Disney World, which you could apply to Disneyland as well.

Speaker 1:

I want to give all of the things that I've learned the hard way and from other people to my listeners. What I do as a gift idea my family I just came back with my family of 12 went down to Disney Last year. It was 15 of us and what I've done each year for gifts is give them a Disney gift card and they could take that gift card and use it at Disney. They could use it to buy a Disney pass. They could use it to buy food or gifts or whatever they want to buy, so that, if you know, you have a Disney fan in your life. That's another great gift idea. And again, there's so many different things. I have a lot of people YouTubers and people on social media. If you go on YouTube and just Google gift ideas for our beers, you will find a ton more gift ideas to help you through the holidays. Gift ideas to help you through the holidays. Well, I hope that helped.

Speaker 1:

I do want to talk about NIRVC because I also want to talk about another great gift. As we are traveling around the country, I have had to go, you know, get my RV washed, the car washed and detailed. We, you know, get my RV washed, the car washed and detailed. That's another great gift idea for people. Depending on how big their RV is depends on the type of you know, wash that they can. They can use, so keep that in mind, but that's a great gift idea for someone. They also have people that'll come out to the campgrounds and wash and detail the RV. So another good gift idea. Nirvc National Indoor RV Centers, is one of the sponsors of the show and they do wash and detailing, they do ceramic coating and so you know, if you know that your RV friend is connected with a dealership, then maybe that's a good gift idea to give, you know, just a certificate for something that they might need done at that dealership. I'm sure if you called a dealership and said, hey, I want to give a gift, I'm sure they'll come up with something for you. I would imagine. If not, I'll have to reach out to my dealership friends and tell them this is an idea I came up with, but that might be a good idea.

Speaker 1:

The other thing NIRVC is doing in May, if you know somebody who is looking to purchase a new RV, nirvc is doing the Music City Motorhome Expo again this year. They did it last year. I had my producer, editor Jacob, with me. I'm hoping he'll be with me again this year. He kind of got the bug while he was there and has been now talking about possibly buying a van and what it would be like to be on the road at least part-time. That event is May 31st to June 4th. It is very limited so I'm bringing it up now even though you're listening to this.

Speaker 1:

In December, the tickets will sell out. If you want to find out everything about it all the food is included you get to be in the brand new 2026 RVs that nobody has seen before. This is a great opportunity and possibly a great gift for yourself or for somebody you really, really care about. It's not an expensive ticket, but it is worth it if it is somebody that is looking for those new RVs. All the major manufacturers will be there. There's time for you to go into the RVs and take your time in them. All the food, entertainment there's so much. Go to the website nirvccom and find out more about that. Wow, okay, well, I hope that that gave you some great gift ideas. If you have ideas, if you have something that you absolutely want somebody to give you for the holidays, please post in the review section of the podcast or go to my social media channel. But for now, it is time for the question of the week, and it is brought to you by Open Roads Innovative Toll Solution, and that is a toll pass I talked about that covers all 48 states and they have concierge service.

Speaker 1:

Now, every week on the show, I ask my guest to give a place that is on their bucket list and, since this is a solo show, I get to share what's on my bucket list. And one of the things that I've had on my bucket list that I have not had the opportunity yet to do is Sequoia National Park to see the largest mass of trees. It just sounds like an amazing place. I've watched videos and that is absolutely on my bucket list. Well, it's now time for the campground of the week brought to you by RV Life, and today's campground of the week is Catherine's Landing. And today's campground of the week is Catherine's Landing and it is in Hot Springs, arkansas. It has 242 sites and it offers a scenic 400-acre retreat with lakefront access, hiking, ziplining, and offers cottages and yurts if you need rentals.

Speaker 1:

As I now start my travels, I will be doing more flying into places, more cottage rentals and yurts until I figure out what my next RV is going to look like. I have done zip lining. I'm not the most I shouldn't say I'm not the most adventurous person, because I've clearly become more adventurous. I did zip lining in Panama over the rainforest Amazing, scary, amazing. This would be a taste of 9.2 rating on the RV Life campgrounds, with 439 reviews. Going to campgroundsrvlifecom makes it so easy for you to book this campground because you go to campgroundsrvlifecom, you type in Catherine's Landing and then there is a large red book now button to make it easy for you to book your stay. You could also see so many more photos and tips, the full list of amenities about this property.

Speaker 1:

Rv Life Campgrounds is part of the RV Life Pro Suite of products, as I talked about already $65 for the year. You get 25% off, and it is the most comprehensive source of RV parks, campgrounds, resorts, as well as city, state national parks. So much more. Just go check it out. It is incredible. Okay, that is the show for today, and again I'm going to ask you, my listeners, to reach out on social media RV Life Podcast on Instagram or Facebook, or put a comment in the show notes and let me know your thoughts. Let me know if you have any ideas for other gifts for our RV friends. You have been listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Patti Hunt, wishing you a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.