Welcome to my guide to Christmas gifts for outdoor explorers and nature lovers. If you’re shopping for someone who likes their adventures, I’ve got lots of inspiration for you!
Read on for lots of lovely gift ideas which are perfect for those who love supporting and enjoying the natural world and the great outdoors 🙂
Gifts for nature lovers
Let’s start off with a gift with a really positive impact. Treedom is a tree planting business that plants trees in 17 different countries across the world, in partnership with smallholder farmers and non-profit organisations. Their Plant a Tree gift allows you to dedicate a tree online; each individual tree is geolocated and photographed, with regular updates posted in a diary for the recipient to view. Such a brilliant gift option for anyone interested in conservation and nature.
This beautiful large-format Hidden Planet book by Ben Rothery would make a lovely gift for a young nature fan. It’s full of Ben’s wonderful illustrations, and combines factual information with myth and legend to introduce the reader to some of planet Earth’s hidden species. My nine year old is absolutely transfixed by it.
The Hand & Body gift set from Live in the Light is great for a nature lover who also likes a bit of pampering. The hand & body wash and lotion are made with organic ingredients, and they’re also vegan and cruelty-free. I’ve been using the Woodland Citrus scent and am totally hooked, it’s a gorgeous mix of botanical spruce and warming citrus. The products work wonders on the skin too.
With options for individuals, young people and families, RSPB Gift Membership is a brilliant way to encourage a love of nature. You’ll also be helping to support the vital work done by RSPB to protect the natural world. Membership includes a welcome pack, free wildlife book and quarterly magazines.
Buying for a nature fan who also loves their stationery? These A6 Personalised Postcards from Wall Circus are printed with on-trend tropical Monstera leaves and can be personalised with their name. The card and envelopes are lovely quality too.
Help them encourage the local wildlife to their garden with this Birdwatching Bundle from Happy Beaks. It contains a bag of less-mess seed mix, a bag of dried mealworms (not very pretty, but birds love them!), and a stick-on window feeder which allows you to watch your visitors from the comfort of indoors. I think this would make a brilliant present for someone who has just got their own outdoor space. It’s also perfect for nature fans who can’t get outside very easily.
This lovely Bird Food Tin from Burgon & Ball will help them store messy bird seed in style. It’s beautifully moulded in steel, with a strong leather handle and a handy seed scoop. A great combination of good looks and practicality.
Carrying on with the garden birds theme, a bird bath is a great way to support your local wild birds. The Peckish Secret Garden Bird Bath looks really nice, but is also durable and easy to keep clean.
With hedgehogs in decline around the UK, a gift that helps nature lovers do their bit to support them will go down well. The Hedgehog House from The Natural Gardener is a generous size, and is made from recycled materials with a staggered entrance to deter unwanted visitors.
If you’re buying for a nature lover and would like to avoid ‘stuff’, I think the Every One Club membership is a great option. It’s a climate club that gives members regular prompts and support to make climate-friendly shifts in their lives, and makes it easy for them to get behind climate issues. Buying a gift membership also means you’re helping to fund earth-restoring projects.
This is a nice option for nature lovers who like to cook. For the Love of the Land cookbook celebrates the stories and recipes of some of the UK’s finest farmers. The recipes make the most of local and seasonal ingredients, and the stories told by the contributing farmers paint a vivid picture of British farming in all its hardship and glory. This is a great cookbook, and it makes a lovely coffee table book gift too.
I love this Daisy Teardrop Necklace from Silver & Birch. It contains a real daisy suspended in resin and is handmade in the UK. Because it’s a real flower, each piece is unique – such a lovely way to stay in touch with a little bit of nature.
A cleaning kit may not be a very typical gift, but if you’re shopping for someone who’s keen on making the switch to more natural, eco-friendly products the Clean Living Complete Cleaning Kit is a great option. The kit contains sachets of concentrated, environmentally-friendly cleaning products, which you dilute into the refillable spray bottles. All domestic cleaning areas are covered, a cleaning brush and cloths are included, and the whole kit is supplied in a handy reusable carry caddy. It looks really stylish too.
How about adding some luxury to their hand sanitiser with this eco-friendly, all-natural gift set? Purdy & Figg’s Citrus hand sanitising spray is made with natural ingredients, including pure essential oils. I’ve been trying it out and it’s wonderful; there’s no sticky residue, and while it contains over 70% alcohol it’s kind to hands and smells amazing. The Citrus Luxury Refill Set contains a 250ml glass bottle of sanitising spray and a lovely refillable atomiser – perfect for popping into a bag when they’re out and about.
Now this isn’t strictly a typical gift, but I couldn’t leave out these Plastic Free Christmas Crackers from Love Tiki. Perfect for nature-conscious partygoers, they’re recyclable, plastic-free, and contain reusable gifts. Plus, a donation from every sale goes to the Trussell Trust, an organisation working to stop hunger and food poverty in the UK.
If you’re looking for a treat gift which supports sustainable development, the Pick Me Up Gift Box from Social Stories ticks all the boxes. Each product in the box supports a different social cause, and these are detailed on the accompanying story booklet. A really thoughtful gift for that ‘hard-to-buy-for’ person on your list.
Gifts for outdoor explorers
I love this 365 Outdoor Activities book from RSPB – it’s packed with fun ideas for getting outdoors and exploring nature. Each activity has clear instructions and photos, and you don’t need lots of special materials to do them. A brilliant little gift to keep young explorers busy.
If they’re really serious about their outdoor adventures, a good pair of gloves is essential. The Dexshell Thermfit Waterproof Gloves from Aquaproofs are waterproof, breathable and seamless, so they keep hands dry and warm while also being really comfy to wear. The grip dotting on the palms makes them particularly useful for all-weather cyclists.
How about a couple of practical, reusable stocking fillers? These stainless steel drinking straws and gel handwarmers from the Trespass Christmas gifts under £10 range will both come in very handy on outdoor adventures. It’s worth browsing the full range if you need some more ideas for secret santa gifts and little extras.
A head torch is such a handy piece of kit to have. We use one for camping, night walks, and even trips to the shed when it’s dark. The Flux Head Torch from Vango provides long distance light projection and a soft peripheral light for a wider field of vision. I love the fact that you can remove it from the headband and clip it to a helmet or rucksack. A really nice quality, practical gift that will get lots of use.
If the outdoors explorer on your gift list also enjoys their DIY, they can combine their passions with the Maker Wild book. It covers fifteen outdoor-themed projects, ranging from simple, on-the-go survival techniques to more challenging makes. There’s an emphasis on upcycling which will also resonate with those interested in sustainability.
If they’re planning a real outdoor adventure, this Traveller Notebook from Adventure Accessories will help them keep a journal of their trip. The pages are hand-sewn into the lovely cork cover, and the faux suede cord wrap keeps everything tidy. A great little lightweight gift that can easily be tucked into a rucksack.
I know from experience (good and bad!) that the right shoes are absolutely essential for outdoors adventures. These Walking Trainers from Rieker provide support, flexibility and durability, while also being super-comfortable to wear. I think they’d be a particularly good option for teens who don’t like the idea of traditional walking shoes.
One for the camping fans, the Kelty Bestie Blanket is the perfect size for wrapping up warm around the campfire. It’s lightweight but effective at keeping in the heat, and comes in a handled stuff sack for easy transport. It would be a perfect gift for a festival-goer too.
Families who love spending time outdoors will have fun with this Down the Rabbit Hole game from Suttons. It’s a classic target game with beautiful Alice in Wonderland illustrations, and is perfect for a garden games tournament or just a bit of family fun. I like the idea of adding a timed element to everyone’s turn to make things a bit more crazy.
Not every outdoor lover likes to wear gloves, and that’s where these Wrist Warmers from Hurd & Co come into their own. They’re handmade using 100% merino wool, and will keep wrists and hands toasty while leaving fingers free to function. I think they’re ideal for hiking, camping, family walks, and even the school run.
If they like their walking, a good flask will definitely go down well. The Magma Vacuum Flasks from Vango are available in three sizes and do a great job of keeping hot drinks hot, and cold drinks cold. Not all flasks manage to deliver on this!
Spending time outdoors in the elements can take its toll on your hands, so a really good hand cream is a great stocking filler gift for outdoor adventurers. The Caring Skin Fix from Nursem is an intensive treatment which provides immediate relief for dry skin without greasiness. I’ve been using it on my gardening-battered hands and it’s made such a difference! I love the fact that Nursem give a month’s worth of product to a nurse or midwife for every item sold too.
I hope my selection of gifts for outdoor explorers and nature lovers has given you lots of inspiration for your Christmas shopping – if there are any great gift ideas you think I should add to the list let me know!
More gift inspiration
You might also like to take a look at the other gift guides I’ve compiled this year:
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