Camper Gifts for Couples Who Share One Small Rig and Two Opinions | Bluegrass Gifts

The Rig Is Already Packed, and Both of Them Know Where Everything Goes

Camper gifts for couples run into a problem the rest of the gift aisle never has: there is nowhere to put them. Every cabinet in the rig was packed by two people with a system, and anything new that comes aboard means something old goes back to the house.

The best camper gifts for couples fold flat and get used every trip, take the argument out of setting up camp, or take up no cabinet space at all, like a reserved weekend or their name on the wall. Match the gift to the kind of camping couple they are, and skip anything that needs its own bin.

That last kind is the one we make. Our Personalized Camper Sign, a carved camper gift for couples who call the rig home, carves HOME IS WHERE WE PARK IT in rounded campground letters, with THE BENNETTS beneath it in widely spaced capitals. Their name goes where the Bennetts’ is, and the saying on top is theirs to keep or rewrite.

Camping couples already own the folding chairs, the patio lights and a doormat with a joke on it. What helps is knowing which kind of camping couple they are: a pair gone six weeks every spring needs different things than a pair who drive forty minutes to the state park every other Friday.

Camper Gifts for Couples, Sorted by the Kind of Campers They Are

Most camping couples are one of five kinds. Find the pair you are shopping for, then read across.

Two people, one small rig: what each kind of camping couple will use, and what to leave at the store:

The new owners deserve a word. Backing into a tight site, one at the wheel and one waving from behind, is where a lot of first-season arguments start, and radios end the shouting across the loop. The checklist does the rest: hitch, chocks, level, power, water, same order every time.

The last row takes the most tact. When one of them would happily live at the lake and the other counts the nights until a real shower, the gift that lands makes the good sport more comfortable instead of adding to the enthusiast’s pile. We wrote a piece on anniversary ideas for couples who like different things, and the same thinking holds in a camper.

◆ From the Workshop: The words on this sign are never painted. The carve cuts down through the finish into clean grain, so HOME IS WHERE WE PARK IT and the family name read in bare wood against whatever color you pick, which means the finish alone decides how hard they stand out. Inside a camper that matters twice, because the walls are often pale paneling or painted white, and a pale board on a pale wall just disappears. A darker finish such as Ebony, Dark Walnut or Midnight Blue makes the board stand off the wall and the bare-wood letters stand off the board.

Camper Gifts for Couples Have to Earn Their Cabinet Space

Every gift for a camping couple gets one quiet test when it comes aboard: where does it go? Four kinds pass.

• Things that fold or nest. Collapsible bowls and a strainer, a nesting pot set with one handle for all of it, a folding side table that sits between two chairs and holds two coffees. It should pack flatter than what it replaces.
• Things for the campsite evening. A rechargeable lantern with a warm setting, a camp blanket big enough for two, a pair of pie irons, a deck of cards and a cribbage board. Most of camping is the hours after supper.
• Things that end the setup argument. Two-way radios for backing in, a headlamp each so nobody has to hold the flashlight, a laminated checklist, and a drinking-water hose that never does any other job.
• Time on the calendar. The site they always try for and never get, reserved for a weekend they have both cleared, with the confirmation tucked in a card. Check the dates with one of them first. It takes up no room at all.

People underrate the evening. A campsite after supper is a front porch with better neighbors, and we wrote a whole piece on why sitting and doing nothing is good for you. Anything that makes those hours easier has earned its spot.

The ones that fail: full-size anything, a second set of camp dishes, a big mat for a site that already has one, glass decor with nowhere to ride, and anything that needs an outlet if they camp without hookups. Each is kindly meant, and each is in the garage by the second trip. Boat families fight the same storage battle, and our post on pontoon boat gifts for someone who already has every cupholder works through it on the water.

Home Is Where We Park It, With Their Name Underneath

On the product page you fill in two lines, the saying (keep it or rewrite it) and the family name under it, and watch both appear on the board as you type. The name line carves whatever you give it: THE BENNETTS, or two first names like RAY & LINDA. A real person reads every order before anything meets the saw, spelling checked against what you typed.

Camper sign sayings by couple type, each one short enough to read from the dinette:

• HOME IS WHERE WE PARK IT: the sample, and hard to beat
• NEW RIG, SAME TWO OF US: for the new owners
• STILL LEARNING TO BACK IN: for new owners who can laugh at the first season
• GONE BY FRIDAY AT FIVE: for the weekend regulars
• PARKED & HAPPY: for the couple who likes to stay put a while
• RETIRED AND ROAMING: for the retirees gone for weeks at a time
• THE LONG WAY HOME: for the pair who never take the interstate
• GRANDKIDS RIDE FREE: for the grandparents with a full bunk
• ONE CAMPER, ONE GOOD SPORT: for the last row of the table, if both can take a joke
• HAPPY CAMPERS SINCE 1998: for an anniversary, with their own year
• THE BENNETTS' BASECAMP: their name in place of the Bennetts, first names below

Pick the size by where it will hang. The Small 16" x 3.5", at $30.00, fits inside over a camper door or galley window without crowding. The Medium 24" x 5.5" ($55) and the Large 30" x 7.25" ($80) belong on a wall back home: the den, the she-shed that pretends to be a camper, or the garage wall where the camping gear waits between trips. Every size mounts with the installed sawtooth hanger plus a dab of museum putty for travel days.

We are a small Kentucky shop with 5,000+ customer reviews, and we carve this sign on a CNC machine in our shop, on one face of a solid board: pine for the stain finishes, poplar for the paints, never MDF. It ships free in the U.S., and if they camp every summer with another couple, any two signs or wax melts earn up to 20% off at checkout.

His or Hers Is the Wrong Question in a Camper

Search for camper gifts for him and you get a page of tools and grill gadgets. Search for her and it is mugs and pillows with a pun stitched on. That split works in a house, where each of them has a corner. In a rig there are no spare corners, and a gift for one takes up room the other gave up.

So ask a different question: will the other one be glad it came along? A pair of radios passes, because each of them holds one. A fishing rod for one of them passes only if the other likes fish for supper. A good pillow for the one who tolerates camping passes easily: a rested good sport makes the trip better for both.

That test is why a sign with their name suits a couple: it belongs to both of them and needs no cabinet, drawer or bay. If the camper is not the only place they would want a name carved, look through our personalized signs before you choose, and hold every one to the same standard: the words should be ones both of them would say out loud.

Every other gift on this list has to find a cabinet. Type their name into our Personalized Camper Sign for the couple whose house has wheels, try a saying or two from the list until one sounds like them, and pick the size by the wall it will hang on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Camping gifts for couples who have everything?

For camping couples who have everything, give something that needs no storage space: a weekend booked at the campsite they always try to get, their name carved on a sign for the camper wall, or one better version of something they use every trip, such as a rechargeable lantern with a warm setting. Couples who camp a lot already own the gear, so a second set of anything tends to end up in the garage. Our Personalized Camper Sign carves their name under HOME IS WHERE WE PARK IT and takes up no cabinet at all.

RV gifts for couples?

Good RV gifts for couples suit two people sharing a small space: things that fold flat, things for the evening at the site such as pie irons and a two-person blanket, things that end the setup argument such as a pair of two-way radios, and time on the calendar, like a reserved weekend. Skip anything bulky, breakable or meant for only one of them, because every gift takes room the other one gave up. A sign with their name for inside the RV belongs to both of them, and our Personalized Camper Sign comes in a Small 16-inch size that fits over the door or the galley window.

What size personalized camper sign fits inside a camper?

Inside a camper, the Small 16" x 3.5" personalized camper sign, at $30.00, is the size that fits over a camper door or galley window without crowding, and it mounts with the installed sawtooth hanger plus a dab of museum putty for travel days. The Medium 24" x 5.5" ($55) and the Large 30" x 7.25" ($80) carry the same design for a wall back home. All three come in 20 hand-applied stain and paint finishes, with the carved letters left bare wood. It ships free in the U.S.: 2-7 business days in the shop, then 2-5 days to reach you.