11 Of The Perfect National Park Gifts For The Park Lover In Your Life

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It’s no secret I’m obsessed with the national parks.  And what you probably don’t know is that I have approximately a million national park things: a puzzle, maps, postcards, patches, a mug, books, stickers, and the pass, of course.  This list of national park gifts will be perfect for the national park lover in your life.

The Wander Club keychain

This is such a fun gift because you can either gift them new parks they visit every year, or once you get someone the keychain and a few park rings, they can easily add to it themselves as they visit new places.  I really love this and it is heavy duty.  

It’s a thicc clip that I’m not worried about coming undone and it’s just pretty!  It even has my initials on the back.  AND, it gets better, if the national park lover in your life likes traveling other places, you can get state, country, continent, landmark, body of water, and even custom rings made.

The actual keychain (the brown part for mine) is made of full-grain leather but they have a few vegan options as well.  Both versions come in a few different colors.  This is the perfect national park gift for the minimalist in your life or the person who just doesn’t want tons of clutter.

A Wander Club keychain is a great way to keep track of parks visited without taking up a lot of the space that everything else on this list does.

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National Park Pass

If the park lover in your life visits a lot of parks (or park sites) in a year, this is a great gift!  I buy one of these every year and will continue to do so probably forever.  It’s just $80, I know, not all that cheap, but it’s way cheaper than paying for each park entrance fee separately.  This is a great option if they don’t already have a pass or will need a new one soon.  It’s probably the best general national park gift, great if you don’t know exactly what they like, but know they like the parks.

National Park Monopoly (or Yahtzee)

I’ve almost bought National Park Monopoly so many times.  Like, every time I see it.  If you want traditional games, you can also find Yahtzee and Jenga with the national park theme.  If you’re looking for something more unique, try Trekking the National Parks.

If you need a stocking stuffer, this Wilderness Uno is perfect, even though it isn’t directly national park themed.  I’d say it would still be good for the park lovers.  This is a really fun national park gift that’s great for people that love board games.

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National Park Puzzles

The puzzle I linked to in the header is the one I have, but there are so many more cool ones out there!  There are cool ones of all the parks like this, or you can find them for individual parks.  There are puzzle versions of retro-inspired posters, too.  You’ll usually find different varieties online versus at the park itself.  I finally did my national park puzzles in the 2019/2020 winter and can officially recommend them as great national park gifts, as long as they like puzzles.

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National Park Inspired Apparel

There are SO MANY outdoor-inspired clothing brands out there right now, it’s nuts.  I recently tried out Homage National Park shirts and they are my favorite!  They’re super comfy and have that vintage style without the vintage price (I’m looking at you, Parks Project vintage finds.) The hoodies (pictured) are also wonderful.

National Park Inspired Candles

I’ve wanted to try national park inspired candles for a while, but they’re a little too much for me to justify buying for myself right now.  I would, however, buy them (and happily accept them) as gifts!  I’ve seen some Parks Project candles at REI, but they look different than the ones on the Parks Project website.  I’m not sure what the difference is other than variety. PaddyWax has some that are very minimal and sound delicious.  Good and Well Supply Co. seems to have the biggest variety.

National Park Posters or Postcards

Just like the puzzles, there are about a million poster options from one map showing all the parks to individual retro style posters.  I love the vintage style artwork and pick up postcards in that style almost everywhere I find them.   There are a few different vintage styles to choose from usually.

Some parks are found in one style but not the other.  For example, here are four different vintage style postcard sets.  Some include all the parks, others only include half or 12.  First is the watercolor style of Kai Carpenter (I LOVE these), this vintage WPA style, these hand illustrated postcards, and this set of vintage style illustrated postcards.  And if those aren’t your style, don’t worry, there is always the traditional postcard!

Side note: if you like postcards and getting/sending mail, you should check out Postcrossing!  I’ve been using it on and off for years and love it!

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National Park Mug

You can find different camp style mugs on The Parks Apparel and Parks Project, but the mugs I really love are found at the park gift shops themselves and are made by Deneen Pottery.  You can see some examples of styles on their website, but I think you can only buy them in the parks.

It’s the only place I’ve seen them and not every park has them.  If I had more room for mugs, I would get so many of these, but I don’t, so I only have one for now, but I use it all the time.  We started collecting these in 2020 and I think this would be one of my favorite national park gifts to get, personally.  Just make sure it’s a park they don’t already have.

National Park Scratch-Off Map

These are a fun, interactive way to keep track of the national parks you’ve visited.  A scratch-off map would be a great gift for a national park loving kid, especially.  What better way to keep them excited about exploring the outdoors?  I know I would have loved that.  Even as an adult I think it would be fun to have especially as a map lover.

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National Park Maps

I love maps.  I cannot read maps, but I love them.  I love the official park maps.  I love illustrated maps.  I love city maps, state maps, state park maps, all of them.  While the option of a scratch-off map is fun, sometimes a regular or artistic map is more appropriate.  I would head to Etsy for these.  Two of my favorites are this one and this one.  If you want to go big, this push pin national park map is a great option.

It’s an awesome way for them to track their travels but still looks really nice.  If you’re Internet savvy, I bet you could hit up Facebook or Twitter and get people from all over to send you the official park maps, too, if they collect those.  Though going to the park yourself to get them is part of the appeal.

National Park Books

There are two books that I would highly recommend for anyone planning a national park trip.  The National Geographic Guide to National Parks and the Secrets of the National Parks (also by NatGeo.)  These are more resourceful books.

If you’re looking for more of a coffee table book, I’d go with this one, which happens to go well with posters and postcards mentioned earlier.  National Parks of the USA is a great illustrated book full of facts about all the national parks.  I actually want this one now, too!  If you’re more into novels, try a Nevada Barr book set in one of the national parks!

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National Park Patches, Stickers, or Pins

If you need stocking stuffers, smaller things like patches, pin, and stickers are perfect.  Playing cards are another great idea.  Gotta do something when you’re hanging out at camp!  These can also be found on the Parks Project and The Parks Apparel.  These are also perfect small additions to bigger gifts.

I hope this helped you find an awesome national park gift idea for the park lover in your life.  I know I’d be happy to get everything on this list and already own almost everything on it.  There is something for every price range and they’re all awesome.

Do you have any of these things?  Which ones?  What do you want the most on this list?  

5 thoughts on “11 Of The Perfect National Park Gifts For The Park Lover In Your Life

  1. I LOVED all those vintage style posters and postcards!!! I wanted to buy so many. I saw this really cool scrapbook at Yellowstone too. And I’ve kept all our maps. 😀

    P.S. I love the design of the pass in that picture! This year’s has that frog on it, and it’s cool, but not exactly what I picture when I think of national parks! Haha.

    1. Yes! I love all the vintage stuff, too. We have so much of it. I loved that pass too, and may be biased since I worked there haha. I need a new pass but part of me wants to wait until January if I can because I don’t want the frog one. Is that terrible? Haha

  2. Great ideas. I just added the books to my Amazon wish list as a hint for Christmas. I certainly share your passion for the parks.

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