Gifts for Preppers (That They will Probably Appreciate)
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What to Get Your Prepper Friend as a Gift
Tis the season to be giving, or something like that. There are several gift giving holidays coming up, and a lot of you have a prepper in your life that it is probably fairly hard to buy for because they are doing their best to be prepared for whatever- so they already have a lot of prepper related things. Out of the few things they don’t have, most of the ones they want are probably out of their price range.
Fortunately, there are some things that a prepper will almost never have too many of. When dealing with a prepper, it is often best to think of anything you give them potentially having the tar beaten out of it, so spares are almost always welcome.
Gifts for Preppers that they will Probably Appreciate 2020 edition
A Good Pocket Knife
A good pocket knife is always nice, especially something small enough to fit just about anywhere in a ruck. Between how often these get loaned out and not returned, stolen, broken, or otherwise go missing, a good pocket knife is an excellent idea for a prepper.
They get used all the time, and if you are careful in your selection to get one with a blade under three inches, they can be carried almost anywhere without an issue. Especially if the prepper in your life works any sort of job with their hands, such as construction or warehouse work, a pocket knife should go over fairly well- worst comes to worst, they end up with a drawer of them that they go through on occasion.
If you want to be really personal about it, a nice sheath goes over well and is often appreciated, just for the personal touch.
Keep in mind that a folding knife and a fixed blade knife are both options, and if you know that they have a folding pocket knife, a fixed blade is generally a good gift in addition, since it is usually used slightly differently.
Towel
A towel is an often overlooked gift for a prepper- and while he was talking about probably fictional interstellar hitchhikers, Douglas Adams had a point.
As Douglas Adams says:
“A towel… is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”.
Douglas Adams
If you ever have to bug out, a towel is a light weight fairly compact piece of equipment that can substitute for several others in case of emergency, but even in regular travel, a spare towel in your carry on can be a massive help.
Having been trapped in the Portland airport overnight (on accident), if I had not had a towel in my carry on to use as a blanket, I would not have been able to sleep, and my entire next several days would have been much harder on me.
I strongly recommend a very fluffy beach towel if at all possible, since those seem to work the best for various emergency uses. While a small hand towel would be better than nothing, a beach towel is a beautiful thing.
Additionally, if they don’t use it when prepping for emergencies… its a towel. Still useful for that.
To personalize it, I recommend you print out a quote about towels (such as the one from Douglas Adams) and stick that to it when you wrap it up.
Water Bottle
A steel water bottle is an incredibly nice gift that will last for years, survive all sorts of adventures, and is surprisingly cheap. The best part is that a prepper will still have use for several of them since they are useful for sticking in things like a car crash kit, or a 72-hour emergency kit.
Water bottle sleeves can add some badly needed insulation to a water bottle and can be found in a variety of colors and patterns. Adding an inexpensive but nice water bottle ice cube tray is also a good idea.
If you are of an artistic bent, a customized steel water bottle- even if all it has on it is their name- can be very nice to have.
Thermos
A Thermos is nice to have, in a warm climate or a cold climate- but even if you live somewhere with perfect year-round temperatures and don’t feel the need for ready access hot soup or chilled drink, it can be a literal lifesaver for an insulin-dependent diabetic, since it is a dandy mini cooler for keeping medication cool in an emergency- make sure to talk to your doctor about the idea first, to make sure it works for your needs.
If you are looking for more options, Stanley makes a fine vacuum bottle (commonly called a thermos), and has a good reputation for being rugged.
Books
Prepper related fiction is a great gift if your prepper friend is a reader. I have a couple of reviews that you can look at, but if you are looking for something shorter, World War Z by Max Brooks is a lot of fun. Again, more post-apocalyptic, but it does spend time talking about the realities of a major disaster and the reactions of people to it. Since it is written as a series of shorter vignettes, it is great for reading in small pieces as you have time- you can set it down after reading a section, and not be to caught up in it.
Battery Bank
A battery bank is nice, but a Solar Battery bank can be recharged in the field. A good rugged battery bank can survive all sorts of drops and spills, can be left on a window sill (or clipped to a backpack), and is something most people are going to find useful anyways.
A microfiber cloth is another one of those little things that can customize that gift- they come in a number of colors and styles, and are useful to keep the solar panel on the battery bank clean- not to mention cell phones, laptop screens, and glasses.
Or, assuming that they already have power tool batteries, I have personally used the DeWalt 20 volt max and Milwaukee 12 volt battery to USB converters, and can recommend both of them for use and ruggedness- and a power tool battery tends to have plenty of charge to keep your phone going.
Safety Glasses
Speaking of glasses, a pair of dedicated sunglasses meant to live in a bug out bag is nice, and I am personally fond of safety glasses that are meant for comfortable all day wear and have a good tint on them- they are tough, inexpensive, and generally good to wear for extended hiking. An inexpensive glasses bag is generally a good way to personalize the gift, and since they are often made from microfiber, it can still be used as a cloth.
Jerky Making Kit
Jerky making kits are a good option for someone getting into prepping or who wants to get into it- and a generally good gift for someone who is into DIY at all. You can get spice kits to go with it, or even use unusual spice mixtures (Curry being a personal favorite- don’t judge me, it could be pumpkin spice-) for your own twist.
An inexpensive dehydrator is actually a great gift as well- preserving your own food can be a very rewarding activity, and especially if you are willing to put in the elbow grease when things are on sale, you can get all sorts of tasty things out of your dehydrator for fairly cheap.
Lastly, I am a fan of a very personalized gift that should fall well within your budget: write them an encouraging letter.
If at all possible, write a physical letter and seal it in an envelope, with instructions to open it when they need a lift. Make sure to put it into a zip lock bag or similar to keep any moisture out. Try to include victories they have achieved when you write it, things that they have done that were difficult, and possibly a list of things that you admire about them.
A lot of prepping goes into making sure you can light a fire in the wilderness, or that you will be able to drink recycled water, or things like that, but an aspect of emergency preparedness that gets overlooked by a lot of people is emotional preparedness- the ability to pick yourself up after a hard day is an immense talent that a lot of people just lack.
Having a letter to open up after a long day of zombie hunting (or just dealing with a busted pipe) that reminds them of how well they have done, and that not all is lost, and that they can continue on and finish this can make the difference between going to sleep frustrated and upset, or having the emotional energy to carry on for a few more hours, possibly continuing the project.
Of course, if you want to do it in high gear prepper mode, you can use rite in the rain paper, and hand them a pad of it- waterproof paper is nice to deal with, since it does not run or get soggy when it is wet.
Whatever you choose, remember that there are a number of good options for the preppers in your life, and that while they are as ready as they can be for an emergency, there are limits on that- one person cannot do it all. This means that you can help, with a little thought and effort.
This is the Penned Prepper. Go learn something.