It’s a common experience—the moment on a hike, camping trip, or outdoor excursion when you realize you forgot something important, or would be much better off if you had just decided to splurge and get that futuristic camp stove or bespoke hatchet, and maybe it would be a lot less dark if you’d gotten those solar-powered string lights. The holidays offer an opportunity to share the lessons you’ve learned and the products you’ve come to rely on with your loved ones. Below, read about some of the gear that’s worth adding to the arsenal of your favorite adventurer.
At the center of this cook-it-all kit is BioLite’s flagship CampStove 2+, which can burn sticks, wood scraps, and pellets to create smokeless flames that generate power to charge gear or to store via the onboard battery. The kit also brings along an attachable grill grate and the BioLite KettlePot and CoffeePress for quickly boiling water that can just as easily be for fireside pasta or a morning pick-me-up. As a bonus, the kit comes with a FlexLightso you can see what you’re cooking.
No, it’s not going to be easy to wrap, but if your outdoorsy loved one can spot quality, they won’t care what it looks like once they open up Adler’s Rheinland Hatchet. The venerable German brand has been making axes for more than 100 years, and the handsome Rheinland model combines European C45 steel with an American hickory handle featuring anti-slip paint to improve the user’s grip. The Rheinland comes with a cotton storage bag, as well as a leather sheath featuring a two-button release system.
It’s officially ski and snowboard season, and Smith’s latest innovation in protective eyewear is built using Bellus 3D technology to create a completely custom fit. Smith’s app allows users to scan their face to map its contours and features, and the goggles are then 3D-printed and shipped within 14 days. To make gifting easy, you can buy the goggles online and send the recipient a scan code, allowing them to scan their face and choose from the four visor colors and two band colors for their customized goggles.
One of the hardest parts of preparing to camp is balancing what you need with what is easily packable, particularly when it comes to cookware. Enter sports retailer Decathlon’s house brand, Quechua, and its four-person cook set, which includes a saucepan, frying pan, and four dining sets (plates, cups, and cutlery)—all designed to stack together for easy packing. There’s also a two-person set.
Even with a comfortable sleeping pad, there are few creature comforts in camping. This inflatable down pillow, shaped to fit into the hood of a sleeping bag, is eminently more packable than a standard pillow and has a removable, machine-washable polyester cover to keep it clean after the adventure.
Rumpl’s flagship product, the Original Puffy Blanket is made with recycled synthetic insulation and a ripstop shell to make it warm and weather-ready. The one-person version features the brand’s signature cape clip, letting you stay warm while keeping your hands free. The machine-washable blanket is available in a variety of prints and comes with a stuff sack for portability.
Big, comfortable sleeping pads can come in small packages. The Big Agnes Air Core Ultra sleeping pad starts out about the size of a burrito and inflates into a full-size insulated pad for one. The pad, as well as the Big Agnes Pumphouse, come highly recommended by Annelise Poda, head of support at Hipcamp.
Designed for easy on and off, Teva’s reEmber shoes feature a grippy sole and a foam midsole, offering structure and durability that can hold up to padding around the campsite and then some, while encasing the foot in an upper reminiscent of a sleeping bag. Add in the collapsible heel and you start to understand why Fast Company senior editor Amy Farley called them the best slip-on shoes for camping.
Initially shared with Fast Company by Alyssa Ravasio, CEO of camping booking site Hipcamp, these string lights quickly became a must-have for senior editor Amy Farley this past summer on a road trip through the Southwest. The 18-foot light string is solar powered (and can be charged by USB), with 10 light nodes that adjust to three brightness settings.
Whether the surfing enthusiast in your life wipes out or not, they can still protect their skin. Kinfield—maker of plant-based, outdoor-focused skin and personal care products—has created a kit with its Sunday Spray cooling mist, Daily Dew SPF 35 water-resistant sunscreen, and Golden Hour DEET-free bug repellent. (When Recommender tried out the repellent, we were struck by the pleasant scent, as well as its ability to keep biting bugs at bay.)
VSSL knows how to pack a lot of functionality in the most efficient space possible. The company’s combination flashlight and first-aid kit is designed to be rugged and versatile, offering first-aid essentials, a compass, and a 200-lumen flood-beam flashlight with four lighting modes in a packable, waterproof package made of military-grade aluminum. VSSL also offers a mini first-aid kit, which includes only the most essential essentials. Or you can customize a kit with the company’s build-your-own option.
Fast Company’s Recommender section is dedicated to surfacing innovative products, services, and brands that are changing how we live and work. Every item that we write about is independently selected by our editors and, whenever possible, tested and reviewed. Fast Company may receive revenue from some links in our stories; however, all selections are based on our editorial judgment.