Taking the Kids: 20+ holiday gifts for travelers that they can use at home this strange holiday season

Eileen Ogintz, Tribune Content Agency on Dec 3, 2020

Send the National Parks lovers new moisture-wicking socks designed with a scene from their favorite national park from Swiftwick; Gifts from Parks Project benefit the parks — everything from a mini deck of national park playing cards or note cards to enamel mugs with park logos to bandanas, sticker packs and more. If someone on your gift list is pining to go to a certain park, send a guide book like those from Falcon Guides — hiking Yellowstone National Park offers more than 100 of the park’s best hikes. There is also a Monopoly National Parks edition.

A National Parks Pass — if they don’t have one — would be a welcome gift. Annual passes to a local museum, zoo or aquarium would be a good bet too, and many come with reciprocal free admission to other institutions around the country. Send with a calendar or jigsaw puzzle from that museum’s shop.

If a trip was postponed until next year or the year after, send a book about London, Paris, Florence or an Amazon gift card with suggestions. A novel or children’s book set in a locale you hope to visit will also be a welcome gift, especially while we’re stuck at home.

Send your favorite bird and snow sports lover Nocs binoculars. They’re lightweight, compact, waterproof, fog-proof and under $100. Since masks have to be worn indoors and outdoors at snow resorts this season, a new Buff Filter Tube with a three-layer Buff Replaceable filter ($29) would be appreciated.

But there’s one gift that will please the giver just as much as the recipient — an IOU for an experience (or a trip) you can share when it’s safe to travel and be together again.

It doesn’t matter that you don’t want to book yet — spring training in Arizona or Florida for baseball fans; a mom-daughter spa getaway, a fishing trip, New York for theater or a trip with the grandkid to a place you love most that they’ve never been — it’ll all be there when you do.

Where will you go next?

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The Kid’s Guide to Philadelphia, the 13th in the kid’s guide series, was published in 2020, with The Kid’s Guide to Camping coming in 2021.)