Best road trip gift ideas for road trippers (2022)

As the holidays are getting closer and closer, you might still be searching for great ideas to offer your friends or family members something special. If they love a great road trip, I might have what you are looking for!

Road trips can be a fantastic way to travel, experience different things, and be more in the moment. Personally, it is my favorite way to discover new countries.

If you know someone that fits the bill and you’re still wondering what to offer them, here are my best road trip gift ideas for road trippers for 2022!

Make sure to read all the way to find many great ideas. From safety items to organizational items, to comfort items, you’re sure to find something!

Road trip essentials gift ideas

Roadside emergency kit

You might be thinking well this isn’t a fun gift! I get you! But this is something that can come in very handy in case of a roadside emergency while they are road-tripping.

This roadside emergency kit will have everything they might need if something happens along the way. It’s pretty much the ultimate kit and the plus side is that it isn’t too big so it won’t take up a large amount of space in the car.

To just name a few items included in this 104 pieces roadside emergency kit, you’ll find jumper cables, a small first aid kit, an ice scraper, a flashlight, screwdrivers, and a lot more!

It might not be the coolest gift ever but it might just be the most useful one for your fellow’s next road trip!

First aid kit

A good first aid kit can also be a great useful road trip gift idea. Road trips often mean outdoor adventures. By spending a lot of time outdoors, or even just traveling in general, small accidents can happen.

Having a first aid kit handy can help them take care of those little mishaps without having to find a pharmacy to get the supplies needed.

You can find different options below depending on your budget but also if you want to buy a bigger first aid kit or a compact one.

Car mount phone holder

A car mount phone holder can be a great stocking stuffer idea. Especially while road-tripping, it’s good to be able to use the GPS on the phone and actually see what it is showing.

Having the phone in a cup holder for example might not be the best way to get the information coming from the GPS. Some cars now have Android auto or Apple car play but if they don’t, a car mount is something very useful.

They can install it on the dashboard and then put their phone on it. It’ll be easier to see the information on it and they won’t have to take it in their hands in order to see it.

Organizational road trip gift ideas

Backseat car organizer

If you’re trying to find a road-tripping family gift, this is something to consider! Kids on a road trip get messy pretty quickly let me tell you!

These backseat car organizers will help prevent a messy car with toys everywhere. Parents will be able to store the kid’s toys in the many compartments available in the backseat car organizers, and they’ll be able to install their tablets properly as well.

It will probably still get a little messy but it will help maintain some order where the kids are sitting and it will also help them find their stuff more easily than in a backpack at their feet.

Travel tray

Travel trays are another great useful item when kids are coming on a road trip. It’s great to have a backseat car organizer but it’s even better when combined with a travel tray.

The backseat car organizer will help organize the kid’s toys, drinks, and tablets. The travel tray, however, will be useful for them to draw or play on it.

It will serve as a table of some sort in the car. They can eat snacks and not make a mess everywhere, they have a dry eraser board so they can write on it as much as they want, they can just do some coloring in a coloring book, and they can also put their tablet on it as well.

Another great perk is that it also has some storage.

If you have a bigger budget, why not combine some backseat car organizers with the travel trays to have the kids all settled up for the big road trip ahead?

Car trash bin

A long road trip also involves some rubbish. Your fellow road trippers will probably have some snacks and drinks along the way. These small trash bins can easily be stowed in a cup holder or in a door pocket where they will barely take up any space.

They’ll have to be emptied but at least they won’t have some garbage laying around all over the car.

Depending on the type of car they have, here are different options for you to consider.

Packing cubes

Packing cubes are a great way to stay organized on any type of trip.

I use mine for backpacking traveling, resort traveling, road trips, and even weekend trips! I find it so much easier to have your clothes organized in your bags.

They can not only be used for clothes but you could also use them for smaller items you are bringing in order to avoid having to find them everywhere.

They can be packed by clothing items, by outfits, you name it! Whatever suits your needs, just pack them the way you like and your suitcase will be organized the way you want it!

Road trip gift ideas for comfort in the car

Travel pillow

A good travel pillow is a great road trip gift idea. Sometimes, road trips can bring us to drive quite late or quite early in the morning.

For passengers, this can be an opportunity to catch up on some sleep or sleep a little longer before changing drivers or just being up and helping the driver out.

Especially in a car, sitting in the seat isn’t necessarily the best position to be comfortable while sleeping. Having a great travel pillow can at least add a little bit of comfort and a little less soreness when waking up.

Versatile puffy blanket

If you have a fellow traveler that is always cold, this is it! A small compact blanket they can carry with them on the road. It will barely take up any space in their luggage or beside them in the car and it can easily be put away.

They can use it in the car if they are cold, on the plane, or in a hotel room. It is a versatile gift that can have many uses while traveling around.

I’ve used mine in resorts where the room gets cold with the AC on but if you turn it off it gets too humid, I’ve used it to add an extra layer while sleeping in a campervan in Scotland in the middle of fall. It’s definitely a good gift investment!

electronics road trip gift ideas

Headphones

Headphones can be something very useful for road trippers out there. It’s an opportunity to shut down the outside world for a little and listen to some good music, podcasts, or even movies while on the road but also on some downtime.

Kids

If the mini road trippers don’t have headsets, it will definitely come in handy for their parents!

They might not be watching a screen the whole time but sometimes, screen time is just what they need to calm down a bit, or stop bickering.

You don’t want them to be watching something at the same time with their volume up without any headsets. It is going to be annoying for each of them, but also for the parents in the front.

Buying each kid their own pair of headsets is a great idea for everyone. They will be kind of proud to have their own one too.

Adults

A good pair of headsets can be just as useful for parents or road trippers in general. Even if they might not be used during driving times, they can be handy to watch a movie once they are settled down for the evening.

If the accommodations they are staying at involve sharing the area with other people such as a hostel, this can be very useful.

Or maybe they are just traveling with their partner and want to watch something different or spend a bit of me time, headsets are a great idea and will be useful all along their trip.

Splitter

Headphone splitters are a fun stocking stuffer gifting idea. It can be useful when people want to watch the same thing at the same time.

Phones, iPads, tablets, and even laptops tend to have only one jack for headsets which isn’t ideal if two people who want to use the same device to watch something instead of two different ones. It can be useful for the kids too!

This is where splitters come in handy. Since all those nice electronics everyone uses have different types of plugs, here are two options for you.

One for Apple products where you can plug with a regular jack and Apple plugs too. And the other one is for regular jacks.

Nintendo Switch portable gaming system

What is a road trip without a gaming system to occupy the children or the adults? Gaming systems aren’t big to carry anymore. These gaming systems will barely take up any space inside the carry-on bags, the luggage, or the backseat car organizers.

There are so many fun games the kids can play! You’re sure to find a couple of them so they can have plenty of fun.

They can also be connected to a TV in order to play at the end of the day as a fun family activity!

Tablet 

Road trips usually mean some time on the road. Kids can get bored quite easily even with all the activities the parents will prepare for them.

I like to limit the time my kids spend on their tablets and video games while on the road, but sometimes, it is a necessary tool to beat boredom.

These tablets are great because they have movies but also plenty of educational games. They can play while learning which is a win-win situation when you take them out for them to play with.

Kindle

This is a great gift for big readers who love to travel. It will save a lot of space in their bags as they will not be carrying three or four books with them to last for the whole trip.

Kindle books are also cheaper to buy than actual paper books. It is kind of nice to read the same books and spend less money in the end.

I love the feeling and smell of reading a real book, but as a traveler, this has been amazing!

They can have as many books as they want on their Kindle device and it won’t even be heavier in their bag!

It’s also a great gift for road trippers as space is limited to the car. So having fewer books to carry around will save some space.

If they already have a Kindle, you could buy them a membership to Kindle unlimited. This way, they can rent as many books as they want.

This can be a great gift idea for parents, teens, and children who love to read on their road trips!

Road trip gift ideas for comfort outside the car

Portable light 

A portable light can also be a good gift idea for road trippers. It can be useful when they get somewhere and it’s dark out.

They are great for setting up the camping spot for the night, having extra light to take the luggage out when they get to the hotel, or even just finding something they lost while they are still on the road.

If they like to read books and don’t have a Kindle, a small reading light will do the trick. They will be able to keep reading even when it gets dark.

It’s a small accessory that won’t take that much space but can come in handy in many situations.

Coffee maker

A coffee maker is a great gift for road trippers who are budget conscious while they are out and about and even road trippers in general. It can be very useful for campers too.

Going out every morning to get some coffee can be costly, will add some extra time to their morning routine which they will not be using to explore and it might be a disgusting coffee too.

You could definitely buy them a great coffee maker they can bring with them on their road trips with a bag of their favorite coffee that they can enjoy every morning.

They will be able to brew their own while getting ready in the morning or having breakfast before they leave.

Helpful road trip gift ideas

National Park Pass

Canada and the United States have so many beautiful national parks to discover! If you know they are traveling to a specific area and they plan to visit some national parks, this will save them some entry fees along the way and leave them additional money to use towards the trip.

National parks usually have entry fees either per person or per vehicle to help them maintain the accommodations offered to visitors.

It might even be something they haven’t even thought about while planning their trip.

BUY a Discovery Pass for Canada’s National Parks

BUY an Annual Parks Pass for Quebec’s National Parks

BUY a U.S. Park Pass

Subscription

Another great road trip gift idea is an annual subscription to travel insurance. Travel insurance is very important for any type of trip. Road trips are no different.

It’s important to have some medical coverage abroad. If they tend to travel frequently during the year, a yearly subscription to travel insurance can end up being beneficial cost-wise.

BUY travel insurance

A getaway

If you know where their next road trip will take them, you could buy them an excursion they can do along the way.

There are so many different activities all over the world they could do. Scroll through all the best ones out there or search for the country they are going to to find something they will appreciate.

This can be a very thoughtful gift they will love!

BUY an excursion or getaway experience

make them a road trip basket

Another great road trip gift idea would be to combine multiple of these road trip gift ideas and make them an amazing road trip basket.

You can add different things from smaller accessories to excursions to safety items to subscriptions! A great addition would be to add a bundle of road trip games for the kids!

Sign up for my newsletter to get more than 30 free road trip printable games for the kids and make sure to add them to their road trip basket!

Get the Road trip games for kids Freebie!

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Spending a couple of hours on the road and you are still not sure how you’ll be entertaining everyone on the road? Here are 30 + pages to help you have some fun, bond together and well not get bored!

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    So there you have it! All my best road trip gift ideas for road trippers for this year! I hope you have found a couple of items to gift your favorite road trippers! Or maybe you’ve found too many ideas!

    Don’t fret, there are still many years to come to offer them everything you want! You can even find some more ideas in my traveler’s gift guide!

    Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links. I would never recommend anything I don’t personally love and use!

    Do you want more gift ideas for your traveler friends? Or travel inspiration? I have everything you need to help you out!

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    Hey, I'm Payte, a British-Columbia native, now living in the French part of Canada, Quebec City. I am a former flight attendant, mother of 2 kids, and an adventure seeker.  Even though I don't travel full-time, travelling is part of who I am and every chance I get, I spend it traveling! Giving you all the best advice is a great way to share my passion with you!