December 12, 2012

Survivalists' Christmas List (and Gifts for People Who are Unprepared) - 3

You’re running out of time. Hanukkah is half over, Christmas is just 13 days away, and you still have no idea what kind of holiday gifts you should get for your favorite survival enthusiasts. They don’t always make it easy for us either. Many survivalists already have all of the basic survival gear that a person would need; and without knowing any specific wish list items, these folks may be very tricky to please. Some of us are very picky about our gear.

If that wasn’t trouble enough, another holiday hardship comes when we want to give survival and preparedness gear to our friends and family, some of whom have no interest in survival themselves. You feel obligated to help them, even though their heads are buried deep, deep in the sand. How can you get them gear that will keep them safe, that they won’t think is weird, when they have no interest in being responsible for themselves?

There are only two things you need to know for holiday survival shopping: “Double up” and “be subtle.”

The “double up” idea applies to the survivalists on your list. You don’t need to know about every piece of gear that they have. You can get them things they’d be happy to overstock or have duplicates of. Speaking from personal experience, you can never have too many of the things you love. Consider the following:

- Quality knives are things to have multiples of. You can never have too many knives. If your gift recipient has never used a Mora knife, get them several. This lets your giftee keep good quality knives scattered all over the place, without destroying your gift budget.
- Food storage is another big hit with survivalists and preppers. Who wouldn’t want more food? You can stick to the practical, like a nitrogen-packaged bucket of rice or wheat. Or you can treat them to something fancy for morale, like a case of that freeze dried space ice cream. Delicious!
- If you know what survival guns your gift recipient prefers, treat him to some boxes of ammo.
- Fire starters are also great for doubling up. You can get a pack of lighters, or a couple of spark rods, or some storm proof matches.
- Paracord bracelets or a simple hank of 550 cord is usually a welcome sight, too.

And what do you get for those folks that think you are crazy for planning for emergencies? Here’s where the part about being subtle comes in. You can still get helpful things for the non-survivalists on your list, if you are not blatant about it.
- Get them something for their vehicle, like an organizer or caddy. Then package it with a small, roadside emergency kit or a really nice first aid kit.
- Buy them something practical, but play it off as decorative. Fancy candles give people lighting in a power outage, and candles are a lot less intimidating than a tactical flashlight.
- Get them a craft kit or an interesting how-to book. What seems like a fun hobby could turn out to be a valuable skill set, if it is something useful like soap making, candle making, food dehydrating, canning, etc. Again, be subtle.

What’s on your survival wish list? Let us know in the comments.

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