How Do People Celebrate Christmas in an RV?

If you’ll be RVing with your family for the holidays this year, you may be wondering, how do people celebrate Christmas in an RV? Spending your holiday vacation in an RV can be a fun and exciting adventure for you and your family – and the perfect opportunity to start new memorable traditions.

Decorate Your RV

Start by making your RV fun and festive. While you won’t exactly be able to deck the halls, you can still get into the Christmas spirit. Most RVs don’t have room for a large Christmas tree, so this is your chance to get creative!

If you’re not willing to sacrifice space, try getting a small tabletop tree or a wall mounted tree. If you love the idea of a real tree, and you’re willing to sacrifice space temporarily, find a small tree at a tree lot or get a permit and cut one down. Then you can dispose of it after Christmas.

If you’ll be staying at a campsite, decorate your campsite with lights, a blow-up character or two and a wreath on the front door. If you won’t be in one place long enough or you’ll be staying in your RV in a relative’s driveway, purchase inexpensive indoor decorations, then donate them after Christmas. This will allow you to still have a festive space without taking up precious storage space.

Prepare for the Right Weather

Just because you’ll be spending Christmas in your RV doesn’t mean you’ll be in a winter wonderland. Be sure to check the weather of your final destination and plan accordingly by bringing the right camping gear and clothing for your destination.

If you’re heading for a white Christmas, make sure you’re also prepared to keep your camper warm both inside and out, with an outdoor portable fire pit, wrapping your pipes with heated tape, checking the caulking around your windows, using thermal curtains, and adding skirts to keep the underside of the trailer warm.

Give Alternatives to Physical Gifts

It’s always fun to give and receive gifts at Christmas, but you probably won’t have a lot of extra storage space in you RV to bring a lot of physical gifts with you, especially if you’re visiting relatives. Instead, consider these ideas.

• If you’ll be at a large family gathering, draw names ahead of time so you only need to purchase gifts for a few people.
• Give consumables, such as foodie gift baskets, wine, olive oils, coffee, candy, chocolates, nuts, or other fun items from your hometown or that you collect along the way during your travels.
• Another great option is giving experiences. This can be in the form of gift cards to restaurants, passes to an amusement park, visits to a museum or aquarium, tickets to a performance or sports game, or certificates for special lessons or classes.

It’s the thought that counts and the goal of gift giving is to make it memorable.

Eat a Non-Traditional Meal

Cooking a larger holiday meal in an RV can seem daunting. While there are tips, tricks, and organization hacks to make cooking in your RV easier, if you’re spending Christmas in an RV consider finding a nice restaurant and just going out to dinner. But keep in mind not all restaurants are open on Christmas and the ones that are may not have what you’re looking for if you’re used to a traditional meal.

If you like the idea of a holiday dinner in your RV, you can do that too! If you’re staying at a campground, you could ask other travelers if they’d like to have a potluck. If you aren’t in the mood of making new friends, you can make your own dinner and not feel overwhelmed, by cooking some things in advance, using small appliances, and only cooking the dishes you really enjoy.

Start a New Tradition

Being on the road during the holidays provides a great opportunity to start new traditions. Check out the local community events at the location where you’ll be celebrating Christmas in your RV. Just about every community has holiday events to attend, such as tree lighting ceremonies, parades, festivals, Christmas light displays or church services.

Wherever you’ll be celebrating Christmas in your RV this year, we hope it’s memorable! You can make it easy to pack and prepare for by downloading our RV checklist so that you can spend more time enjoying the spirit of the season.