‘Tis the season for running around crazily, looking for the perfect holiday gifts for friends and family! If you have some outdoor  enthusiasts on your gift list, it can be difficult to know what to get for them. After all, there are so many neat products that make camping easier or more fun. Your camping friends probably have the basics, but they will be thrilled with some extra luxury item that they’ll take camping once, and then wonder how they ever did without it. Some items are practical, some are fun, and some can make your camping experience so much better! But it’s hard to know what these things are when it’s not camping season.

But search you must, since this is a great time to find camping gear and you can often find it at a deep discount. And if you’re getting some cool gear for those other campers on your gift list, you might want to get a few things for yourself as well. Here are a few ideas to get you going!

WetFire Tinder	One of the fastest ways to ruin a camping trip is to be wet, cold, miserable, and unable to make a fire. Newspaper, cardboard and other common fire starting materials can easy be rendered useless in bad weather. That’s where these Wetfire bundles come in. They will get your fire started in a heartbeat, even when everything is wet! Make sure to keep these in your camping gear and be sure to stick a couple in your pocket for on a  hike. They can be great in a wilderness survival situation.
Coleman Four-Way Quad and Micro Quad Lantern	A campfire can give you lots of heat and some light. But it certainly shouldn’t light up your tent and definitely shouldn’t be used when you are looking for something inside your car. It’s nice to have lanterns to carry around the campground, because they throw so much more light than a flashlight, but lanterns can be a little cumbersome if you have an armload of gear or someone else needs the light. Flashlights are nice to put in your pocket if you need only a little light, but they are easily lost and are easily broken. Headlamps offer some hands-free convenience, but they don’t give much light. Also, people tend to laugh at your headlamped noggin (that is until you look at them and inadvertently blind them with the light). You might want to try out this Coleman multipurpose electric camp lamp. It acts as a lantern, but each individual panel can be pulled off separately, to be used as a flashlight on its own. Pretty nifty design, don’t you think?
Garmin eTrex 20 GPS Unit	While it’s never a good idea to go wandering too far in the dark of the forest , at least you can see where you’re going with this handy rechargeable lamp from Coleman. However, sometimes a great lantern is not enough–you may need help figuring out where you are and how to get back where you need to be! This small pocket Garmin is perfect for camping and other outdoor recreation. It has a nice form fitting hand grip and is specifically designed for hiking and off road travel. Keep this little bit of technology handy to avoid getting (or staying) lost!
Garrett ACE 250 Metal Detector	So if you do find yourself wandering around your campground at night to cool off from your roaring fire (built with your neat little Wetfire bundle), using one of the panels from your new Coleman multipurpose electric camp lamp, with your Garmin in your pocket, you might as well try to make some money, right? You see people scouring the beaches, parks, and other public places looking for treasures, but you don’t see many using metal detectors, do you? I am sure the campground is full of all kinds of treasures unseen. I have found a good amount of treasures without the use of a metal detector. Just think what you might find if you head out into the wilderness prepared? That’s where the Garrett ACE 250 Metal Detector comes in!
Cabela's Premium Series Camping Kit	When you get home from camping with all your cool new gear, telling your friends how much fun you always have camping out in the great Colorado outdoors, perhaps some of your buddies will want to join you on your next trip. But what if you only have enough gear for yourself and your friend has never gone camping? Never fear! Use the money from your campground treasure hunting to outfit your newbie camping buddy with a set of camping gear! These sets have everything you need to get a person set up to go camping. They are great to give to kids who will be moving out of their parents’ house (and away from all that gear), so they can continue the camping tradition with their own gear. They also make terrific wedding gifts!

Well, hopefully you now have some good ideas for holiday gifts for your friends and family, and maybe some well-deserved gifts for yourself. These camping gear ideas may not be your standard camping gear items, but each one is bound to make your camping trips better, your vacations in the Colorado wilderness more enjoyable, and fill your life with many more happy camping memories to come.