Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
It’s the most wonderful tiiimmme…of the year! If, by wonderful, you mean expensive.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some awesome gifts for the preppers in your life that won’t break the bank. Every single one is a good quality item that costs less than $25.
Read on!
Prepper gifts under $25
All prices listed are the price at the time of posting.
Small binoculars: I got this pair of binoculars a few years back as a gift, and I absolutely love them. They’re the perfect size for a bugout bag or glove box. I took them with me the last time I went to Europe and I think they’re awesome for travel. They work well, and the folding/unfolding mechanism is easy to use. Get them for around $15.
Keychain kubaton: These kubatons have cute designs and according to the listing are legal all over. I love them and have a couple for my daughters at just $15.
Pointy thing for keychains: Remember the kitty cats with the pointy ears and the bulldogs that people used to get for keychains so they had something way sharper to hit with than the actual keys? The new iteration of this is really cute – it’s strawberries! I think until these become super popular like the cats did, it’s a more discreet way to weaponize your keychain. Grab it for around $10.
Door wedge alarms: I have one of these alarmed wedges and have carried it around the world. They make it a lot harder to get into a door, and the alarm is absolutely earsplitting if someone tries. I keep one in my purse, too – if I’m ever in an active shooter situation, it gives me another option for bracing the door. This two-pack is just $10 – two gifts at $5 each!
Pepper spray: I’m a huge fan of equipping people who can’t or won’t carry a gun with pepper spray. Heck, why not carry both? Here’s a two-pack of my favorite, Sabre brand, for about $15. If you have a lot of people you want to arm with pepper spray, this pretty set is more than $25 but the canisters are cute and work out to just over $4 apiece.
Coloring book: I made a third coloring book to add to my roster of calming designs with quotes that suit people like us. The Freedom Isn’t Free coloring book is just the ticket for the liberty-loving preppers on your list with pages like the ones below.
We also have The Prepper’s Coloring Book and The Prepper’s Garden Coloring Book so you can get your zen on with a prepper theme.
Prepper food: There are all sorts of #10 cans of dehydrated goodies to be found just under the $25 mark on this page. Consider tucking a few under the tree.
Flashlight gloves: These interesting flashlight gloves are highly rated to keep your eyes on the task at hand, even when there’s no electricity. If you need to repair something or deal with a medical issue, these gloves can help you to light up the area where you’re working without you having to clench a flashlight in your teeth. Better yet, they’re right around the $10 mark.
Seeds: If your prepper loved one is a gardener, forget the who-knows-how-old “seed vaults. Check out the high quality offerings over on Seeds for Generations.
Puzzles: Looking for some patriotic fun? Check out this line of word search puzzles I made, just for those who love America. (And they all ring up for less than $10!) A few are prepping- and self-reliance-themed. There’s one called Doomsday Dictionary Dive, and another for homesteaders. Then there are three which are just pro-America puzzle books: American Military History, America the Beautiful, and American Presidents.
Multitool: This multi-tool plier set comes highly recommended by a farmer I know. It’s durable – he says he’s used it for years on the farm.
Swiss Army Knife: Victorinox has a small Swiss Army knife for just under $20 that everyone on my list will love. I like it because it reminds me of my dad – he was never without a pocketknife that had scissors on it.
Emergency lighters: Here’s a two-pack of waterproof emergency lighters that fit right on your keychain. Get it for about $4.50 per keychain.
Books for under $25
I don’t know about you, but whenever I find a book under the tree I’m completely delighted. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, I’m a bookworm, and so is every member of my family. here are some recommendations for your favorite bookworms.
Our entire roster of paperback books is available on Amazon for less than $25 apiece.
Here are our options:
My first novel came out this year. It’s called The Widow in the Woods and I marked it down for the holidays!
We have Selco’s three books, which are absolutely incredible assets to your preparedness library:
- The Dark Secrets of SHTF Survival: The Brutal Truth About Violence, Death, & Mayhem You Must Know to Survive
- SHTF Survival Boot Camp: A Course for Urban and Wilderness Survival during Violent, Off-Grid, & Worst Case Scenarios
- SHTF Survival Stories: Memories from the Balkan War
Next we have The Organic Prepper Anthologies. We’re working our way through the most useful and popular OP content and publishing it in paperback form. Here are the two that are out so far:
- How to Feed Your Family No Matter What: An Anthology of Self-Reliant Food Production, Acquisition, Preservation, and Preparation
- How to Survive During Dangerous Times: A Prepper’s Anthology of Home Security, Personal Safety, OPSEC, and Defensive Mindset
And here are my books:
- The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide: Harvest, Treat, and Store Your Most Vital Resource
- The Prepper’s Canning Guide: Affordably Stockpile a Lifesaving Supply of Nutritious, Delicious, Shelf-Stable Foods
- Prepper’s Pantry: Build a Nutritious Stockpile to Survive Blizzards, Blackouts, Hurricanes, Pandemics, Economic Collapse, or Any Other Disasters
- Be Ready for Anything: How to Survive Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Pandemics, Mass Shootings, Nuclear Disasters, and Other Life-Threatening Events
- The Blackout Book: A Quick Start Guide to Handling a Power Outage Like a Boss
- How to Prep When You’re Broke: A Prepper’s Guide to Survival on a Budget
Plus, if you have family members you want to break in gently to preparedness, I have two books in the frugality niche.
Other preparedness and survival titles for book lovers
Here are articles with my other book recommendations for the entire family:
- The 10 Food Preservation Books Every Prepper Needs
- The Essential Prepper’s Library: 30 Books Every Prepared Family Should Own
- Our Top 20 Works of Fabulous Fiction to Inspire Self-Reliant, Liberty-Loving Children and Teens
- The Herbalist’s Bookshelf
- The Reader’s Choice Survival and Preparedness Library
- The Reader’s Choice Library: Prepper Fiction You’ve Gotta Read
What about you?
Do you have other suggestions for preppers for less than $25? Will you share them in the comments section? What is the best prepper gift you ever received?
Let’s talk holiday giving in the comments section.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, adventure-seeking, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites. 1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty; 2) The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived; and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. Her work is widely republished across alternative media and she has appeared in many interviews.
Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.
I never receive prepper gifts but this year my family is getting foldable cook stoves, canned heat 100 hr candles and life straws. Gotta start somewhere
I am gifting neighbors mason jars filled with the dry ingredients for various soups (5 bean, barley rice, etc.), topped with preparation instructions. My neighbors may not be preppers, but in a lockdown situation, they will have easy to prepare meals as long as they have water and a way to heat it.
Regarding the Victorinox swiss army knives … I always carry two. One is the least feature filled model (the classic SD as mentioned above) and the usually more expensive Signature Lite model ($45 on Amazon but sometimes used on ebay for today’s price range. I’ve modified the nail file blade on both by grinding a sharp 90° edge on the edge that won’t hinge away under pressure of using it to scrape fire-starting sparks from a ferro rod. I’ve also ground the flat screwdriver blade (which I never use) into a point I can use regularly to clean dirt, grease, grunge, etc out from under my fingernails without cutting the skin. However the Signature Lite model comes with a button press controlled LED light that is powered by a replaceable tiny button battery. That guarantees having a light to find the keyhole to my house or garage when coming home at night. The Signature Lite model also comes with a replaceable slide-out ball point pen … which most of their more expensive models don’t carry. A key chain (which lies flat inside my pocket — unlike an obnoxious book-ring style loop that pokes holes in a pocket) keeps my house, garage and PO box keys handy 24/7.
Another gift item might be one of the camping or backpacking multi-fuel capable stoves. While most are way above today’s article price range there are a few Chinese knockoffs in the under $25 range. One I have can use tree twigs, pine cones, alcohol, hand sanitizer, esbit fuel chunks, charcoal pellets, wood pellets, and probably other fuels I haven’t thought of. The typical rule of thumb for safety reasons is to burn whatever nature created outdoors while human created fuels can often be used indoors (sometimes with sufficient ventilation).
One of the funniest photo captions I’ve ever seen was under a picture of some cops who found two guys running a still deep in the woods. The caption was “No officers, we are not making moonshine — we are making hand sanitizer.”
Finally I think the most impressive prepper gift I ever received (while well out of today’s price range) was a mountain backpacking trip to the Philmont national Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico a very long time ago — before the word prepper entered the national vocabulary. We learned to cook over an open fire and hang food supplies in a bag by rope from tall trees to protect from bear predators.
–Lewis
I purchased the book How to Prep When You’re Broke by Daisy Luther for my daughter for Christmas this year!
Thank you so much! I hope she enjoys it.
I never receive prepper gifts but this year my family is getting foldable cook stoves, canned heat 100 hr