TL;DR Celebrating the holidays in an RV requires planning and creativity. Consider whether to travel home, invite family to join you, or celebrate on the road. Decorate efficiently, manage meal preparations creatively, and explore gift ideas that suit RV life. Enjoy a unique holiday experience with tips for decorating, cooking, and hosting in your RV.
Celebrating the holidays can be a little more complicated for RVers than other people who live in a traditional home. The more traditional ways of decorating your home, cooking the big meals, and hosting just won’t do in an RV. After all, there is no such thing as “the kids table” and “the adult table” inside an RV.
This piece is to help guide you through the holiday season in your RV this year. We will give you some questions to answer, some thoughts to consider, and of course, we’ll provide plenty of tips and tricks to help make your holiday season a success.
Should RVers Head Home for the Holidays?
The first question every RVer needs to ask themselves heading into the holiday season—if not sooner—is whether you feel an obligation or desire to be “home” for the holidays. This might depend on your lifestage, but it is something to consider, and even discuss with your significant other.
For those who are “empty nesters,” going home to where your children live might depend on whether or not you have grandbabies. If you are a millennial with kids, there might be some added pressure to have your kids around the rest of the family. But if you are traveling solo, or without kids, you might be tempted by the idea of a “palm tree Christmas.”
A year ago, I traveled home for the holidays with my wife. I left Arizona in early November and headed for Ohio. I didn’t want to take my RV because Ohio winters can be unpredictably cold, snowy, and icy—and I was too cheap to pay for those fuel prices. To drive my A-Class motorhome across the country isn’t the most enjoyable thing—especially because I would have to turn right back around to head toward Arizona.
Because we left our home to bake in the Arizona sun, we spent two months staying with our family. We discovered something… two months is too long! It isn’t that we don’t love spending time with family. But not having our own space got to be too much for us. Plus, we weren’t used to being stuck inside for that long.
With this experience in our rearview mirror, we have had a year to consider how this year could go differently. And here are some of those thoughts…
Thanksgiving through New Years
With Thanksgiving kicking off the holiday season this year on November 24th, you might consider heading home a week before that and staying through day. This would cover all the major holidays like: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Eve. Regardless of the holidays you celebrate, this six week span packs in all the classic family holidays and traditions of the year. But make sure you learn from my mistakes.
Subscribe to learn more about Harvest Hosts, exciting updates, & more!
Your Adventure Awaits!
Discover New and Exciting Places with Friends and Family
Being home for six straight weeks will give you all the feels of being home for the holidays. It will let you take part in all the traditions of gift-giving, baking family recipes with loved ones, and celebrating the religious holidays with family. But my recommendation is to take your home with you. It might take more days to get back and forth, but having your own space will make the drive totally worth it.
Find the best “moochdocking” spot available—ask friends, family members, or even friends of friends. It might not seem like a big deal, but having your own space can be the thing that makes for a great holiday season. With that being said, make sure to follow proper moochdocking edicate. Communicate with your host, never overstay your welcome, and be aware of the amount of power you are consuming. And always give money to your host to help offset the costs incurred.
Pick a Holiday
If you are determined not to drive your rig across the country, you might consider picking just a week or two during the holiday season to head home. By choosing a smaller window of time, you can fly home or drive a more fuel efficient vehicle home.
In a shorter holiday visit, you can schedule the most important moments, visits, and experiences to share with your loved ones. This is a nice amount of time because you can visit all the people you want to see—and avoid the people you always feel obligated to see.
You might be fatigued by the time you leave, but you’ll also avoid some family drama of being there too long.
If you do choose to fly or drive home for a couple of weeks, make sure you store your RV appropriately for that extended period of time.
Invite Your Family To Experience the Holidays on the Road
Another option is to invite your family to come experience the holidays the way you do—on the beach, in the desert, or on the slopes. This might not work for a lot of families, but some families might welcome a change of pace.
If you have a large family, this is probably unrealistic. However, smaller family units with older kids might love the idea of a palm tree Christmas. Now, this kind of Christmas typically requires planning in advance. You’ll need time to slowly drip the idea into the minds of your family members.
To successfully get everyone on board, you need to know the gatekeepers in your family. Here are a few questions to help identify these people.
Who doesn’t like change? Let them have time to consider the idea.
Who loves the holidays? How can you ensure the holiday traditions will remain intact?
Who needs to be a part of the ideation process? Let them have their say, and you’ll be surprised how quickly this idea can progress.
Video Calls Are Wonderful Tools
For some people, the idea of heading back into the frozen tundra of the north is not even an option. If this is you, your idea of the holidays is sitting back in the warm, sunny weather with your toes in the sand. And there is nothing wrong with that!
Since the pandemic, more and more people have gotten used to seeing one another through video calls. Take advantage of this time, and spend time on a video chat with your family. There are even games you can play together, remotely.
Create a New Tradition
Over the years, we have seen the breakdown of the traditional family units. This has put more and more people in a place to create their own family. While this might not be ideal for some, know you aren’t the only one looking for a group to celebrate the holidays with. Keep your eyes peeled, have conversations, and be ready to jump into something new.
Down below, we will give some tips on how to make the holiday season festive, wherever you might be. Regardless of what you decide, it is good to know what you are planning for this year—and maybe drop hints for next year.
Ways to Decorate Your RV
Decorations are a big part of the holidays for most people. Because RVers have limited storage, there is an emphasis on minimizing their decor, but this doesn’t mean you can’t have decorations at all. If you want to really decorate, you might consider staying put for a month or longer to get the most out of your efforts. Check out our tips on decorating your RV below.
Decorate an Elevated Christmas Tree
We all know floor space is of premium importance in your RV. Decorating a small Christmas tree that can sit on the dash of a motorhome or a counter top is ideal. While this might not be as exciting as the seven foot tree you are used to decorating, you can still find a lot of joy in these decorations.
Hang Seasonal Wreaths
Wreaths bring a lot of festive vibes to your RV—regardless of the season. If you can find a way to get one wreath and change the decor slightly for every holiday, you’ll be cheating the system and saving space in the basement of your RV.
Use a Lot of Lights
There is nothing more festive than hanging lights. And since most RVers that I know already own lights for outside of their RV, there is no reason not to reuse those for the holidays. Simply take those lights, wrap them in some garland, and create that jolly feel you’re looking for.
And let's be real, can you have too many lights? Christmas lights aren’t that expensive. Go ahead and buy some extra lights, and have yourself a very merry holiday season.
Decorate an Outdoor Tree
One of my favorite things to do is to decorate an outdoor tree. You can still have a big Christmas tree—just keep it outdoors. This takes a little more planning due to the weather. And every cat in the neighborhood might want to climb in it and knock it over. But if you can secure it, buy the right decorations, and stay put for a while, this could be the centerpiece to your outdoor decorations.
Outdoor Garland
If you can’t imagine having an outdoor tree, consider outdoor garland. This makes for a great way to decorate your awnings and bring the festive spirit outside! And if you use a little fake snow spray, you can have a beautiful, winter wonderland—without the freezing temperatures.
Create a Photo Backdrop
An incredibly popular thing from Autumn through the holidays is snapping family photos with a staged backdrop. If you are going to be in a park for a while, consider creating a backdrop as a way for you to enjoy the holiday season, and meet everyone in the park! I’ve seen this done—and in the right park, it was a big hit.
You will get to meet all sorts of people, and have a beautiful place to sit outside for your morning coffee.
How to Handle the Big Meals
If decorations are the favorite part of the holiday season for some people, then the food might be the best part for others. If you are in an RV, you realize some of the difficulty of cooking. Even in the most equipped rigs, there are limitations on batch sizes, number of burners, and room in the oven. Here are a few thoughts on how to make your favorite holiday season foods with fewer headaches.
What Are the Must-Haves for Each Holiday?
For my family, the side dishes are the most sacred items. Homegrown sweet corn, Grandma’s sweet potatoes, and several other dishes are deal breakers for my family. When you are working with limited space, make sure these things get top priority because there are other creative ways to handle the rest.
Outsource Your Holiday Meals
If you don’t have any must-haves, you could remove a lot of stress from your life and outsource your entire meal. Cracker Barrel, Bob Evans, and even Williams Sonoma will prepare your entire Thanksgiving meal for you. Check out this list of the 21 Best Places to Order a Fully Cooked Thanksgiving Dinner to Go.
A Hybrid Option
My favorite option is to mix and match. Outsource some of it to your favorite restaurant, and then prepare the must-haves yourself. This combination seems to be a great one for RVers because it allows you to experience those smells and memories of cooking with mom, dad, grandma, etc. But it also helps reduce the stress, heat, and angst of wondering if it will all be done in time.
Community Events
A lot of communities have a community meal around the holidays. Sometimes these are at local churches, community buildings, or food banks. In addition to these locations, I’ve seen several RV parks come together for their own event. One winter when I was in Yuma, AZ, there were community events for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the club house of my RV park.
Don’t be afraid to ask around and see what other people are up to. You might even find a group who can share the load of cooking.
Preparing the Big Meals Yourself
If you are determined to pull it off yourself, then we have some ideas for you here too. It is definitely a possibility, but you’ll need to get creative in your approach. So let us help with that.
Prepare Ahead of Time
There are a lot of things you can do ahead of time to prepare for the 24-48 hours of madness before the big meal prep begins. And while some of these have nothing to do with cooking, you’ll be glad you thought of them ahead of time.
Clean out your fridge ahead of time. Creating as much room as possible is imperative for the feast. Not only do you need room to store things before you feast, but you’ll need plenty of room for the leftovers too.
Make extra ice and prepare your cooler as a secondary refrigerator. In Ohio, we can use an attached garage as a walk-in refrigerator. Wherever I park my RV in the winter, I am pretty sure that won’t be an option due to warm weather or wildlife.
Maximize your work space with extra tables outside, or by putting away a few table top decorations ahead of time.
Gather your extra small appliances and extension cords. When using additional appliances, you might need to run extra extension cords from the electric pedestal to make sure you don’t trip breakers in your RV. Imagine putting something in a crock pot—you set it and forget it—and then you come back several hours later to find out the breaker tripped. This is a good way to ruin a meal.
Turkeys and Alternatives
Cooking a turkey is always a big hurdle for RVers. But there are several ways to handle this giant bird.
Consider cornish game hens instead of a turkey. Cornish game hens are much smaller and considered a sophisticated alternative to a turkey. These could easily be prepared in an RV oven—or an air fryer.
Try deep frying your turkey. It seems like there is nothing more “American” than deep fried foods. For about $70, you can buy a deep fryer and go this route. This completely eliminates the use of your oven for hours at a time. Plus, the turkey turns out pretty tasty!
You could grill your turkey. A lot of RVers already have a grill with them. And if you do it right, you can turn your grill into an oven, and save space inside for other options. The key to this is keeping it moist by adding liquid to the outside of the turkey, and injecting it from time to time with a seasoning to keep it from drying out.
Cook a turkey over a fire. This is truly unique! The family from Living Small Dreaming Big cooked their turkey over a fire last year. This might be something you consider experimenting with this turkey day.
Solar oven turkeys are supposed to be fantastic! A great way to go green is by cooking your holiday turkey in a solar oven. We’ve never done this—so don’t blame us if it doesn’t turn out right. However, solar ovens seem like a cool way to experiment with different cooking styles. Maybe try something simple like green beans this year.
Hosting from Your RV
Another thing you might have to overcome is the limited indoor space. But most RVers are used to hosting outside. Asking guests to bring their own chairs, using picnic tables as the serving table, and getting people used to eating on their lap isn’t the worst case scenario.
Everyone loves holiday activities—especially if you have kids or special traditions to pass down. Driving around looking at the lights, white elephant gift exchanges, baking cookies, and so much more. Here is a glimpse into how these can happen in your RV.
Hosting in Cooler Climates—Not Cold Climates
Hosting an outdoor Christmas, a Hanukkah night, or a Kwanzaa celebration could be a memorable experience… in the right climate! Obviously, a palm tree holiday is always nice, but a cooler climate could work too. With the right decorations and some electric blankets, you could be in for a great evening of food, fun, and conversation.
Christmas Cookies
One of my nieces’ and nephews’ favorite holiday activities is the decorating of Christmas cookies. We quickly realized it was all about the icing and ridiculous designs—and had nothing to do with the actual cookie. This makes it easier to just buy pre-made cookie dough, or even pre-baked cookies to decorate.
While the kids love to ice the cookies, the adults have their favorite activities too. By eliminating the need to actually bake the sugar cookies, we can create more time for the adult to do their favorites too.
Gift Exchanges
Due to the limited space in an RV, buying a lot of gifts can be a problem. A good solution is to move all of the adults to a white elephant gift exchange. This eliminates the need for so many gifts, and it helps everyone save money too. You can even find variations online to the traditional White Elephant Gift rules.
Cookie Exchange
If you are not going to be home for the holidays, you might consider a cookie exchange in an RV park, or simply gifting cookies. This keeps the tradition alive, brings up some good memories, and helps everyone share family traditions with new friends.
Decorate a Community Tree
If decorating a Christmas tree was always your favorite tradition, invite people to your campsite to decorate a tree together. This doesn’t need to be a big deal. Ask everyone to bring one thing to add to the tree. This can get quite funny, or even meaningful, as people share their stories.
Travel
Another option for the holiday season is to travel. If you have been able to talk your family into experiencing the holidays the way you do, there are several options to consider.
Celebrate in the Desert
Celebrating Christmas in the desert is almost the extreme opposite of what most movies depict for the holidays. The white Christmas and evergreens are exchanged for a tan landscape and cactus. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad option. There is plenty to do in the desert, but you’ll need to have an open mind. You could go for a hike, enjoy a sunset, and even decorate a cactus.
New Years on the Slopes
If you are trying to talk your family into a remote holiday celebration, you might want to consider taking it to the slopes. There are plenty of places to go skiing around the country. Finding one that best meets the needs of your family is a little more important. Consider the abilities of your family, the budget, and alternative things to do.
If your family is looking for something warmer, you can always head to the beach. This is an easy pitch to families with little kids because there is always something for them to do.
A Winter National Park Experience
There are some amazing opportunities around the holidays to experience in the National Parks. They are typically less busy, and can be more memorable without the crowds. If your family is up for an adventure, consider some of these National Parks in the winter months.
Gift Ideas
This is about giving gifts and receiving gifts. Every RVers knows what it is like to get one more gift you can’t fit inside your RV. The problem is that buying gifts for full-time RVers isn’t easy because we live in a different reality. We have less storage space and more living space. Most people can’t relate.
Stockings can be your friend. Let people know that you need any and all gifts to fit inside of a normal-sized stocking. This at least helps reduce the size of your gifts.
A white elephant gift exchange—as previously mentioned—eliminates the number of gifts you purchase, and more importantly the number of gifts you receive.
Upgraded RV components. If your family isn’t wild about you and your solo travel life, you might bat your eyes and tell your father you’d like the upgraded RVLocks this holiday season.
Van lifers might want a shower—I mean a gym membership. Getting a Planet Fitness membership goes a long way for van lifers because these gyms are located all across the nation, and they include free showers!
List off memberships you enjoy. It’s weird telling people that memberships are the way to go, but they truly are the best gifts for RVers. Here are some of my favorites: All Trails, America the Beautiful, and obviously Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome. We’ve received some of these in the past, and always send pictures to the people who purchased them for us to let them know how much we loved our gift.
And if you are buying gifts, don’t forget to use the giant coupon book you have via Harvest Hosts. Inside this coupon book, there are hundreds of dollars of savings you can find while doing your Christmas shopping.
RVing Through the Holidays
With our tips and tricks above, you and your RV are sure to not just survive the holidays, but thrive in them! And remember that however you choose to celebrate, Harvest Hosts can help you get from here to there with our 3,000+ locations across North America.
Harvest Hosts is a unique RV camping membership that offers self-contained RVers unlimited overnight stays at 9,600+ unique locations across North America with no camping fees. Stay at farms, wineries, breweries, museums, golf courses, attractions, and other one-of-a-kind destinations while enjoying memorable travel experiences and the peace of mind that comes with knowing a safe place to stay is always nearby.
