A Message from Our MD...
Christmas Gifts Pick
As Christmas approaches, and we turn our eyes to gifting for our loved ones, this year we are focused more than ever around two things: Firstly, the vital benefits that being outdoors in nature has for our mental well-being, sense of self and connection to our community. Secondly, how important it is that we protect the outdoors more than ever before so generations to come can enjoy the outdoors as much as we do
So, this year we are presenting a curated range of Christmas gifts for 2024 focused on these two areas We’ve put time and thought into bringing you choices that educate, entertain, delight and most importantly, help you and your loved ones to get outside, creating memories to last all year long, not just on this one day
We want you to gift what we love the most – a healthy planet and a healthy body - and over the coming 12 months we’ll be doing more to encourage both wherever we can.
This Christmas enjoy time with your loved ones in nature, and happy gifting!
Nick Giles OBE, Consumer MD
Nick’s Star Choices
Gift once, give all year round: OS Maps Gift Card
£39.99 per year
My star gift is of course a membership to OS Maps. The ultimate in ‘gift once, give all year round’ gifts, the app is your gateway to exploring outdoors with your family and friends, making memories for life
Offering unrivalled access to 607 OS Explorer and OS Landranger maps covering the whole of Great Britain, plot your own routes and visualise your routes in 3D
Suunto Race S, Orange GPS watch
£325.00
Whether you’re planning a big race, or keen to track your steps for the New Year, the Suunto can meet your needs perfectly.
It’s stylish, has 95+ sport modes and up to seven days battery life
OS Buyers
Christmas Gifts Pick
Our buyer, Sarah has curated our brilliant range of Christmas gifts. Here are her top picks this Christmas to help your loved ones get outside!
Equipment Pro Change EVO Forest Green Long Sleeve Outdoor Robe
Red’s robes were already a winner for me due to the quality of the product I love the 15k waterproof outer shell and the super cosy sherpa fleece lining. With the new collection they have improved the specification further, with a peaked hood, roll down cuffs and more pockets It comes in beautiful colours and 100% recycled materials making it pretty stylish too!
Great British Walkies
I love the title, and the book is well illustrated with beautiful dog walks and mapping all over the UK. It has a diverse collection of woodlands, coastal paths, hills and fields detailing historic sites and places of interest with a variety of easy day walks for families. It includes the National Trust Pawprint rating system for dog friendly places to stay and eat on routes I love it
My hands and feet get particularly cold, so these rechargeable hand warmers are ideal for chilly starts, winter walks and the hours spent watching my son play football. They are an ideal shape and size, they’re extremely versatile and nice and lightweight too. They have three adjustable settings, so you can choose your heat comfort level. People don’t know they need this gift until they try them!
Red
Get more from the outdoors with OS Maps
Give the gift of adventure this Christmas with a 12-month subscription to OS Maps. With instant access to all 607 OS Leisure maps on your phone and desktop, thousands of ready-made routes, navigation tools and safety features; OS Maps is the perfect present for any outdoor enthusiast
Get Outside for Christmas Fun!
Christmas is a great time for getting cosy by a fire and watching films, but it’s also an opportunity to spend time with family having fun outside and burning off a few of those mince pies. Burn off energy with these fun outdoor games and ideas for getting the family together over Christmas.
Hide painted pinecones or stones along a route and give the kids clues to find them all as you head out on a family walk.
Christmas Treasure Hunt! Bingo!
Challenge your kids to spot everything on our OS Winter Walk Bingo Sheet This is great for keeping younger kids interested in going a little further, you could also play this over multiple walks until they get everything. A little reward at the end will help too Download the free Bingo Sheet
This way next!
Let the kids do the navigation! - Kids love having a bit of responsibility, spend some time looking through the route and picking out milestones your kids can find along the way You can find some really helpful advice to get kids navigating here – Make map reading for kids fun
Whose
round is it?
This one’s not for the kids but great fun for familes with lots of adults. Make a walk more appealing by planning a route with a pub at the start, in the middle or at the end (or both!)
See our Top Ten Pub walks in Britain for ideas!
Need inspo for your Christmas Walk?
Take a look at the Top 100 Walks in Britain
Upcycling Old Maps
DIY GIFT: Make This Cute Bag!
Crafter and designer Lou Collins has created a really easy to follow video tutorial showing us how we can upcycle old Ordnance Survey maps to create a really useful little bag.
An ideal personal gift to make for a loved one, especially when teamed with one of our custom maps which fit perfectly inside. Be sure to let us know if you make one yourself, share a pic using #ordnancesurvey
Map Gifts for Adventurers
As the specialists in ‘place’, of course we celebrate this time of year with what we love: MAPS
Mapominoes - The Ultimate Geography Card Game UK Scafell Pike OS Map Snood £10.99
Terrible Maps - Hilarious maps for a ridiculous world £14.99
What Christmas means to our OS Champions
Isaac Kenyon
Getting Outside at Christmas:
I absolutely look forward to my tradition of hiking up to Dunkery Beacon in Exmoor National Park every Christmas. There’s nothing like reaching the top, taking in those breathtaking views, and feeling the crisp winter air After that, a refreshing swim along the North Devon coast (Broadsands Beach) is a must! It’s a festive way to stay connected to nature and adds a dash of adventure to the holiday season.
Ideal Gift for an Outdoor Enthusiast:
For a thoughtful gift under £50, I’d recommend the OS Thermal Flask perfect for keeping drinks hot during those chilly winter hikes. Pair it with Silva Compass and a detailed custom made OS Explorer Map, tailored to their favorite area, and you've got a gift that’s both practical for navigation and inspiring. They’ll love staying warm while exploring new routes!
Climbing, running, cycling, hiking? We’ve got the tech and gear you need.
Sealskinz Kelling Waterproof Glove
£55.00
Daylite Waist Black Pack
£35.00
Suunto Race S Powder Grey GPS Watch Men's VanGrizzle Grey Midweight Boot Socks
IceFlow Flip Straw Lilac Tumbler £325.00
Silva Smini Rose Headlamp £49.99
Looking for a personalised gift?
Our Custom Made maps are the perfect gift for the outdoorsy people in your life!
Explore OS Personalised Gifts
What Christmas means to our OS Champions
Elizabeth Asad
Getting Outside at Christmas:
Our household tradition is a Christmas Eve walk to our local woods I love our walk simply because the whole family is together, along with a flask of mulled wine for the adults and hot chocolate for my youngest. It’s lovely to wish everyone a Merry Christmas that we meet, and this year won’t be any different
This year I’m planning on a solo walk the day after Boxing Day It’ll be amazing to get out and do something for myself after all the chaos of Christmas and working so hard for my family over the festive season.
Ideal Gift for an Outdoor Enthusiast:
First of all my son absolutely needs is The Original Den Kit. He is a typical 8 year old who loves building dens and playing outside This is on his list already My daughter is a big tea drinker so the OS Contour Map Thermal Flask will be perfect for her She loves the outdoors as much as me and is slowly building up her outdoor kit. My son would love the Men’s hiker boot eclipse mid-weight socks, because it’s not really Christmas without gifting a pair of socks!
Gifts for Little Adventurers
At OS we’ve curated the best active kids gifts, for magical moments all year round.
What Christmas means to our OS Champions
Georgina Jackson
Getting Outside at Christmas:
I love noticing the changes in the season over Christmas! How things sound different in the frost and the snow, the sharpness in my chest from the first breath of cold air after just stepping outside, and how the glow of sunrise or sunset is just that little bit more spectacular. Getting outside yearround is really important for my mental health and so for the last ten years or so now, I've been making sure to head outside for a run and a bike ride on Christmas day, before refuelling and cosying up with some of my favourite people.
My Ideal Gift for an Outdoor Enthusiast:
The OS 3 Peaks Dry Bags! From experience I know that you can never have too many dry bags (especially in winter, when the rain can come sideways!) I also love the OS Peak District Sit Mat, stopping for breaks on long walks in winter isn't the easiest when there's no where dry to sit to rest your legs, but the sit map is small and light and keeps you protected from the cold and damp while you have a nice hot drink.
“Getting outside year-round is really important for my mental health”
Inspire your imagination and learn new things, all from the comfort of home with our range of books Atlas of Improbable Places Great Pub, Great Walk In a Box Map Of A Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey
What Christmas means to our OS Champions
Andrea Day
e at Christmas:
ays with a hard ground frost and bright blue means that you can get out to places that venture since the summer. With the short e is always plenty of time afterward to find a fire - you can't beat it!
Outdoor Enthusiast:
reat British Map of Wonders is a fantastic gift. minds to start exploring and learning more about the fantastic places we have got on our doorsteps in the UK
I'm trying to give more experience based gifts, so, giving someone a year's subscription to the OS Maps app would be ideal. Inside the app, there are so many walks and places to visit to inspire - it would be a gift that kept giving way beyond Christmas and one that would create some brilliant memories!
“I'm trying to give more experience based gifts”
Gifts under £25
We have an array of great gifts that wont break the bank, perfect for your outdoorsy friends and family
Chief Saskatoon
Berry Snood
Ben Nevis Camp Mug Munro Bagging Collect & Scratch Off Map
Vintage
What Christmas means to our OS Champions
Brendan Clayton
Getting Outside at Christmas:
I always love a get together in the mountains at Christmas time, over the last few years it’s involved meeting up with likeminded people I’ve met through social media/hiking and booking a cottage/bunkhouse, having a hikers Christmas meal plus a day or two exploring. I also love to start off the Christmas festivities with a sunrise hike on Christmas Eve in the Peak District National Park as it is my local NP Weather dependant I like to pick a spot with a great sunrise view to enjoy it and kickstart Christmas in a beautiful way.
Ideal Gift for an Outdoor Enthusiast:
100 Outstanding British Walks - the perfect gift to inspire the loved ones in your life who enjoy hiking to explore some new places and visit some of Britain’s finest landscapes to take on these hikes Adventure Patches - the most beautiful patches fit for anyone you love who bags hills or has a special place to them that a patch exists for. The more the merrier!
Stocking Fillers
Father Christmas, the expert navigator, knows the value of practical gifts. These presents for outdoor enthusiasts are sure to be cherished.
