Special Acadia holiday gift ideas to ring out the Centennial year

For the Acadia National Park fan on your shopping list, or for a year-end charitable donation, the Centennial offers a once-in-a-century set of Acadia holiday gift ideas.

Plus we’re announcing 2 new merchants to our blog’s affiliated marketing partnerships on this Cyber Monday, to make coming up with special Acadia holiday gift ideas even easier: REI, where you can buy gear for an Acadia lover, and ReallyColor, LLC, where you can turn photos of Acadia (or anything else) into coloring pages, tapping into the latest coloring-as-meditation craze. (NOTE: Please see sidebar about affiliated partner links in this blog)

acadia calendar

This Acadia Centennial calendar, by ranger naturalist Bob Thayer, can be purchased directly through his photography Web site, or at local businesses such as Sherman’s. At least 5% of gross proceeds will go to Centennial efforts and other Acadia projects. (Image courtesy of Bob Thayer)

How about official Centennial products for Acadia holiday gift ideas, such as a calendar, fleece blanket, magnet, embroidered patch or baseball cap?

These and other items are produced or sold by Acadia Centennial partners, who’ve promised to donate at least 5% of gross proceeds to support Centennial projects and other Acadia National Park efforts.

A central list of products and services is on the Acadia Centennial Partners Web site, which provides links to where you can make purchases, whether through a local business or online. Not all officially sanctioned products or services may be on that site.

As official Acadia Centennial Partners ourselves, we’re donating at least 5% of gross proceeds from the sale of autographed hiking books (including “Hiking Acadia National Park,” which this month won the National Outdoor Book Award) and Acadia Centennial Holiday Ornaments.

acadia holiday gift ideas

Acadia Centennial Holiday Ornaments are available on the online Acadia on My Mind Shop.

And as announced earlier this month, under an Acadia Centennial Trek Challenge, we’ll be donating 10% of gross proceeds from the sale of the Acadia Centennial Trek Medal made by the end of the year to benefit Acadia. And for every mile being logged by participants in the free 100-mile virtual Acadia Centennial Trek between now and the end of the year, we’ll be making an extra donation of 2 cents per mile to the cause.

Or perhaps you’d rather make a direct, potentially tax-deductible, gift to benefit Acadia in the name of family members or friends, as your way of marking the Acadia Centennial? Here are some ways to do that:

  • Gift membership to Friends of Acadia – By giving a gift membership, you would provide a year’s worth of membership benefits to a family member or friend, including a subscription to the Friends of Acadia Journal, six note cards depicting Acadia at night, and a window decal. A bargain with membership starting at $40.
  • A tribute gift to Friends of Acadia or Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park – Not limited to the holidays, such a gift can commemorate a birthday, anniversary or any other special occasion. Such a gift to the Friends of Acadia would be recognized in the Friends of Acadia Journal. Or perhaps you might want to make a gift to the Friends of Acadia’s Second Century Campaign. The Schoodic Institute, which provides environmental research and education and such citizen science programs as HawkWatch, can notify the person you’re honoring with the gift.

Need more Acadia holiday gift ideas?

Books and discounted park pass among Acadia holiday gift ideas

passport to your national parks

The Passport to Your National Parks(R) 2016 Stamp Series features Acadia as its North Atlantic Regional Stamp. Purchase of the Passport(R) book or stamp set can be made by clicking on our affiliated partner’s eParks(R) graphic in the sidebar. (Image courtesy eParks(R))

  • Passport to Your National Parks® and Passport® Stamp Set – The 2016 Centennial series of stick-on stamps features Acadia as the North Atlantic Regional Stamp, making this a must-have addition for park aficionados, whether they are already avid Passport to Your National Parks® stamp collectors, or thinking about becoming one. The book and stamp sets are available for purchase at eParks®, the online store for Eastern National, a nonprofit founded by park rangers to help support national parks. We are an affiliated partner of eParks®. eParks® has a 35% off sale on the Passport(R) products through Nov. 29, along with other holiday discounts. (NOTE: Please see sidebar about affiliated partner links in this blog)
  • LEGO® Centennial National Park Rangers – A limited edition, the collection features such minifigures as Susan and Mark. Compatible with any LEGO® set, the figurines are only limited by a child’s imagination. If you buy 2 of these figurines at eParks®, there’s a special holiday price of $25 for the pair, plus you get a free minifigure backpack. You can find other national park gift ideas for children and adults on your shopping list at eParks® as well.
lego

Susan the Centennial National Park Ranger, made of genuine LEGO(R) and LEGO(R)-compatible parts, can be purchased from our affiliated partner, eParks(R). (Image courtesy eParks(R))

Or perhaps the Acadia National Park fans on your holiday shopping list are planning one or more trips? These holiday gift ideas may make their trips even more special:

  • Annual Acadia National Park pass – If you buy the pass in December, the cost is $25, or half off. The discounted annual pass is available at the park headquarters and winter visitor center on Eagle Lake Road, open daily in December from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except for Christmas Day, when it’s closed, and Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, when it closes at 2 p.m. The discounted pass is also available Friday Dec. 2 at the Village Green park information center, during the Bar Harbor Midnight Madness Sale, from 8 p.m. until midnight.
  • Gift check from Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce – Available in $25 denominations, with a $1 per check handling charge, the gift checks are accepted by more than 70 participating chamber members, including places to stay, restaurants, and tourist services. You can check out TripAdvisor® reviews of any of the establishments or activities. TripAdvisor® is another of our affiliated partners. Any purchases you may make through links in this blog are the same price as if you went directly to the Web site, with a small fee helping to support our efforts.
HIking Acadia National Park

The 3rd edition of our Hiking Acadia National Park won the National Outdoor Book Award earlier this month.

  • Best Easy Day Hikes Acadia National Park – The 3rd edition of this pocket-sized guide that we wrote for Falcon came out in April 2015, and features a couple of the newest trails in the park, the Quarry and Otter Cove Trails, as well as the classic easy hikes as Ocean Path and Ship Harbor Trail. It’s small enough to stuff inside a stocking, too. You can purchase the book through another of our affiliated partners, Amazon.com, see the sidebar graphic or image of book cover. All purchases made through Amazon.com links on this page are the same price as if you went directly to the Web site, and helps to support this blog. You can also buy an autographed copy from us, with at least 5% of gross proceeds being donated to help the park.
  • Hiking Acadia National Park – The 3rd edition of our guide came out this April, just in time for the Centennial. It features a description of the new Schoodic Woods hiking trails, although not in as great detail as other hikes, since they were officially made part of the park as the book was going to press. You can buy an autographed copy from us, with at least 5% of gross proceeds being donated to help the park, or buy it from Amazon.com, at Sherman’s in Bar Harbor, or at any other bookseller.
treasured lands

QT Luong, whose large-format photographs of all of America’s national parks was featured in Ken Burns’s and Dayton Duncan’s PBS series, has a new book that celebrates the National Park Service Centennial, including a chapter on Acadia. (Image courtesy of QT Luong)

  • Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey Through America’s National Parks – Noted photographer QT Luong, featured in Ken Burns’s and Dayton Duncan’s PBS series on national parks, has already sold out the copies of his new book on Amazon.com, with the 2nd printing expected in January 2017. But you can buy autographed copies directly from the author, and elsewhere.  This substantial book includes a chapter on Acadia National Park, featuring not only some of his spectacular photos of the park, but also some tips on visiting, and notes about how and where he took the photos included in the book. It includes a foreword by Duncan. This 456-page book was published Oct. 1. (NOTE: See sidebar about Amazon.com links in this blog)

Whoever you’re shopping for, or whatever your favorite charity, may some of these Acadia holiday gift ideas help make this season of giving a special one.

We’ll be featuring more highlights of special Acadia holiday gift ideas throughout this holiday season, so stay tuned!

Dolores Kong & Dan Ring

About Dolores Kong & Dan Ring

Dolores Kong and Dan Ring are co-authors of the Falcon guides Hiking Acadia National Park and Best Easy Day Hikes Acadia National Park, and also blog at acadiaonmymind.com. They’ve backpacked the 270-plus miles of the Appalachian Trail in Maine, and are members of the Northeast 111 Club, having hiked all major peaks of the Northeast. Dolores is a former staff reporter at The Boston Globe. Dan is a journalist and former Statehouse bureau chief in Boston for the old Ottaway News Service and for The Republican, the daily newspaper for Springfield, Mass. They are married and live in New England.