The solid plastic cards are great and can last for years. The cheaper laminate ones don't last as long, a couple of seasons, but they are cheaper. The even cheaper paper ones with open edges sometimes don't last a week if they get soaked but if protected they can still be useful.

Cards are great to fill rain days when your stuck in a tent or during the inevitable bureaucratic delays and a few games after dark can be fun. An extra deck or two could be quite a hit as a gift, trade item, or for disaster situations where people are forced to shelter together.

In a small group we used to make sure we had cards, preferably two complete decks, a half-dozen standard dice, some graph paper (ideally weatherproof survey notebooks) a couple of stubby pencils, and an easy on the paper drafting eraser. We used to play chess and many other games on the graph paper.

Another item that gets lots of use is a cheap plastic cutting board. These are made of recycled plastic are perhaps a quarter-inch thick. The most useful size has been around 9" by 12" and they are pretty light.

These units have a lot of uses. They are a cutting board, finding a flat place to cut stuff with a knife is often hard in the woods. Cleaning fish or game is a lot harder if you don't have a flat work surface to work on. These boards provide a flat place to sit the stove, and pots after cooking. They keep stuff your working on off the ground. Slipped in a pack between hard lumpy stuff and your back you get far fewer bruises. A small cutting board is a writing or work surface, handy for games and rolling dice.