Most parents will agree that their children have more toys than they know what to do with. I don’t know about you, but I’ve donated my fair share of toys that have been played with for a total of five minutes. This gift-giving season, I would like to offer some tip on how to successfully give the gift of experience.
Gifting experiences has been a hot topic on my social media news feeds recently, and I am so happy that people are beginning to think outside of the box when it comes to the definition of “gifts.” My husband and I have always lived by the motto that the best gift you can give is time. We started incorporating this philosophy at a young age {we’ve been together since we were kids}. In fact, for his first father’s day, I gifted him with a skydiving trip. Today, I hope to share with you different experience ideas and how to choose experiences for other people.
Choosing the experience:
This can be simply finding activities that are age-appropriate for children, or paying attention to the interests of the people you buy gifts for. I have a nephew who plays the drums. A couple of years ago, we bought him tickets to see The Blue Man Group when they came to town, and we had an amazing time. We made memories that we otherwise wouldn’t have and now we can talk about how much fun we had with our shared experience.
Search Groupon:
Not only is groupon a great way to find deals on activities, but it’s also a great way to find out what activities are in your area. If you purchase off of groupon, just be sure to read the fine print. Some groupon deals limit the use of the coupon to specific days and sometimes they expire.
Check your local venues events calendar:
We always pull up the calendar for the theatre first. These shows are typically scheduled well over a year in advance giving you plenty of time to figure out if there is a show that someone would enjoy seeing. My in-laws took our whole family to see The Lion King for our birthdays. I’ve been dying to see this show since it first started touring and loved getting to see it with the whole family. After we check out the theatre, we pull up our favorite college schedules {Go Blue!!} to see if there is a game that we can squeeze in. Last, but not least, check out the Arenas in the area. These schedules seem to be the ones that fluctuate the most.
Ideas:
- Concerts
- Athletic Events
- -Disney on Ice
- Monster Truck Shows
- Rodeos
Don’t ignore your children’s begging:
Pay attention to the places your children relentlessly plead with you to take them. Trampoline parks are all the rage at our house right now. My kids would go every day if I would take them. If we had passes…I would take them more often. These types of gifts are great to throw out as ideas to Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. Last year my brother bought our family lift tickets to Mt. Holly. We enjoyed a whole day of family time and our kids fell in love with skiing. It was the BEST gift!!! We have a new family activity to do together and the memories we made were priceless.
Ideas:
- Zoo
- Movies
- Trampoline Park
- Ski Lift Passes
- Amusement Park
- Rollerskating rink
Lessons and Memberships:
Parents, you already know how quickly these two things can drain your bank account. Consider making these part of a Christmas present. These are truly the gifts that keep on giving. My kids were fortunate enough to be gifted a 1-year membership to the Flint Children’s Museum on their first birthdays. What a blessing that gift was! Just when the cabin fever would set in, I could pack up the kids and spend the morning or afternoon playing with them with ZERO money out of pocket. I know lots of families whose grandparents pay for dance, travel sports, or private lessons for Christmas. It feels so rewarding to help contribute to a child’s passion or to help them participate in learning a skill for life.
Ideas:
- Music Lessons
- Horseback Riding Lessons
- Children’s Museum Membership
- SEAlife Aquarium Membership
- Legoland Membership
- Dance lessons
- Camps {Culinary, Pitching, Shooting, etc.}
- Scouts
- Gymnastics
- Archery
I’m always interested in learning how to give my children and family members more memories and less stuff. What experiences have you gifted that I missed?
Preach! I am of the mindset that honestly, you don’t have to get my child anything, however, because I know that wouldn’t “fly” with some people, I have been trying to get the experience over “stuff” for 4 years now! Maybe it will happen eventually! Until then, we’ll continue to be grateful. Great read!