If you want to give someone a different kind of gift and don’t want to clutter up their home with more ‘stuff’, then an experience gift is just the kind of gift you are looking for.
Not just another thing to use once and then shove into the cupboard until it eventually gets thrown away or donated to charity, give the gift of an experience.
Your recipient might learn something new or just have great fun, but there’s no doubt you’ll also be giving them fond memories to keep for many years to come.
Let’s look at some of the best experiences to give as gifts for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries or just because! In no particular order, here are some good experiences to give as gifts, pick the one that would best suit your intended recipient:
Horseback Riding – The perfect gift for horse lovers! Find a local horse riding facility, most will offer vouchers or gift certificates you can book online
A Cooking Class – This is a great gift for the foodie in your life! Do some googling and find a class in your local area, then pick a cuisine or cooking type you know your recipient is going to love.
A Diving Trip – An underwater experience, giving you the opportunity to go diving with a guide and seeing some amazing turtles and other marine life.
Obviously this one will only be viable if your recipient lives near the water, or maybe they’d be keen to try it as part of a holiday you could book together?
A Spa Treatment – Maybe your loved one is into a bit of pampering? This is a great gift for them. Any kind of hair/beauty treatment including massages and manicures will always be a popular gift for many people.
A Stand Up Paddle Board Session – Obviously water is, again, a must for this activity, but if you’ve got a facility nearby that offers stand up paddle boarding sessions, your recipient will have a blast and work their core at the same time!
Skydiving – If your recipient is an adrenaline junky, how about a skydiving adventure? Your loved one will experience the absolute thrill of skydiving with an instructor who is also an experienced skydiver.
Helicopter Ride – Give them the chance to see the local area from a totally different perspective with a scenic helicopter ride.
A Gorgeous Car – While buying them a fancy new sports car might be out of the question, maybe you can hire them a luxury vehicle to use for a day! If you’re lucky, they might take you for a drive somewhere nice!
Theatre Tickets – Book tickets for a show or concert that you know they’ll want to see – a musical, a play, opera, ballet or maybe a concert by a visiting popstar, the options are endless here.
A Home Cooked Meal – if you’re a bit of a whiz in the kitchen, pull out all the stops and cook your loved one a delicious home cooked meal. Don’t forget their favorite desert and wine to match each course.
Movie Tickets – book them in for a particular movie you know they want to see, or just get them some movie vouchers so they can choose to watch the latest flicks when they arrive at the cinema.
Mini Golf Pass – challenge your loved one to a game of mini golf, or buy them a voucher so they can play with friends whenever the mini golfing urge strikes.
Tickets to a Sporting Event – basketball, football, motor racing, whatever sport your recipient likes, get them a ticket to watch some live action – make sure you pick the right team though!
Zoo Membership – a zoo membership supports your local zoo and gives your lucky recipient the chance to visit and experience all the animals at the zoo for a whole year.
Dinner at a Restaurant – Maybe there’s a restaurant your recipient has been dying to try out – book a table and treat them to some fine dining.
Gym Membership – if your loved one is into health and fitness, encourage their determination to look after themselves with a gym membership.
Amusement Park Pass – If you, or your recipient, happen to live near an amusement park and you know they love to visit, get them a season’s pass so they can come and go as they please.
A Picnic – this can be as simple or as extravagant as you like – make your own picnic food or look online and buy a fully prepared picnic basket from a local bakery or deli, then just find a beautiful location, throw out your rug and enjoy!
Home Baked Treats – if you’re something of a home baker, maybe you could whip them up a batch of your famous brownies, muffins or cookies? Technically this one is more like a traditional ‘thing’ you might give, but you’re also giving them the ‘experience’ of eating your tasty treats!
Wine Tasting – if you and/or your recipient live near a grape growing region, take a day trip and experience some wine tasting at the local cellar doors. If not, maybe you coils book them into a local wine tasting class to really refine their wine tasting skills.
Online Lessons – if they’re entrepreneurial or just interested in learning new things and skills, there are heaps of different online courses and classes you could sign them up for. Udemy and SkillShare are great places to start looking for inspiration.
Museum Membership or Day Pass – A membership to their local museum will give them the chance to explore all things museum-y at their leisure while also supporting the museum. If you don’t think they’d get enough use out of a membership, then just a Day Pass might do, to enable them to check out a particular exhibit.
Ice Skating or Roller Skating Lessons or Session – If they need to refine their skills in this area then some lessons could be valuable, but, if you think they might just enjoy a session or two of skating and having fun, just book them in for a session at their local rink.
Why Choose An Experience Gift Over A Regular Gift?
An experience gift is a unique, yet practical gift. It’s something that will provide your loved one with memories that they can treasure for the rest of their lives.
There are so many options on offer for experience type gifts and you can tailor them to suit your recipient – the experience can be gentle, relaxing, romantic, intellectual or adrenaline spiking – choose whatever type of experience your loved one will enjoy the most.
There is no limit to the type of experiences you can offer as a gift and they can be as cost effective or extravagant as you desire. A picnic in the park costs you nothing more than the food.
At the other end of the scale, experiences like helicopter rides and skydiving can be very expensive, so choose what you can afford and personalize it as much as you can to suit your recipient, make it meaningful, and show that you care.
While an experience gift can be a great way to expose your loved one to something new, it can also be a thoughtful and unique way to support somebody’s interests or just make them smile.
An experience gift is a good way to spend quality time with friends and family while enjoying things you normally wouldn’t do on your own. It’s also a great way to encourage someone to do something they don’t usually get the chance to do!
But, one of the best things about buying an experience gift for your friend or loved one, is that you can do your shopping quickly and easily from the comfort of home!
Most experience gifts can be purchased with the click of a few buttons, and they’ll normally send you a voucher or gift card that you can give to your lucky recipient.
Do some googling and find experiences close to you and/or your recipient. Here are a couple of helpful sites to give you ideas and inspiration for the best experiences to give as gifts:
- Xperience Days
- Virgin Experience Gifts
- Golden Moments
- Red Baloon
Whichever experience you choose to give, we just know your recipient is going to love it, and they’ll treasure those memories for a long time to come!
Happy Gift Giving!
