47 Experiences to Give as Gifts

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In the past year, we have been trying really hard to find Experiences to Give as Gifts instead of things.

Presents are fun to open, no matter the occasion. But when it comes down to it, I’d much rather give the gift of a memory instead of a physical item. We’ve been working on giving ideas off this list of Experiences to Give as Gifts over the past year and not only has it made a huge difference in how we give and receive, but also in what our family has been able to do together in the last year! We LOVE to travel and what a year of travel it’s been!

When you find Experiences to Give as Gifts, instead of things, you’re paying for memories instead of clutter. You may be helping a friend of family member do something they’ve been wanting to do but couldn’t justify spending the money on. Try it. In the next year, instead of buying gifts that may end up in a donate box, or sold in three months at a yard sale, or tossed in the back of the closet, or shoved in a toy box find Experiences to Give as Gifts instead. I’ve tried to list out some ideas for you below to help you start thinking about what your gift recipients would LOVE.

47 Experiences to Give as Gifts

1. Movie Tickets
2. Season Passes or just tickets to an Amusement or Water Park
3. Fair Tickets
4. Cooking Lessons
5. Pay for an experience while the family is on vacation, like scuba diving, or a special experience at Disney World etc.
6. Ballet Tickets
7. Gas Gift Card along with a list of places they could go on a day trip.
8. Bowling Gift Certificates
9. Ballet, Soccer or Gymnastics lessons for kids
10. Play Tickets
11. Hair Salon Gift Certificate
12. State Parks Admission
13. Hotels.com gift card
14. Museum passes
15. Spa gift cards
16. Cake Decorating lessons
17. Restaurant gift cards
18. Painting night classes
19. Renaissance Faire tickets
20. Flight Lessons
21. Groupons
22. Plane Tickets
23. Concert Tickets
24. County or State Fair Tickets
25. Zoo Membership
26. Karate Lessons
27. Mini Golf Gift Certificates
28. DNA kit
29. Date Night In or Family Date Night In package (include Redbox gift certificate, movie theater candy, popcorn, and a gift card for pizza or Chinese)
30. Local arcade gift certificate
31. Massage gift certificates
32. Sports tickets
33. Ballet tickets
34. Day out shopping together (My Mama gave me this and it included: $ amount to be spent on shopping, gift card for lunch and a day to spend together)
35. Rental car voucher
36. Pedicure/Manicure gift certificate
37. Ancestry.com membership (we did this for my grandma!!)
38. Cruise tickets (this doesn’t have to be a long cruise! I live in the midwest and we have a dinner cruise that runs on a lake for a couple of hours, room for lots of budgets here)
39. Arts and Crafts lessons (like DIY nights, woodworking classes, crochet lessons etc)
40. Dancing lessons
41. Skydiving experience
42. Hot Balloon ride
43. Ziplining gift certificates
44. Trampoline park gift certificates
45. Build-A-Bear gift certificates
46. Swimming lessons
47. YMCA membership

Have any other ideas we missed that you think we should add to the list? Comment with them below to help us all think of good ideas!