Experience Gift Ideas

Building memories with those you love is the ultimate gift you can give! These Experience Gift Ideas will inspire you give gifts that will last a lifetime, whether they are for your children, spouse, parents, friends or other family members.

Building memories in this busy world we live in is even more important. Our lives are hectic, the days – weeks – and months slip away quickly.

For a few years, I have felt the pull to give experiences rather than so many tangible gifts to my boys for Christmas. I finally decided it was time, and thought you would like them too.

While my boys are grown (28,25,21) this same concept can work for any age, and also any time of year. Looking for a fun Valentine’s Day gift? This would be great!

The options for giving your experience gift ideas are endless. You could fill a basket with envelopes or pieces of paper. Create a scavenger hunt with all the ideas.

To inspire you, here is what I used –

Experience Gifts Ideas

Supplies

• Box – this box is from the container store, it measures 4 inches square and was $3
• Cards – these are business cards from Paper Source store, you could also cut your own from card stock paper 
• Envelopes – also from Paper Source store, you can also find them online
• Stickers – these added a lot of color to the gift
• Marker

Box – using the Cricut machine, we added “experience box” to the side and the initial to the top of the box

Here some ideas to get you started –

Experience Gift Ideas for Kids

• Membership to a local Family Attraction – the zoo, museum, etc.
• Musicals or Broadway – depending on the age
• Sporting Tickets – depending on the age, however many baseball parks have special events for kids
• Art or Crafting Class
• Cooking Class
• Music Lessons
• Date Day with Mom and/or Dad
• Overnight or Weekend Adventure at an Indoor Water Park like Great Wolf Lodge
• Subscription Boxes
• Donation to local Animal Shelter or Humane Society
• Baking Day 
• Family Movie or Game Night
• Gardening Starter Kit
• Coupon Book – especially fun for Valentine’s Day
• Trampoline or Bounce House Tickets
• Spa Day for little girls – either at home or at the salon

Experience Gift Ideas for Men

• Membership to their favorite local Theater, Museum, Zoo, etc
• Class – painting, cooking,
• Local Movie Tickets
• Online classes to learn a foreign language, photography, etc.
• Subscription Boxes
• Make a playlist of all their favorite music
• Bowling
• Music Lessons
• Indoor Skydiving
• Random Act of Kindness – go together and find something to do like leave dollar bills at a Dollar Store
• A trip to their favorite local store or restaurant
• Local Park
• Ride Go Karts
• A special trip for their Birthday month
• A local trip to a conference like Gen-Con (for those that like comics)
• Book to create a fun project like – Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Experiments, Smoke It Like A Pit Master (from my friend Wendy)

Experience Gift Ideas for Women

• Spa Day
• Clean House – maybe while she is at the spa day
• Class – painting, cooking, crafts, sewing
• Membership to their favorite local Theater, Museum, Zoo, etc
• Movie Tickets
• Wine Country Tour
• Subscription Boxes
• Local Park
• A special trip for their Birthday Month
• Book – and time to sit quietly and read
• Make a playlist of all their favorite music
• Online classes to learn a foreign language, photography, etc.
• A trip to their favorite local store or restaurant
• Musical or Broadway Show
• Music Lessons
• Yoga Class

Creating experiences is not only fun for the person you are giving the gifts too, but it’s also really fun for you, as the giver. Here are a few tips to make it go smoothly –

Tip #1 – make a list of each gift or item for each month, that way you can plan your budget accordingly (I have a spreadsheet in Google docs for mine)

Tip #2 – make a special time on the 1st day of each month to open the cards

Tip #3 – think outside the box when you are coming up with ideas, they don’t all have to be expensive, and honestly they are best if they aren’t

Looking for more DIY Gift Ideas? Click on the photo for instructions –