Make Memories: Give A Gift Of Experience

Have you ever given a gift of experience to your children? I started it this year it was wonderful. I can tell you, it’s something I will continue from now on.

I’m always a planner when it comes to holidays. I have to plan for the kid’s gifts, right? As my kids are starting to get older (this year they were 11 and 5) I wanted to get them a community present they could each use and enjoy. That’s when a gift of experience came into play.

Last year we got my daughter concert tickets to her very first concert, Katy Perry. It was awesome and so much fun but only 3 of us got to experience it.  This year we decided that taking a small getaway somewhere would benefit all of us and give all of us joy. After all, joy is what we all want to feel, right?

Christmas Day after opening up the gifts, because they did get gifts (just not as many!) my kids had one last envelope to open from our elf that explained our game plan and they were so excited. We had a week left until we left (thank you long winter break!!) and they were so excited to hear all that we were going to do.

For our a gift of experience this year we chose to take our kids to San Antonio which is less than 5 hours driving time from Dallas for us. We stayed in a hotel, went to Sea World one day, toured the River Walk/Alamo one day, saw family, toured caverns, and just had fun as a family of 4.

We had very little fighting or grumpy kids. The kids did hardly any whining. They were just so excited to be out of town staying in a hotel and getting to experience new things and places.

Sea World was set up with their beautiful Christmas lights and festivals. It was just gorgeous! The animal encounters were so neat. The trainers were so knowledgeable and took so many questions. It was so fun.

They had so many fun things to do for kids, even the younger kids. Everyone had so much fun. It was a perfect day! Even though we happened to be there on a freezing cold day, we made the most and had a blast.

From touring the Alamo to caves, our little get away was so fun and much needed from our family. Our kids and family togetherness was something we will all remember and talk about for a long time.

Giving the a gift of experience can be so easy and doesn’t have to cost a bunch of money. Yes, we took a trip away but we didn’t spend a ton of money. We used a discount site to book our hotel, went on off season to travel (which I always recommend!), and what we did spend on food and other things is far less than I would have spent on other meaningless gifts or toys that would sit on shelves.

I would recommend grandparents/extended family to give your kids a gift of experience too! It’s something they can give your whole family instead of just for one person. If they are uncomfortable or hard to change give them some time and some ideas!

Here are some ideas for a gift of experience: 

• Zoo Family Membership
• Sports Tickets to a Game
• Gym or YMCA family membership
• Movie Tickets
• Concert Tickets (fun for older kids)
• A trip together
• Paying for a Sport  or Classes/Lessons to Try a new One
• Museum Membership
• Theater Passes or Tickets
• Wine Tasting (for for adults, grandparents can babysit!!)
• Water park membership or passes (perfect for here in Hot Texas!)
• Swim Lessons
• Subscription Box (there are so many good ones!)
• Musical Instrument and Lessons
• Art Lessons
• Weekend stay somewhere like Great Wolf Lodge 

These are just some ideas, there are so many more!

After all the fun we had on our getaway to San Antonio I’m already planning some fun experience gifts for birthdays and other holidays too! It doesn’t have to be just for Christmas.  Give a gift of experience is the best way to reduce clutter and make fun family memories together!

Thank you to Sea World  San Antonio for providing us with admission tickets into Sea World for the day. We had so much fun!