Experience Gift Guide for Kids 2020

Often time in our society when we thinking about the holidays, it is directly connected to buying “things” for people. We buy things for our co-workers to show appreciation, our family to show our love, but what if we were able to utilize this time of year as bids for connection instead? That is where experiences can make a huge impact on family connections! Now don’t get me wrong, we are minimalists-in-training, which means that we are not anti-stuff, just a bit more intentional about what we buy.

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Our holiday gift-giving philosophy

Back when Roo was 2 years old, Wink and I looked at our child happily playing with the wrapping paper and boxes, leaving all of the new shiny toys discarded. We then looked at each other and made the decision to change our gift-giving strategies. We decided to use an easy formula for the Christmas Holidays. 1 thing she wants, 1 thing she needs, and an experience. This has been really hard over the years, because it is so easy to get caught up wanting to show our love through “stuff”, but as the number of things decreases under our tree, we have realized that our stress levels also reduced. This year, more than any other, parents are under immense pressure to feel the need to make-up for this global pandemic.

Now Marquita, are experiences really “better” than gifts?

I know, I know, I can feel some of your eye rolls all the way over here, but hear me out! Research has actually been done on this topic, and it shows that when you purchase something that allows you to spend time with others that you (and the recipient) will be more satisfied. As full-time RVers, experiences are perfect, because you don’t have to worry about where in the world it is going to fit in your tiny house set-up. But I also want you to think about a time when your kiddo has asked you to play with them and you are able to take the time to fully immerse yourself in their world. Freeze that moment of joy on their face. That is what an experience gift feels like!

How do you figure out an Experience Gift for your kids?

One of the biggest challenges that I faced when deciding to gift experiences was trying to figure out the right experience gift for our kiddos. Here is a little trick that I have learned over the years, make little notes over the year about what your kiddo is interested in. As our future marine biologist, Roo has always been into marine life, so her experiences (and gifts) usually focus on marine things. Toddlers often have a short attention span, but this year, Bug has been heavily into construction equipment, so her experience gift will center on her love of excavators. Pro Tip: Don’t let the term “experience” trick you into thinking that the experience has to be something big. An experience gift can be something big or small, and there are often times that your experience gift can cost little to nothing!

How do you present an Experience Gift on Christmas?

When we first shifted to this way of gift-giving, I had a lot of guilt about my kiddos not having a “physical gift” to open on Christmas day. If this is you as well, you can wrap the physical tickets to the experience for your kiddos to open, print out a picture of the experience, and place it in a box, or you can get more creative by having a scavenger hunt to figure it out the experience. Once your kiddo has opened their gift, you can further explain the experience, and when it will take place. There is an added bonus of delayed gratification skills learning here as well, often times the experience will not be taking place until a later date, which can help your child foster patience and also build excitement.

Now without further adieu, here are some of my favorite Experience Gifts, to help get your wheels turning!

Give them an Experience Day:

Experience Days are like day dates for the whole family! You get to experience something new and it also provides space for connection. I have included quite a few “passes” on this list as well because an annual pass can be the experience gift that keeps on giving! If your child is a penguin fanatic, what better gift than to allow them to visit their favorite buddies at any point during the year and it doesn’t cost you any additional money? If you are a theme fanatic like me, and you anticipate going more than once a year, it may be worth springing for an annual pass for those times when you need to feel the rush of G-forces against your face!

– Aquarium Passes

– Museum Passes

– Zoo Passes

– Amusement Park Tickets or Annual Pass

– Indoor Trampoline Passes

– Indoor skydiving

– Pottery Painting Studio Visits

– Paint n Sip Classes

– Escape Room tickets

– Favorite sporting team/event tickets

– Horseback riding

– Outdoor adventure courses

– Skiing season passes

– Yoga classes

Family getaways make awesome Experience Gifts!

If you are a full-time traveling family, it can be hard to figure out new and exciting adventures for your kids, but never fear you can easily fit an experience gift into your family travels. If you are more of an occasional traveler, you can fit an experience into your next family getaway to make it even more special.

– Unique Hotel Stays

– Unique Airbnb Stays

– Great Wolf Lodge

– Camping

Expand those minds – Educational Experience Gifts

Who said learning cannot be fun? With many of our kids in virtual learning, it can be hard to encourage more screen time, but gifting them something they are truly interested in, is actually great for learning and building connection. As Worldschoolers, we love using virtual classes as a form of experiential learning, because kiddos often don’t realize that they are actually learning!

Virtual Classes:

One of the best places these days for virtual classes has to be Outschool, if you can think up a class, they most likely have it! Here are some of the broader categories to search and see what your kiddo may like. Keep in mind, that some of these classes meet live for 1 class and some meet on a more regular basis.