Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you buy the item using the link provided, you’ll allow me to earn a small commission for the same price that you would pay if you went to that site directly. That would be a wonderful way of saying Merry Christmas to me, without it costing you a dime. So THANK YOU in advance for your support! =)
Sure, receiving things is nice. But did you know that often times, the BEST gifts are those that allow you to create memories with your loved ones?
If anybody has ever gifted you a trip or a ticket to something, you KNOW that the thrill lies in:
- receiving the news
- having something to look forward to
- waiting for the day to arrive
- waiting for the hour to arrive
- experiencing the event with loved ones, preferably
- creating good times in the “now”
- taking photos
- and reminiscing about that day and looking over the photos to relive that day
Having something to look forward to is SOOOOOO absolutely important that science has shown that:
1) People who have something to look forward to live longer (even when they’re ill).
2) People who purposely schedule things to look forward to are happier.
So, with all of these benefits, why not give the gift of an experience?
After all, wouldn’t YOU like to receive it?
Sure you would…. so let me share some gift ideas that are ideal not only for this Holiday Season but all year long.
What’s really convenient about these gift ideas is that many of them you can get online, and if you’re worried about getting them in time for Christmas, they are things that you can get in a day by running a couple of errands.
Experience Gifts For The Entire Family
Here are some things that you can enjoy and benefit from as a family:
A Family Trip to Disneyland
One family experience that is bound to delight ALL family members regardless of their age is precisely a trip to Disneyland.
I’m writing a book on how to make the most of this trip. You’ll be informed about it in the future.
Show Tickets
There are shows that appeal to practically everyone. On Ticketmaster.com you can find shows that range from:
- Ice Capades
- Plays
- to Symphonies
Museum Visit
Depending on the interests of your gift recipient, you can buy museum passes. These can especially be fun if you buy annual kid museum passes.
Board Games
If there is something that can bring even the most distant and dysfunctional families close or the close and super-cool families close, it’s board games.
I like open-ended questions. However, there’s something that you have to be aware of, and that is that with open-ended questions, the answers are open ended and there’s no predicting the outrageous things people can say. And the more outrageous your family is, the more non-PG the game can get. So keep the age recommendations in mind.
Me? I love these games because they de-stress me. They make me have moments of introspection, they allow me to get to know the people I play with more and they allow me to hone my intuition.
Here are some of my absolute favorite games to play with family:
Loaded Questions
I love this game because it allows you to creatively speak your truths. And you get to see how well you know your friends and loved ones since this is a twist on the game of “Who Said What.”
It’s relaxing because you’re not competing when it comes to knowledge (like trivia), but rather you’re going by knowledge of those that you’re playing with and mostly, your intuition.
This game has provided us with hours of fun and lots of laughter.
It’s for 4 to 6 players 12 years and up.
Loaded Questions (2015 edition)
I was thrilled when I saw that there’s a new version!! It’s a 2015 version.
Some questions include:
- What is something you only need one of?
- What word would people never use to describe you?
- What is your most useless talent?
If you already have this version you might consider other versions as well, such as Party, Junior, On the Go or if you’re suuuuper brave, the Parenting 101 or Political Party editions. Personally, I would recommend you keep it light and that you stick to the original versions. They’re super fun!
It’s recommended for ages 12 and up.
Imagine If
Have you ever wished you could read your family members’ or friends’ minds to know what they think of you? Well, that’s a dumb question, right?
I think that playing board games can be quite revealing, especially when it comes to Imagine If especially with its questions that pertain to you.
For example, a question about you might be:
Imagine if ____ (you) was a car. What car would ____(you) be?
It would be interesting to find the answers, right?
It’s recommended for ages 14 and up. There’s some questions that are a little racy so it’s best if you stick to these recommendations.
It’s for 3 to 8 players.
Things
This game is a twist on Who Said What.
The age recommendation is 14 years old and older.
This game is for 4 or more players.
Cranium
I’ve played the older version.
But there’s a newer Cranium version that might be checking out especially if you have played Cranium quite a bit.
Trip To Where You Met
If you feel like really reminiscing and treasuring how your family got started, you can take a trip to where you and your loved one met (especially if it was in another city, state or better yet, country).
You can go alone as a couple, or hopefully with the kids. Going there with the new members of your family will give that place even more meaning.
Pay Off Debt
If you have ever been in debt you can just imagine the relief you’ll feel knowing that at least one debt has been taken care of. This is the gift of peace and enhanced financial security. It’s best to accompany this gift with a small gift so that the Christmas isn’t necessarily gift-less.
Paid Subscription To Thrive Market
If you haven’t heard of Thrive Market and you love to eat healthy and wholesome foods you’re in for a HUGE treat.
Thrive Market is a cross between Costco (since it’s a paid membership site- $59.95 is the annual cost) and Trader Joe’s.
Yet it allows you to purchase non-perishable food or health, bath & body, baby & kid and beauty products items according to your needs. You can buy food that is:
- organic
- GMO-Free
- Paleo
- Gluten-Free
- Raw
- Vegan
- Mom-friendly
- Sugar-Free
- Foods without Dyes
- and more
Orders over $49.00 ship for free.
You can spend $25.00 for free on Thrive Market by clicking this special link which will also allow you to try Thrive market for free for 30 days.
And if you’re concerned about how expensive these items might be, don’t worry. The healthy and often well-known products at Thrive Market are on average 35% less than they would be in retail, although the savings themselves can be anywhere between 25%-50% off retail.
And as if that weren’t enough for every paid Thrive membership, Thrive donates an annual membership to a low-income family.
Paid Subscription To Amazon Prime
Amazon is a convenient, awesome, and fast way to shop. I totally recommend it.
If you’re unsure, and haven’t used your free trial before, you can test out the service for a month to see how you like it.
Are you the type of Amazon shopper who waits until you have at least $35.00 worth of items in your shopping cart before you order your Amazon products just to get free shipping?
With Amazon Prime, you don’t have to do that. You can order items with the Prime logo (there are more than 20 million eligible items) in their description as you need them and still get FREE two-day shipping.
Plus, you can watch thousands of movies and TV shows with the Prime logo on Prime Video on your TV, laptop, Fire TV, Kindle Fire or smartphone.
With Prime Music, you can listen to over a million songs and hundreds of playlists, ad-free.
With Prime Photos, you can have unlimited photo storage on the Amazon Cloud Drive. You can access them from any of your devices regardless of where you are with an internet connection.
Get early access to shop Amazon Lightning Deals which are often sold out before they become available to the general public.
Read over 800,000 ebooks for free! The Kindle Owner’s Lending Library has New York Times best sellers, classics, fiction and non-fiction books that you can browse through to select your one book per month. It has no due dates.
Prime is so much more than just 2-day free shipping, right? Especially when you can share this Prime membership including the free shipping with members of your household. So by giving someone in your home this gift, it is likely that you’ll get this gift to.
Paid subscription to Netflix
There are three types of subscriptions:
- Basic is $7.99 a month
- Allows you to watch Netflix on 1 screen at the same time.
- Standard is $9.99 a month
- Offers HD and you can watch Netflix on up to 2 screens at the same time.
- Premium is $11.99 a month.
- Offers HD, ultra HD and you can watch Netflix on up to 4 screens at the same time.
And don’t forget, that you can try a Netflix for 1 month.
Apple TV
Even though I’ve already mentioned Apple TV in a prior post it’s worth a mention again because you’ll be able to watch shows, movies, family pictures and listen to music as a family.
An Adopted Pet
I know this is a BBIIIIGGG commitment. But if you’re committed to loving a pet, that pet can in turn provide you with lots of joy. I have a golden lab that I adopted. And while I didn’t get her in Christmas, she’s given me so much and my son loves her so much to the point that sometimes, I think he’s her favorite toy. But please, consider adopting before any other method of acquiring a pet.
Family Portrait Session
We’re a photo-obsessed world, that’s for sure. Buuuut the one of the most popular forms of photos are called “selfies” not “welies.” And while yessss people can take a selfie with part of their family in the photo… it’s not likely that that photo will become a treasured photo to place above the mantlepiece or make it to the heirloom photobook.
So instead of just taking a photo session for the Christmas picture, take a family portrait because you want to, when you want to, where you want to. And do it often so that you can literally all be in the picture.
And remember, you can take a photo in your hometown, while on vacation or in a special and bigger family reunion.
A Camera To Capture Better Photos With
We’ll never regret having better photo quality prints, but we’ll always regret our photos not being of better quality. So every couple of years, upgrade your camera to something that is worthy of the time that you spend together with your family.
Consider your budget and your needs. But above all, either read the manual or pay to learn how to use your camera really well.
Gifts For Teens, Gifts For Him and Her
Concert Tickets To See A Favorite Singer
For this to be super effective create a list of the top 3 singers for each of your loved ones, that way you will be sure to delight.
Then, subscribe to a newsletter like Ticketmaster to be notified when artists will be visiting your area.
A Class
The gift of education is priceless. You can get your loved one a class that you know that is right up their alley, but in order to do that you really need to know them well.
Here are some examples:
- a cooking class (who doesn’t need to up their game in this department?
- a cake decorating class
- a scrapbooking class
- a college class that they have been wanting to take for a while
Keep in mind that these classes can either be local/live classes OR they can be online.
You can find a big array of online classes on Udemy.com.
Visit To A Meal Preparation Site
If you know someone who likes or loves cooking and is open to trying new food and/or recipes, perhaps an ideal gift for them would be a visit to meal preparation sites.
One example that you can find out if they have a store in your state is Dream Dinners.
The benefit of going to an location like this is that once you determine what meals you’d like to prepare for your family from a changing monthly menu that you can select online, you don’t have to do all the work that menu planning entails. Furthermore, you have less mess in your kitchen.
With each order, you have a 36 meal serving minimum. And you get to chose whether you assemble 3-servings or 6-servings for each meal.
However, for first time guests who are unsure if they’d like this process, there is an introductory offer that you can buy for yourself or for someone else that consists of 18 servings for $74.85.
Once you’ve identified what meals you want and how many of each you’d like to prepare, you go to your nearest Dream Dinners store location for a meal assembly session with boxes or coolers to bring your uncooked meals home and freeze them. At each store you’ll have knowledgeable staff on hand on-hand to explain the process. You pay for your session online.
In order to elegantly give this gift, there are Dream Dinners gift cards available. These can even be delivered electronically. You can select amounts between $25.00 to $500.00. One important thing to keep in mind is to buy a gift card that can handle 36 meal servings so that your recipient doesn’t have to pay out of pocket.
Audible Membership
If your loved one really likes audiobooks, they’ll love an Audible Membership.
Why?
With more than 180,000 titles to choose from, Audible is the world’s largest provider of audiobooks and premium spoken word programming.
AND their enjoyment is guaranteed because with every book you buy, you’ll get a Great Listen Guarantee that allows you to exchange a book that didn’t meet your expectations. How’s that for satisfaction?
The best thing is that it’s really easy to purchase a membership for them.
You have two membership options available:
- You get two free audiobooks to start
- After 30 days, you get one audiobook a month for $14.95/month
- You receive 30% off the price of additional audiobook purchases
- You may cancel at any time.
- Your books are yours to keep, even if you cancel.
- You get one audiobook per month for $14.95 per month.
- You receive 30% off the price of additional audiobook purchases
- You may cancel at any time.
- Your books are yours to keep even if you cancel.
If you prefer, you can also buy a single Audible audio book.
If your loved ones also enjoys the process of reading, there are more than 70,000 Audible titles (out of the 180,000 titles) that allow you to switch seamlessly between reading your Kindle version and listening, without losing your place, on Kindle app and Fire devices.
A Subscription To Hay House Radio
If you know of anybody who is really into personal development, you can gift them a Hay House Radio subscription (which is actually free), but if you sign up for a Wisdom Community Membership, they’ll get additional benefits, like commercial-free Hay House Radio episodes and access to thousands of previously recorded episodes. They’ll need to sign up for a Hay House Account. But they can extend their membership a little bit longer by subscribing to a free trial.
There are 4 levels of annual Hay House Wisdom Community memberships:
Platinum
- Costs $79.00 for 1 year
- $138 for 2 Years
- 40% off Hay House products on www.hayhouse.com (discounts don’t apply to already discounted items)
- Free UPS Ground Shipping on these products (in continental US)
- 25% off on select online courses and video streams (discounts don’t apply to already discounted items)
- 10% off on select live events (does not include Hay House cruises) (discounts don’t apply to already discounted items)
- A free monthly replay of live online seminar ($240 value)
- Bonus audio content
Gold Membership
- $48.00 for 1 year
- $84.00 for 2 years
- 35% off on all Hay House products on www.hayhouse.com (discounts don’t apply to already discounted items)
- 20% off on select online courses and video streams (discounts don’t apply to already discounted items)
- 10% off select live events (Does not apply to cruises) (discounts don’t apply to already discounted items)
- A free monthly replay of a live online seminar ($240 value)
- Bonus audio content
Silver Membership
- $24.00 for 1 year
- $42.95 for 2 years
- 30% off on all Hay House products on www.hayhouse.com (discounts don’t apply to already discounted items)
- 10% off on select online courses and video streams (discounts don’t apply to already discounted items)
- A free monthly replay of a live online seminar ($240 value)
- Bonus audio content
A Free 14-Day Trial
- Exclusive access to all HayHouseRadio.com show archives
- Inspirational audio downloads
- Extraordinary commercial-free downloads
Experience Gifts For Kids
Yearly Gift Ornament
As we all know, putting up a Christmas tree puts us into the Christmas spirit. And in y opinion, not waiting until the last minute to put it up helps tremendously.
A new tradition you can create for your home is to:
- Buy a gift for your child every Christmas. You can give it to them before putting up the Christmas tree, put it in their stocking or give it to them as a Christmas Gift.
- You can make Christmas tree ornaments (and although I’m all for creativity… the ornaments they “make” when they’re months old or one year old most likely won’t be all that great).
- You can take the kids Christmas shopping so that they can pick out their own Christmas ornament.
Accumulating these ornaments and putting them on the Christmas tree either that year or the years that follow will become increasingly special.
Best of all, when the kids are ready to fly on their own and move out of the house you’ll be able to give them their ornaments to put on their own tree (hopefully they had good taste 😉 ).
(Please note: Be sure to label the ornaments or have a reliable way of tracking which ornaments belong to whom if you have multiple kids).
Imagine if you had ornaments that you started collecting since your first Christmas, wouldn’t that be a total treasure?
A Highlights Subscription
I had mentioned this in my gift guide for kids, but it’s an experience that kids really enjoy and therefore, it’s worth mentioning again.
HIGHLIGHTS HELLO
This magazine with very sturdy binding is ideal for kids ages 0-2.
HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE
Your 2-6 year olds are bound to love this magazine.
HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN
This magazine is for kids 6-12. And I happened to grow up with it and love it!
HIGH FIVE BILINGUE
The bilingual or Spanish-speaking kids in your life will greatly enjoy this magazine.
In case you’re wondering, the price for buying the subscription via Amazon is the same as if you visited the Highlights website.
Experience Gift Ideas for Her
A Spa Day
Facial, pedicure, manicure you name it. Even a couple of services are heavenly from time to time.
A Massage
Enough said, right?
A Day of Her Choice
She can be queen for the day and choose what she would like.
Experience Ideas For Him
Game Tickets
You can purchase season tickets (or at least a pair of tickets) to see his favorite sports team.
Show Tickets
You’re bound to really surprise him if you get him tickets to see an entertainer, a comedian or a singer that he really enjoys.
Movie Tickets
You can buy tickets to the movie he’s been wanting to see or give a voucher for him to choose the date or time when he wants to go.
A Day of His Choice
Who doesn’t want to call the shots for a day. Be the king, so to speak.
Now It’s Your Turn
- Do you have suggestion for a great experience gift?
- What’s the best experience some has gifted you?
Let me know in the comments below.
The Love and Treasure Holiday Gift Guide Series
This blog post is part of a series.
Love and Treasure Holiday Gift Guide 2015 Part 1 in which I shared the Gifts for Her and Gifts for Everybody Teenagers and Up,
Love and Treasure Holiday Gift Guide 2015 Part 2 in which I shared the Gifts for Him.
Love and Treasure Holiday Gift Guide 2015 Part 3 that has ideas for the kids and tween in your life. What would the Holidays be without them?
Love and Treasure Holiday Gift Guide 2015 Part 4 that gave you some obvious gift ideas that will be greatly appreciated by the recipient.
And, like I said last time, even if you dislike all of my gift ideas (which I hope you don’t 
) , or you want to buy a few or all of your gifts on Amazon that you had already thought out and planned to give, since I am an Amazon affiliate, feel free to use this link to do all of your Holiday shopping and purchases year-round… and you’ll be supporting this blog in the process, something that I totally appreciate).
