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Lots of families are trying to give more gifts of experiences this year. We’re doing gifts related to travel for my kids since our goal is to do a bit more adventuring in the new year. Giving the gift of your time is probably something most kids will remember far more than a toy.
That said, who doesn’t love unwrapping a gift that you can play with right then and there. Especially for younger kids who can’t quite grasp the concept of extended time quite yet. Getting a small, inexpensive toy, book, stickers etc. Is a great way to still have something tangible to wrap up and give while adding in the addition of the experience.
For example, my boys LOVE the “dinosaur museum”. Here in the Phoenix area it’s the Natural History Museum but they’ve always referred to it as the dinosaur museum. So to give the gift of a day at the museum I found this fun, inexpensive squishy dinosaur.
I printed out a phrase about going. You could add a date or a month on the back if you wanted (it would be fun to give 1 experience a month for a year). Then cut it out with my paper cutter or scissors.
Use a glue dot or some other adhesive to attach it to the mouth.
If you don’t think it will hold well after being wrapped, and then opened, attach it to a string and tie it around the neck or tail. You could also make a sign to hang around the neck.
Another idea is to give a can of indoor “snow” to give the gift of skiing, sledding or just a snow day with mom.
This little can of snow was found at Michaels but you can buy them bigger online too!
Adding some craft supplies makes it a little more festive, but only a fun extra if you like to wrap like I do! This one would be fun layered in a mason jar with fake snow!
Some other experience ideas you could wrap up:
- Park day with a new ball.
- Train ride with a toy train.
- Lunch at the airport to watch the airplanes with a toy plane.
- Trip to the mountains with plastic trees and animals.
- A picnic date with a kite.
- Art classes with some inexpensive watercolors and paper.
- Cooking classes with personalized wooden utensils.
- Ice skating with a fun ice mold.
- Planetarium visit with a moon flashlight.
- Kayak or creek trip with a toy boat.
- Science museum given with some putty.
- Tickets to a play with a puppet or costume.
Check your local deal sites for more local ideas. It doesn’t have to be a big trip but little things you may plan on doing anyway. Do you have any other ideas? Would you like to see more?!
