Our Favorite Experience Gifts

Yesterday I shared some of our budget friendly Christmas ideas and in that I talked about one way we save on gifts is to give what we call “Experience Gifts” These are things that we can do as a family that usually don’t come with more clutter to find a storage space for.

There are a lot of good options for experience gifts out there. Here are a few that have been our favorites:

Zoo Membership

The first Christmas we lived in Fort Worth my parents got us a membership to the Fort Worth Zoo. I loved this because we had a great escape when we just needed to get out of the house. All we had to do was pack up a lunch box, grab some bottles of water, and head to the zoo. The passes got us in and then we were free to have a great time. Very rarely did we ever need to spend an extra dime there. We also got access to the zoo for special membership days and events.

Museum Membership

This one is similar to the zoo for all the same reasons. We never had the museum membership personally but we had friends who did and we would often team up to do the different activities. The zoo was good for the days the weather was nice out side and the museum was a great alternative for the days that it was too cold, hot, or any other reason the weather was bad to be outside.

Theme Park Passes

Again, this one is fun because of the joy it can bring while limiting the money being spent. And again, we never had this one personally but MAN did I want to. We were less than 30 minutes away fro Six Flags Over Texas and I only got to visit one time. I would have loved to go more often and season passes would have made that a lot easier. Well…that and having kids that were old enough to enjoy the park.

Subscription Boxes

There are a lot of great subscription services out there for kids and families these day. There are some that are just for fun and some that are more on the educational side of the spectrum. The one we have used and love is designed to get kids in the kitchen cooking. It is called Raddish Kids. Each month the kids get 1 new kitchen tool, 3 new recipes based on a monthly theme, and a few other goodies. The kids like that the get to cook and mess around in the kitchen and I like that they are learning so much more than just how to prepare a meal.

National and State Parks and Cultural Centers

Recently I learned about a family pass that gets people into the New Mexico cultural centers. These are places like the state museums and state historical sites. For a home school family this is WONDERFUL. The ability to pack up and head to one of these places is wonderful for a change of pace but still giving us the necessary “educational” environment. Passes to state and national parks are also a great options.

Tickets to Sporting Events

We are a sports family. We like to watch sports and we like to play sports. A great experience for the whole family is tickets to a local sporting event. Baseball is one of our favorites but you can look for something that matches well with those you love the most.

There you have it. My short and sweet list of experience gifts that don’t require bringing in a lot of extra clutter to the house. What are some of your favorite experience gifts? Let me know in the comments.

See you all tomorrow!