by Texas Homesteader ~
Experience Gifts last much longer than a plastic toy under the tree. You get to spend special time with the gift recipient, you get to enjoy the experience gift too and those memories last a long time for both gift giver as well as gift recipient.
Are you looking for experience gift ideas too? C’mon in, I’m sharing the experience gifts we’ve given to our grandkids over the last several years.
No New Toys For Christmas!
Several years ago our grown children requested: “Please, no new toys – the kid’s rooms are packed!” So we started a new tradition – experience gifts for our grandchildren!
Each year RancherMan & I decide on a fun activity to do with the kids. It’s a win/win since it gives us a chance to spend some special time with them too.
It usually includes a restaurant meal and spending the night at our house for a little more time spent with them. And there’s usually homemade Hot Cocoa involved. 🙂
Following are a few of the experience gifts we’ve given to our grandkids over the years. You can click on the title or links for more detailed information on each fun outing.
One year we took the grandkids to the Ft Worth Stock Show Rodeo. In addition to the rodeo there were also many museums onsite complete with dinosaur exhibits & fun dino-dig activities among others.
RancherMan & I picked up inexpensive cowboy/cowgirl hats, bandannas and vests with sheriff’s star. We wrapped up the western wear and a stock show brochure for them to open on Christmas Day. Then they each wore their cute getup to the stock show.
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Tickets To A Live Production Play
Live production plays are favorite pastimes for RancherMan & me. So one year we took them to a professional production of ‘A Christmas Story’. The play was fantastic!
Another year we took them to see a live production of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ in an beautiful renovated 1940’s theater. RancherMan & I enjoy attending plays and we wanted to share that love of theater with our grandchildren.
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Drive-Through Animated Christmas Light Display
It’s a fun tradition for many families to bundle up the kids to go look at Christmas lights.
So one year RancherMan & I decided to take the kids to enjoy a very large commercially-run drive-through display in a nearby city. It was HUGE! The road wound around each themed display and the kids had fun picking their favorites.
Now that the kids are getting older we were looking for something a little more physical for them. Since the Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course was all the rage on TV, we knew the kids would love this.
We chose Urban Air for our fun location as they had the largest variety of options.
In addition to the obstacle course there were several trampoline features too, including a dodge ball court on trampolines, a slam-dunk basketball court on trampolines and an area where you can bounce off a trampoline and into a huge air-filled pillow.
RancherMan & I even joined in on the trampoline fun. The kids all had a blast.
It was our first time to do an Escape Room Challenge. But together with our grandkids we put our heads together to solve the clues in a defined amount of time to be deemed worthy of Blackbeard’s Challenge. They also had murder mystery challenge and a couple of cabin-themed challenges.
We contacted the venue beforehand to make sure Blackbeard’s Challenge was suitable for our young teens. This was SO much fun!!
This was the kids’ favorite experience gift. There are many rock-climbing facilities all around since this is such a popular sport.
Many of them include an auto belay for inexperienced or young climbers.
An automatic belay is a rope attached to a device that keeps tension on the rope as the climber ascends.
If they fall or even purposely push away from the wall, the auto belay will lower them slowly to the ground.
How To Save Money On Experience Gifts
There are many opportunities to save some cash for these experience gifts so it doesn’t break the budget.
Contact The Venue – Oftentimes there are specials offered. When I contacted the Ft. Worth Stockyards they were happy to send free tickets for each of the kids!
Age Discounts– Sometimes the ages of the kids (or YOUR age!) will reduce the price of the tickets. And sometimes you can even score tickets for FREE! You never know, so it’s always helpful to at least contact the venue.
Eating Out For FREE – The restaurant meal with our grandchildren costs nothing out of our pocket even though there are SIX of us. We use our credit cards reward points to order restaurant gift cards for free!
I’ve written before about various ways RancherMan & I Save Money Every Day, including our credit card rewards program.
Inexpensive Idea For Longer-Lasting Memories
When the kids spend the night with us, I often take a photo of all of us enjoying our experience gift together. Then when we get home I’ll send the photo to a 1-hour photo processing place.
Then the next morning I’ll give the kids inexpensive black frames I’d previously purchased and a white paint pen. I’ll let the kids decorate their frames howeverthey like.
Then we’ll insert the photo of our fun activity into each child’s frame. This is an inexpensive way to give them a keepsake to remember the fun long after Christmas is over!
I hope you’ve enjoyed these experience gift ideas. Do you give ‘Experience Gifts’? What’s your favorite?
~TxH~
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