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Family unit Christmas Gift Ideas: Giving Experiences Rather Than Stuff

by Parenting.com Editors

Family Christmas Gift Ideas: Giving Experiences Rather Than Stuff

Can you imagine what happened when correspondent Kimberly DeMucha Kalil skipped the toys and gave her kids experiences gifts for Christmas instead? No tears were shed, and years later, they're still talking most their adventures.

Coming up with fun and unique Christmas gift ideas year in and year out can exist a challenge. For some stymied shoppers, it tin can even plow gift-giving — what should exist a truthful joy of the season—into a tiresome chore.

Recently, I decided I didn't desire to buy my kids more stuff for Christmas. They already have toys and gadgets galore. And over the by few years, I've noticed that the Christmas morning time thrill of finally getting the nearly coveted Christmas nowadays on their wish list was fading fast— sometimes past our holiday dinner that evening.

So I focused final year'south holiday planning on the best experience gifts instead of toys. I figured that focusing on family time would create more meaningful memories. In the months leading up to Christmas, I avoided the mall and skipped Blackness Fri. Instead, I shopped online for an experience, for a family gift idea.

On Christmas forenoon, my kids opened a letter of the alphabet from Santa. In information technology, he explained that we'd be leaving on a trip that very 24-hour interval. At that place were no Christmas presents to unwrap, simply there were no tears, either. My kids were too excited nearly the gamble alee — wrapped up equally an experience gift —to recollect almost what they didn't get.

The price of Christmas

U.S. parents spend an average of $330 per child on Christmas, according to a 2017 written report past RetailMeNot. But even as nosotros spend more than, its not clear whether the outcomes nosotros become are any more meaningful.

Trading pricey Christmas gifts for quality time might in the form of experience gifts may just ameliorate your family's health and well-being. Studies have shown that kids who communicate with their parents tend to do amend at school, and teenagers who actively spend time with their parents tend to have fewer behavioral problems.

Experience togetherness

Though some experience gifts for kids can be more expensive than the Nintendo Switch your 8-year-old might want, yous don't necessarily need to spend more to make these experience souvenir ideas more than meaningful. Yous can't place a dollar value on spending time together equally a family or on the memories that will come from family experience gifts. Here are merely a few ways to supersede "stuff" on their Christmas list with family experiences:

Have a Family Trip

  • Maybe this year you can laissez passer on the iPad or Xbox, which can price upwards of $400, and instead take your family on a railroad train ride, such as a scenic ride upwards the California coast. Traveling daily between Los Angeles and Seattle, the Declension Starlight train passes through Santa Barbara, the San Francisco Bay Surface area, Sacramento and Portland.
  • If yous're looking for something both peaceful and adventurous, pack up your family and head to the Treebones Resort in Big Sur, California, whre y'all tin stay in a beachside yurt overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This thought is an amazing experience gift for men, women and children alike.
  • On the more budget-friendly side, you lot tin give your children a field trip. Venture out to a zoo, a child-friendly art museum or science center. If you bask your time together, buy a yearly family pass, and then y'all can return month after month and extend the fun throughout the yr.
  • In the months leading upwardly to the holidays, ask the kids what destinations they might similar to visit, then check rates on websites like Airfare Watchdog to find the best deals on family unit travel and be inspired for affordable, fun trip options. Once yous volume your flight, think about entertaining activities and games yous can do together on the plane.

Purchase Tickets to an Issue

  • If your children have never seen a live phase product, add together it to your Christmas list ideas. Some of the best shows from Broadway, such every bit Wicked, The Panthera leo Rex and Dazzler and the Beast, hit the road each year around the United States. Visit your local performing arts center to run into what they have planned for 2019, or check out sites similar Ticketmaster to meet what shows might be coming to a town near you. This is one of the best experience gifts for aspiring performers.
  • Hit upwards a sporting event and let your family soak in all the activity. Whether your kids are into professional hockey or college basketball, they will beloved the feel gift of tickets to run into their favorite squad or player compete.
  • Cheque out what concerts, comedians, art shows and more than are headed your way in the months afterwards Christmas and surprise your child (or the whole family unit) with a cultural experience they will remember forever.

Try Something New

  • Give the souvenir of learning and option up a new skill every bit family. Sign up the whole group for cooking classes (many Sur La Table stores offering family lessons), fine art classes or horseback riding lessons. If you live close to water, scuba or sailing lessons for the grouping are also great family gift ideas. Maybe your kids are budding photographers, and you can all accept a class in photography.
  • Instead of spending hundreds on new tech gadgets, you could give your crew a hot air airship ride as a family experience gift. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, you lot can take off at sunset for the ride of a lifetime over scenic Southwestern landscapes. Top off the experience with a special repast.

It's worth a endeavour

How did our family getaway stand upwardly to shiny, wrapped packages filled with iPads or video games?

Years later, my kids are still talking nearly our adventures, proverb, "I hope Santa brings us a trip next year, too."

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