I asked my kids for Christmas gift ideas this week. My 20-year-old daughter said she doesn't want any more "stuff", she wants "experiences". She wants to travel, enjoys concerts and plays, etc. I highly commend her attitude, however, the problem with this is the cost of most of these things! We don't live in a large city, so some travel would be involved in almost anything. Outside of giving her cash to finance these experiences, does anyone have suggestions?
The first thing I thought of was a cooking class - maybe one of these one-time classes where the instructor demonstrates a technique or style of food (with or without hands on activities for the class participants), and then everyone gets to eat the goodies.
I don't know if you have heard of Groupon? It is a site that offers deals in the cities you select on many things like plays, concerts, sporting events, etc. You could buy her a gift card to Groupon, and then she can choose when to use it/what to purchase with it, etc, and select whatever city it is in.
You could give her a gift certificate to ticketmaster, so she can buy whatever play/concert tickets she wants.
You could create a notebook for her w/ideas you have of great experiences (some listed below are good ones!) and dream travel destinations... and then have her add to it and then pick the one she really wants and work toward that as a goal.
This way when you give her $$ toward it it is going to something concrete and not just a 'trip'. 'concert' , etc.
You could give her concert tickets to one of her favorite groups, to a play- or purchase the season tickets for the theater. You could also start a fund for her travel and then add to it for various celebratory occasions throughout the year. Others could also add to this fund. You might also take any frequent flier miles or credit card mileage you may have and use them toward a travel gift. I do not know what your budget is- so what you do would obviously depend on your budget. You might also suggest that she save her $ and she and her friends/ cousins might take a road trip sometime, and you could contribute towards that adventure.
Good luck, will be interested to see what you decide. :)
have you thought about the types of things she is interested in? hot air balloon ride? flight lesson? glamour shots?
A class at the technical school, massage, yoga lesson, 1 hour with personal trainer, a park pass, mother/daughter day somewhere.
All I can think of right now! ;)
Try High School or community concerts or plays.Its not so expensive and usually closer to people even in small towns.
How about som travel books so she can plan future trips?? Does she have a frequent flyer account?? If so you could purchase some miles so that when she has enough she can buy a ticket or use it to upgrade.
Check out Cloud9living.com. They have many experience gifts, although some are quite pricey. I purchased a race car driving experience for a friend's 40th birthday, and it was fantastic!
A slightly different track than the ones mentioned below...
How about looking around your town to see what she can participate in? Now, before you start thinking that I am an absolute loon, I want to let you know that my hometown was 20,000 people. It was by far the largest in the area. We were surrounded by corn fields and cows. That being said, I'd never driven a tractor (still haven't), never milked a cow, never fed a cow, baled hay, etc. I got a chance to do that, and it was really cool!
Also, my mom worked with elderly people. I had never learned how to knit or crochet. They knew and wanted company. So I sat down with some ladies a few times a week and learned something really cool! And made some great new friends in the process.
Is there something like that in your area that your daughter has never done? Experiences don't have to be expensive. Plus, now I get to tell people about my "unorthodox" experiences while I crochet afghans for my children!
We do this in my family, too. Our usual gifts are things like gift certificates to the Guthrie Theater ( can parlay these into multiple plays by getting tickets in the rush line), a gift certificate for a night at the Graves (we live in town, but it's a fun, luxurious, small 'getaway'), or a gift certificate for something we wouldn't likely pay for on our own (the Segway tour or Glamorama tickets). It is always a little tricky to come up with something unusual or that we haven't done, because we are a very 'downtown' family, but the surprise is SO much more meaningful than a tangible gift. My sister and BIL live on the river downtown and took the Segway tour. They LOVED it - even zooming past their house. I think you can do a lot for under $150!
