Best Experience Gifts: 10 Ideas to Make Your Loved Ones Happier
Experience gifts are becoming more and more popular every day. People are finally learning what scientists have known for years: experiences make both the giver and the receiver happier than material gifts. They bring them together and help them develop a deeper connection.
Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University, showed that experiences ensure a longer lasting happiness. Happiness begins before making the purchase and continues for a longer period after that.
Professor Evan Poleman from the University of Wisconsin showed that part of the happiness experience gifts bring about comes from sharing. Receivers love gifts they can share more, and these make them feel closer to the giver.
Buyers seem to show an increasing interest in experiences as well. Last year, Deloitte reported that 27% of their survey respondents preferred experience gifts and were ready to spend $430 on average on these. This year, the same source reports that 40% of buyers are planning to invest in experiences and they are ready to spend $611 on them.
Are you ready to follow their lead and trade material gifts for bonding and creating memories? We have put together a list of 10 experiences you should consider offering to your loved ones, as well as recommendations on where to get them from in order to get the most for your bucks! Check it out below!
10 Best Experience Gifts and Where to Get Them
According to NPD’s 2018 Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey, food, beverages, and books rule holiday gift spending. They make excellent presents for family members, friends, colleagues, and neighbors on most occasions. For your significant other and anyone special, trips, spa sessions, and adventure gifts might be a better option. Here is what you should be looking for and where:
1. Gift Baskets
There are several types of gift baskets you can choose from, depending on the receiver’s profile:
- Fruit gift baskets. These are perfect for families with children and elders and for anyone with an interest in healthy eating. To find out more on when to offer them and where to get them from at excellent prices, see our post on Top 10 Online Stores with Best Fruit Gift Baskets here!
- Sweets gift baskets. You cannot go wrong with chocolate or cookies, no matter the occasion or the receiver. If you prefer chocolate, consider ordering it from Godiva. In order to find the best cookies baskets, check out our list of 10 Best Stores to Order Cookies Online!
- Wine gift baskets. These make some of the best experience gifts for men, but combinations with gourmet sweets and snacks will delight women as well. This list of Top 10 Online stores with the Best Wine Gift Baskets will help you find the best looking, best tasting, and most affordable gifts for your loved ones.
2. Subscriptions
Why resume your gift to just one experience, when you can make your loved ones happy every month? Subscription boxes make that possible, and you have plenty of options to choose from.
Wine club subscriptions are excellent experience gifts for men and couples who love sharing a glass of fine wine. You can find a list of the 10 best wine clubs here.
Food subscriptions are great for anyone. We recommend gourmet and healthy snack subscriptions, like Vital Choice’s Vital Box or Urthbox. However, you cannot go wrong with the Godiva Snack Lovers, Try The World, or Wine Down Box either.
Hobby subscriptions are another great way to show you care. Whether your loved ones have kids who love squishy toys and slime, they are avid readers, passionate fishers, or crazy about their pets, you’ll find something suitable for them on LivingSocial.
3. Event Tickets
Less expensive, easier to share yet just as impressive as the above alternatives, event tickets make excellent experience gifts. Depending on what your loved ones prefer, they can be tickets to a concert, a game, an entire tournament, to a theater play or to the opera. To keep track of the events in your region and get the best deals, use TicketNetwork or SelectATicket!
4. Books
Books make wonderful experience gifts, as they lure the reader into their world and help them live incredible adventures. They are also very affordable and available both in paperback and electronic format. You’ll find the best deals and the most varied offers at eBooks.com, AudioBooks.com, and Books-a-Million.
5. Tours
When someone is coming to visit but you have no time to show them around or you have no idea where to take them, local tours are the best welcome gifts. They are also a wonderful solution for you and your loved ones to escape routine and discover your surroundings from a different perspective.
Click here to find the tours available in your region!
6. Trips
When your loved ones love to travel, the best gift for them is a trip that you will enjoy together. Whether you settle for a full vacation or a short getaway, you can find some amazing deals through OneTravel, and Yes! Getaways. If you prefer to book flights and accommodation separately, try Booking.com and Jetradar.
7. Restaurant Dinner
If your loved ones would like to go out more, love a particular restaurant or cuisine, or you want to offer them a night to remember with great food, drinks, and company, you cannot go wrong with restaurant dinners. These are also some of the best experience gifts for couples.
You can make reservations yourself at almost any restaurant in town through Restaurant.com, or get them a Darden gift card for dinner or movie & dinner. This way, they will have the freedom to choose the date, the restaurant, and the company.
8. Adventure Gifts
Do your friends love to feel the adrenaline rushing through their veins? Then help them have the time of their life with an adventure gift. You can choose from hundreds of adventure options.
9. Lessons
We should never stop learning, no matter our age, interests, or occupation. You can help your friends learn more about the things they like and have a great time at it by offering them the lessons as a gift.
They could learn to dance, cook, speak a foreign language, play golf, or anything else they like. In fact, why not enroll together? Cloud 9 Living has an impressive offer for you to choose from.
10. Spa Packages
Stress is one of the main threats to our health, happiness, and well-being. The best way to express your love and appreciation for the people in your life is to help them relax and feel better in their skin.
Think of massage therapy, sauna bathing sessions, beauty makeovers, aromatherapy, and anything your hearts could desire. You can find some excellent offers here. Add one of these gift sets to your present, to help your loved ones relax and pamper themselves at home!
Click Here to Discover More Experience Gift Ideas and Cloud 9 Living eGift Certificates!
Share Your Opinion on Experience Gifts!
Which of the above experience gift ideas do you prefer and what experiences are you planning to present to your loved ones? Share this post with your contacts and let’s spread the word on the importance and potential of experience gifts! Together, we can bring people closer and help them find more joy in gift giving and receiving.
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About The Author
Ella O
Philosopher, sociologist, and content writer with over a decade of experience and thousands of products reviewed, Ella loves to share her experience and observations with the world.