10 Realistic Ideas for Experience Gifts

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by RVshare. All opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.

Experience Gifts have been in the spotlight in recent years. Experience gifts are presents that help your family connect and build memories. Many parents are looking for an alternative to buying toys that will only be played with for a little while. These are especially helpful when you are trying to come up with ideas for family members who no longer believe in Santa.

But let's be honest here, sometimes those lists of experience gifts can get overwhelming. Whenever I look at a list of 50+ ideas my eyes start rolling back into my head. I've decided to create a list of ten things that I think work well for experience gifts. And since we are being real on this list - please don't think you have to do everything I list here. Maybe pick one experience from this list to replace a gift you would normally give your family.

1. Season Pass to your local pool, zoo, children’s museum, etc -
The key here is local. If you live near an interesting local attraction and you know you'll visit it regularly, then having a season pass is worth your money.

The many toys available at Children's museums are worth the price of an annual membership. If we'd lived closer to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden, Utah I would have bought an annual membership.

2. Punch Passes - If you don't want to fork over the money for a season pass for the whole family, consider buying a punch pass for a family member to use. Many places have deals where you can purchase 10 classes or experiences. Ten times is probably good enough to spread out over several months.

3. Specific Classes or Lessons - Along the same lines of punch passes.  You could pay for lessons or a specific class that your child will enjoy. 

My kids loved the rock climbing class they took at our city rec center last spring. 

4. Fishing License - Fishing licenses are usually good for a calendar year. So if you buy a licence in January it will be good for the whole year. In most states children under the age for 14 can fish off of a parents licences so you’ll just need to buy licenses for Mom and Dad. Maybe put some new fishing poles under the tree to go along with this gift.

5. RVshare Rental - If you don't own an RV you can use RVshare to rent an RV from an owner. Think of it like Air BNB for RV's. RVshare has a whole list of the best state parks in every state. Plan a trip, book the RV, and then tell your family all about it on Christmas Day.

6. A Trip to a Popular Attraction - If there is some place near you that would normally be deemed too expensive to visit you could buy tickets to this place as a Christmas gift for your family. 

7. National Park Pass - If you live near a national park or two then buying a National Park Pass for $80 for the whole year could be an excellent gift that your whole family will enjoy. 

Southern Utah has 5 National Park's so an annual pass is an excellent deal if you are near that area. 

8. State Park Pass - State Park passes are an even better deal than National Park passes. They are usually less money and will get you into many places that are all within a few hours drive of your house.

An Idaho State Park pass is an excellent deal. It's only $10 for residents or $40 for non-residents.

9. Gear for an Activity - Some parents say that they know their children will be disappointed if they don't have a physical gift under the tree. (I am one of these parents.) If that's the case in your family then consider buying a gift that can be used later during family activities. These are things like hiking backpacks if you want to plan a long hike, sleeping bags if you have plans for a camping trip, kayaks and life jackets if you want to be on the water more this year, etc. This is an especially good idea if the actual experience won't take place for a few months. 

10. Plan Time Together - Don't feel bad if you don't have a lot of money to spend on taking your whole family on an epic trip. Memories aren't about the amount of money spent on an event. They are about spending time with the people you love. Sit down with a local guide book and find free/low cost activities and events. Then schedule dates to go to those activities. If you are feeling really creative you could present your family with a calendar showing the dates when you have already scheduled these family activities.

What ideas have you come up with for realistic experience gifts?