10 reasons to give children experience gifts for Christmas
Everyone loves Christmas, but sometimes all the hustle and bustle that comes with it can make us feel stressed. A solution that will help you eliminate some of the stress of Christmas shopping is to start gifting the experience to children. It will be extremely fun! In addition, experience gifts are a great idea if you are a grandfather and want to give interesting gifts to your grandchildren! Your grown children will thank you for creating unforgettable memories for your grandchildren and saving them from clutter in the house.
Why give experiential gifts for children at Christmas?
We all know that enthusiasm for a new toy fades over time. And if you look around a little among your children's toys, you will see that they definitely have more things than they use. Moreover, the things they own can even contribute to dissatisfaction and stress. Instead, memories become more pleasant with time.
Even negative experiences become stories that families will laugh about later. Enrich the life of your children or grandchildren by offering them wonderful experiences that can be useful throughout their lives. This is the kind of gift that keeps on giving over time!
Here are the 10 most important reasons to offer experience gifts for children:
1. It gives them something to dream about
You can give the children an experience gift in the form of a voucher, in which you announce a family trip to a location they've been wanting to go to for a long time. Or you can choose to offer them a toy or a small accessory, which is related to the respective experience, so that at the end they discover the tickets that will take you there at the bottom of the box. They will thus have time to think and plan until the time of departure on the trip, with emotion and with an ever-increasing expectation.
No matter what they do during this time at school or with friends, they will always have something to look forward to. Anticipation is a motivating factor, and this kind of gift will help you give joy to the children long after Christmas has passed.
2. It allows you to be together on Christmas day
Every home is different at Christmas, but Christmas morning is most likely similar everywhere. Children and parents open the presents together and then have breakfast together, in a family and festive atmosphere. But after breakfast is over, everyone goes to their corner to enjoy the new toys or gadgets received as a gift.
An experience gift offers time for the whole family to enjoy what is about to happen and to spend time together. You can start new traditions or you can simply be present next to each other, without anything distracting you, truly living the spirit of the holidays.
3. Fewer chances to create jealousy
Because we are essentially materialistic creatures, we are prone to comparison. It is very likely that at least once in your life, in trying to give specific and different gifts to your children, someone will end up feeling less important than his brother, or it will seem to him that he received fewer gifts than the other .
A family experience or time spent in a camp or other learning opportunity offers each child the same thing, without any of them feeling stupid. And although the experience you buy is the same for every child, they will get a unique and different experience to talk about and to live. Everyone will have their own memories and stories, created by an event that they will tell for years to come
4. It will not age
How many times during the holidays have you not seen the deep emotion on your children's faces when they open their new and shiny presents, only to cram them somewhere in a closet in February or leave them in the room to collect dust? Interests change. Children are constantly stimulated by what is new and available. New objects, toys and electronics lose their value within a year. Experiences do not. It is not something that can be easily replaced in a few months or something that could break or fail.
5. It is a learning experience
Regardless of the experience you choose to give your children and family as a gift, it will definitely be an educational one. Whether it's learning about another culture on vacation or just experiencing things you wouldn't normally do, like fishing, canoeing or shooting, your kids will have the opportunity to see what hobbies do they like and what would they like to do in the future. They will thus discover more about themselves and what the future may hold for them. Especially in a summer camp. They will learn independence and how to survive without parents by their side.
They will be better prepared for the future and will learn to take responsibility. In addition, they will acquire skills that they would never learn otherwise. Instead of letting them sit for hours playing a new video game or playing with a toy that doesn't involve growth or maturation, send them to a place that can cultivate these things.
6. You can share the costs
When someone asks you what you could give your child for Christmas, it seems strange to tell him that he wants a new Play Station and that he would help him with 300 lei more, to complete his amount. But most of those who want to give your child something interesting for Christmas, will be more pleased to contribute to the costs of an experience gift, because it is something useful that will help the whole family.
If you find more people to contribute, such as grandparents, cousins or uncles and aunts, the camp or any other planned trip will become more accessible and easier. Everyone can contribute to a gift that will make your child truly happy.
7. It involves less hassle
Regardless of the experience you choose, it will be easier than trying to buy the perfect material gift for your child. Whether it's a vacation, an educational experience close to home or an amazing summer at camp, you can plan everything from the comfort of your home, in your pajamas, and not have to fight with thousands of other customers through shops. Get rid of the queues and the stress of finding a parking space at the mall, you don't have to go into ten stores in one day in the hope that you will find what you are looking for and that you will not exceed your credit card limit.
An experience allows you to stay at home and book online, but also to make smaller payments before the trip or on the day of departure. Give yourself a holiday break. You deserve it!
8. It can help you save money
The beauty of a trip or an experience is that you can spread the costs over a longer period of time. A summer camp, for example, allows payment plans in installments and you can even find better offers in certain periods of the year, so that the price is lower. Or if you are thinking of a vacation, you can buy plane tickets when they are cheaper, if you look in advance, and later book the hotel or other accommodation.
Instead of trying to take advantage, like everyone else, of Black Friday or Cyber Monday offers, you can relax and shop all year and spend along the way. That way, you won't be throwing a bunch of money at a bunch of things at once.
9. It is an almost biblical experience
No, it does not mean that if you choose to buy classic gifts, you violate the Word of God, and we cannot say that you will earn a place in Heaven if you opt for experience gifts. But the idea is that you will not accumulate heaps of things and objects here on Earth, because you do not leave with them beyond, but instead choose to enjoy experiences that fulfill you and give you special memories.
We are by excellence a culture based on possessions, for which it is important to have as many things as possible, with which to brag in front of friends.
Teach your children at Christmas that the things they have and care about so much will disappear at some point: they will break and will no longer be useful and will not bring them any profit. Teach them to never make comparisons between what they have and what their friends have, because what matters is not necessarily what they have or what they can receive, but what they know and live. Experiences teach and say a lot. They influence your child's life.
10. You also have fun, not just the children
Most parents end up sacrificing themselves and giving up gifts for them, just to make sure that the little ones will have the most amazing gifts under the tree. They spend all their holiday money on their children and the reaction they will see on their faces on Christmas morning. An experience allows you to reward yourself.
It can be a family vacation that you can participate in or, if it's a camp experience, you can even use those weeks when your child is away to relax more at home or to go on a vacation without children! You sacrifice yourself all year and you are really to be praised for it, but don't you think you would also like a Christmas present?