Give an Experience: Activity Gifts Kids Actually Remember
Toys get forgotten by February. A class, a camp day or a family outing is a gift kids talk about for months. Ideas for every budget, and how to wrap an experience.
Ask a child what they remember from last year, and it is rarely a toy. It is the climbing day, the pottery class, the show they saw with grandma. That is the idea behind experience gifts.
Ideas by budget
Under $30
- A drop-in art or craft workshop
- A pass for the local pool with waterslide times
- Tickets to a children's theatre matinee
$30–$100
- A day at a trampoline or climbing park, with a friend
- A pottery-painting session for parent and child
- A single camp day over the March Break
Bigger gifts
- A full term of lessons: music, dance, swimming, martial arts
- A week of summer camp, booked early
- A family membership to a museum, science centre or zoo
How to make it feel like a present
Experiences are hard to wrap, so give something to open: a pair of dance shoes with a card for the class, swim goggles with the lesson dates, a hand-drawn "ticket". The point is to make the day itself something to look forward to.
For grandparents and relatives
Experience gifts are an easy answer to "what do they need?". Share a link to the program, and let the giver pay the registration directly.
Look for offers from local providers — many run gift cards and holiday deals — or browse classes to find the right one.
