The concept behind an experience gift is to use your personal connection with someone to create a memorable moment. How can you do this? By focusing on her experience as well as how she related to that experience. In other words, the experience gift should be more about sharing than giving.
Ideally, experience gifts ought to be the complete opposite of stuff gifts, namely things. When you focus more on the memor-making aspect of gift-giving, and not the tangible or financial side, it s when you really focus on what she really enjoyed about being there. How was it to go snorkeling in Thailand under the sea? Or to see the whales from the shore? Did she get to kill a tiger shark with her father? By getting her these experiences, you are doing the equivalent of buying her dinner at her favorite restaurant, and in effect is doing a little bit of ‘discovering’ as well.
To create an experience gift, you need to know what she actually enjoys. Is she going to enjoy the underwater environment, the snorkeling, or the shopping? Once you have this information, you can design the gifts around these activities or other experiences. The main idea is to buy something that would be exciting and fun, but also functional – like a snorkeling mask, for example.
Now we come to choosing an experience gift. There are so many options out there! Do you want her to visit Thailand? What resorts are near by? Do you want to take her to the top of Mount Everest? The possibilities are endless.
One of the most important considerations when choosing experience gifts is the environment the gift will be given in. Is it going to be in a luxury hotel? Or, perhaps a spa hotel? These all are important factors, especially if the recipient lives in an exotic location. You want to make sure that the experience she will have will be both enjoyable and educational.
If the experience gift is an educational one, then you want to match it with a similar educational experience. This could be taking her on a nature walk, or going on a trip to the local library to look at old maps. Or perhaps you can arrange for her to go scuba diving in someplace beautiful. These are all examples of experiences that will teach her a valuable lesson. Experience gifts can also be in a form of a physical challenge – say, taking her on a 5-minute walk while you jog in the background (don’t do this! ).
Whatever your gift is, you want to make sure that it fits the occasion. There’s no point in giving a horse-riding experience to someone who doesn’t care about horses! And don’t think that all experiences have to be related to travel. A game of Frisbee is sure to occupy both your time and hers, so that’s a good example of an experience gift. And don’t forget that you don’t always have to give something expensive – a gift certificate to your local tea shop or a CD collection is a thoughtful gift for a friend.
There are all kinds of experience gifts available; from spa days and spa breaks to cooking classes and wine tasting. If you want to get personal, you can organize a spa day with a pampering therapist and a facial or manicure. She’ll be very impressed with the gift and will truly appreciate all the effort you put into it. There are also all kinds of activities that you can arrange around a theme like fishing, boating, hiking or even ice skating. Make sure that the experience you give her is totally unique and that it has meaning to her. Otherwise, you’re simply wasting your time!