100+ Experience Gift Ideas for Kids and Families

We usually do experience gifts for our kids’ big holiday gift. And we also love doing experience birthday gifts! We sometimes do a trip, but often find smaller experience gift ideas for kids to create memories and opportunities for connection. Some of these are activities, while others are useful products that facilitate connective experiences together.

I compiled over 100 ideas for experience gifts for families, including toddlers, kids, and adults so there’s something for everyone. I didn’t include books here since those would take entire posts in themselves, but I have lots of other book lists you can check out for suggestions. I hope it helps you to give the gifts of time and connection!

Classes for Experience Gifts

• Online Classes
  • Watercolor Class
    • We gifted this online watercolor class for kids last year and it was a big hit! We gifted it with this beautiful watercolor set. It’s been one of their top 10 experience gifts.
  • Revolution Math
    • This at-home supplemental math instruction program is so fun for kids. It’s story-based, so builds literacy, as well, and also just makes it so enjoyable. The classes are small (max of 4 kids) and the instructors are fantastic. You can use the code PREETHI1 to get your first month for only $5.
  • Kids Art Spot
    • This is an amazing online art club for kids & families. They have programs like the Little Kids Arts & Crafts Workshop, Art Camp, and After-School Art Activities.
• Sports
• Dance
• Art
• Music
  • We’ve LOVED our online music classes through Virtu.Academy – here’s my full review of these online music lessons for kids and adults. One of the best experiences to give as gifts.
• Baking
• Hip hop
• Ice skating
• Rock climbing
• Trampoline
• Trapeze
• Pottery making
• Ice cream or cheese making
• Horseback riding
• Yoga
• Gymnastics
• Surfing

Outdoors Family Experience Days

• Visit a lighthouse
• Beach trip
• Boat tour (this one year us looks so fun!)
• Fruit picking
• Camping Trip
  • My kids LOVE camping, so they’d be delighted with a planned camping trip, especially if it were to their beloved Yosemite. You could include some camping gear like a kids sleeping bag or the best kids hiking backpack if you don’t have any. Or you could just wrap up a s’mores kit with graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. One of the best experience gifts for kids who love the outdoors.
• National Parks Annual Pass
  • Why visit just one park when you could visit as many as you’d like? For $80, the annual pass allows you into as many NPS sites as you’d like in a year. You can also get a free pass if you’re a current member of the military or if you have a 4th grader at home (and for this year, it’s free for 5th graders, too!). One of my favorite family experience gifts!
• Waterpark
• Farm visit or stay
• Visit a vineyard
• Whale watching
• Family picnic
• Gold panning
• Family nature walk (add this fun explorer kit for kids!)

Active Experience Gifts for Kids

• Weekly of monthly family hike
  • Gifts certainly don’t need to be expensive to be valuable. The gift of time, especially together in nature, is incredible! Plan a weekly or monthly hike for the whole family. It would be so fun to give this along with kids hiking backpacks and other kids hiking gear.
• Mini golf passes
• Surrey ride
• A bike, bike trailer
  • This is our very favorite bike for kids – the braking system is so much safer for young riders and their customer service is incredible! This 2-seat bike trailer has also been invaluable. Here’s all our favorite gear when biking with kids.
• Trampoline
  • This was our kids’ gift last year and they’ve used it nonstop. Definitely one of my favorite experience gift ideas for families!
• Basketball hoop
  • We gave the whole family a basketball hoop one one year and it was an enormous hit. The whole families uses it all the time!
• Roller skates
• Pogo stick

Adventurous Experience Gifts for Kids

• Helicopter tour
• Hot air balloon ride
• Ropes course
  • We gifted a trip to this ropes course to our 11 year old for his birthday.
• Passes to go kayaking, paddle boating, or stand-up paddleboarding
  • You could also buy your own inflatable kayaks or inflatable boat
• Sailing
• GoCar Tour (we’re gifting this one this year!)
• Skydiving/Indoor skydiving
• Segway Tour
• Adventure Boat tour
• Paragliding

Travel Experience Gifts

• Flight tickets
• Road trip map
• Luggage tags and/or new luggage

Fun Activities For Kids Experience Gifts

• High tea at a fancy restaurant
  • We’ve done this a couple and it’s one of the most unique and special experience gift ideas for kids.
• Staycation at home or a local hotel
  • Explore your own town and either stay in a fun hotel or Airbnb. Explore parks, go on hikes, and eat delicious food.
• Visit to a planetarium
• Restaurant gift certificate
• IMAX movie
• Passes to get ice cream
• Tickets to paintball
• Chocolate tasting
• Monster truck rally
• Trampoline jump passes
• Escape room (or an at-home escape room!)
• Factory tour
  • We love this sticker factory by us!
  • Jelly Belly factory tour
• Train ride
• Family coding dates with code.org or with this coding book for kids (which we really like)

At Home Experience Gifts

Many of these include a “thing” to help facilitate the experience and connection, but some don’t!

• Karaoke machine
  • This karaoke machine would be so fun to have at home to facilitate years of family fun.
• Disney+ membership
• Outdoor projector screen + portable projector
  • This inflatable outdoor screen would be so fun, especially with a projector to go along with it. Or this is our favorite projector that is a bit bigger and more powerful that we have in our home!
• Game night activity kit
  • Include a few games, some snacks, and some drinks. Here are tons of board game ideas for kids and adults.
• Movie passes or movie night at home
  • Set up a whole theater experience and have fun movie snacks, pizza, fun drinks, a blanket
• Living room picnic
• Disco Ball
  • So fun for dance parties! Pair it with a subscription to Amazon Music.
• Slackline
  • We got our slackline about a year ago and it’s been a great addition to the backyard
• Hanging Lounger
  • We added a similar hanging lounger to our backyard a couple years ago and the kids are obsessed with it!
• Tent day – make forts out of sheets, read books, and have snacks
• Stuffed animal tea party
• Home Spa Day
  • Add a rainbow bath bomb, a scented candle (this is my favorite!), lotion, and a kids bathrobe (that’s my favorite brand – so soft!). Or this is our favorite kids shower wash. This is also one of my favorite experience gifts for women!

Tickets For Kids Experience Gifts

These are some of my favorite gifts to give and what one of our kids’ main gifts is this year!

• Theater (or children’s theater)
• Broadway play or musical
• A concert or recital
• Disney on Ice
• Sporting event (basketball, baseball, soccer, etc.)
• Ballet
• Harlem Globetrotters
• Dance shows
• Symphony
• Cirque du Soleil
• Comedy show

Gift A Membership for A Family Experience Gift

There are hundreds of membership possibilities out there. Here are just a few!

• Art museum
• Zoo
• Aquarium
• Children’s museum
• Science museum
• Natural history museum
• Botanical garden
• Petting zoo
• Rec center
• Waterpark
• Amusement park
• Marine sanctuary

FREE Experience Gift Ideas for Kids

I included some of these in other sections, but also wanted to compile them here to make it easy to find inexpensive experience gifts! It’s definitely possible to gift experience gifts on a budget. My kids LOVE special one-on-one time so any of these could also be used for an individual date with a child. It will definitely feel special and the gift of time is so precious!

• Dance party
• Playground date
• Hike
• Blanket fort day
• Floor tea party
• Board games
• Building LEGOs or Magna Tiles
• Baking together
• A sewing date
• Rock painting
• Sleepover in Mom & Dad’s bed
• Picnic
• Bike/scooter ride
• Splash pad
• Nature walk
• Cloud watching
• Planting a garden
• Jumping in leaves
• Making a snow cave
• Painting outside
• Chalk art
• Tide pooling
• Rock collecting

Other Experience Gift Ideas for Kids

Finally, there are some other terrific ideas for experience gifts that kids of a variety of ages will love! They’re perfect for experience Christmas gifts or for any other holiday or birthday experience gifts.

• Promptly Journals Emotions Journal
  • I love all the Promptly Journals, but this kids one for working through emotions is especially valuable. I also love the parent-child connection journals!
• Butterfly Garden
• Outdoor camp
  
• Room makeover
  • It would be so fun to couple this with new bedding, pillows, etc
• Scooter
• Carousel tickets
• Terrarium
• Audible membership
  • We love audiobooks for road trips or during quiet time, and there’s no more comprehensive service than Audible.
• YES day – parents have to say yes to whatever the kids request that day (within reason)

Monthly Subscription Boxes For Kids Experience Gift Ideas – Gift An Experience Box

• KiwiCo STEM box
  • There are a lot of subscription boxes out there, but KiwiCo is one of the very best as far as I’m concerned. The monthly STEM-based boxes are perfect for inspiring curiosity and fun in kids. They’re great for learning in a really enjoyable way, and won’t clutter up your home. There are boxes for every age from babies to adults! I especially love the original Kiwi Crate, the Tinker Crate for slightly older kids, and the Atlas Crate for families who love learning about other countries and cultures. I’d also love to try the Yummy Crate! Definitely one of my favorite experience gift ideas for kids!
• BitsBox Coding Box
  • It’s really important to me that my kids are familiar with coding principles and are comfortable with the basics. BitsBox is such a great tool that helps kids learn to code in a fun and exciting way.
• MEL Science
  • We love these amazing science subscription boxes.
• Raddish Kids
  • We love this kids cooking club! I especially love the ones that feature recipes from different countries. Such a fun experience box!
• Little Passports
  • We care a lot about global education over here, and there’s no better box than Little Passports to learn about the world.
• OwlCrate Jr.
  • A literary subscription box aimed at kids 8-12 with a new book each month plus some bookish goodies. Great for any family that loves books. Use the code PASSPORT15 to save 15% on any subscription!
    

Experience Gifts for Men and Gift Experiences for Couples: Husband Gift Guide

It can be tricky to think of gifts for men sometimes, so I really love these gift experiences for him. These would also make great birthday experiences for him or other gift experiences for her!

• Any of the adventure gifts for him listed above would be perfect – paragliding, ziplining, etc.
• Subscription to flight deals service
• Simply on Purpose Training Course Bundle
  • I love Simply on Purpose’s parenting tips. She has a full bundle of all her courses, and it includes her audio course and coaching calls. This would make such a useful gift to do with a spouse, and one that will benefit your family for years. Definitely a great experience gift for husbands.
• CPR Class
  • This online CPR course would be so useful and important for a family. You can use the code Preethi10 to save $10!
• Sex advent calendar (maybe with a heated mattress pad?)
• SodaStream
  • Create your own soda shop experience! Dan got one recently as a work gift and he’s obsessed with it.
• Custom art
  • I love getting portraits of our kids painted for my husband, but it would also be fun to do a big painting of everyone for the whole family. One of my very favorite experience gift ideas for him.
• Artful Parenting 101 Class
  • This parenting art class to help you incorporate art into family life to have fun and improve creativity sounds so wonderful!
• A year of date nights
  • This is a wonderful thing to plan for a spouse or partner and is one of my favorite experience gifts for men!
• Wine tour
• Take a photography class together – you could even do it online!
• Traeger Smoker & Grill
  • These get incredible reviews and are some of the best out there.
• Patio furniture – a great way to spend more time together sitting outside
• Bike tour
• New running shoes
  • Dan has had and loved his Allbirds for years!
• Audible subscription is also perfect here!
• Work on a business together
  • Sometimes we just need someone to give us a little extra push to work on something we care about. Purchasing legal contracts shows a belief in your partner’s work and ideas. These fantastic and clear contracts are on sale for the next week with the code Preethi35!
• Bidet
  • Dan really pushed for us to have one in our home and it definitely creates for a nice experience. 😉 Ours isn’t sold anymore but this one is similar!
• Masterclass subscription
  • There are SO many classes from experts on here!
• Car battery jump kit and tire inflator
  • We got these for our RV trip and they definitely came in handy a few times! Perfect to go along with a road trip gift.
• Racecar driving experience
• Skiing passes
• Fancy dinner

Experience Gifts Parents and Grandparents

• Any of the ticket ideas above would be perfect!
• The classes would work great, too!
• Family photo album
• Photo calendar
  • We’ve given this to our parents every single year for the past 7 or 8 years. I’ve used Mixbook for years and love them.
• Flights
• National or state parks pass
• Food tour or DIY food crawl – one of my favorite experience gifts for dad that he can do with the whole family!
• Digital photo frame of the grandkids
  • We did this a couple years ago but got them a Google Home with a screen to display our Google Photos
• DoorDash gift card

Whether you give experience gift cards or print out a voucher for fun experience gifts for kids, I hope these are helpful in focusing on connection and time together without accumulating too much stuff!

IF YOU LIKED THIS POST ABOUT EXPERIENCE GIFTS FOR FAMILIES, YOU MIGHT LIKE THESE POSTS TOO:

• STEM Gifts for Kids
• 100+ Consumable Gifts for Kids
• Birthday Gifts for Our 3-Year Old Boy

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