How do I gift a holiday?

[FatmanandKnobbin]

My ds and his gf are in their 20s, have everything the need etc, so for Xmas I want to gift them a few days away in Amsterdam (they both really want to go).

What's the best way to do this? Vouchers limits them to the provider I choose, in fact do holiday companies with vouchers even exist anymore? Cash might get used up on bills and general life stuff, I don't want to book it because this will be their first holiday together and I want them to have all the fun of choosing and planning.

Any ideas?

Discuss it with them and give them a budget and get them to send them a link to what they choose for you to pay for it... if it's as a present and a surprise then create a gift/card related to the place and write a little note in it explaining xx

buy them a guidebook with an "IOU" voucher for a fixed amount towards flight / hotel

It's not just about the cost of the couple of days away though.

It's the cost of getting to the airport, parking, transfers to the hotel, spending money.

A few hundred quid for flights and hotel can easily be doubled with all the boring stuff.

Ask them if they would like a contribution to a bigger holiday they're already planning, or be prepared to fork out over and above the headline cost of flights and hotel, or it's going to be as much of a financial cost to them again.

Great ideas, I'll get a wee guidebook and a card for them with the amount on it.

Thanks 💐

Best research prices now I guess 🤣

I'll take them to the airport and pick them up, and their birthdays are fairly soon after Xmas so I'll gift cash for spending and incidentals, so they shouldn't be too out of pocket.

When I've gifted gig tickets before now I've made sure to include transport, hotel and spending money as well so I'll do the same here.

You can get travel gift cards that can be used at a range of suppliers (can't see the list of the whole range, ie does it include their preferred airline and other accommodation providers than Expedia).

https://www.giftcard.co.uk/gift-cards/inspire-travelcard-gift-card/

I guess that it's effectively a pre-paid debit card, but it's hard to see whether or not there's any annoying downsides.

If you still have a cheque book, you could write them a cheque, put it in a card and write a message about how you want them to use it to go on a trip away.

But I wouldn't limit them to Amsterdam - if they're anything like me, they'll have quite a list of places they want to go and generally, the place that gets booked is the one where the flights available are a good price, right time of day, year etc for when I want to go.

Any type of gift card would be limiting.

I'd suggest you create a bit of a 'voucher' and then just get them to tell you very specific dates and then you go off and book something within your budget

I wouldn't go with a gift card for a travel agency type company. For Amsterdam you don't need to book with an agent - check which airlines fly from your local airport (it'll most likely be Easyjet, Ryanair and KLM as the main options) and then book a hotel separately. Transfer from the airport into the city centre is really easy, there's frequent trains and you just buy a ticket at the station.