To gift experiences rather than presents?

[BigFishLittleFishy]

each Christmas I usually get my kids something to wear, something to eat, a craft, a book, a game and then one big present they’ve chosen themselves, but I want to spend the money on experiences instead like going to the theatre, a nice dinner, illuminations, a water park etc over Christmas instead. Has anyone done this rather than gifts to open and enjoy on Xmas day? If so did your kids love it / hate it?

It really does depend on the child, their age, and what it is is. My 12yo, in March, got tickets for the World Cup final (Womans Rugby) in September. A long wait... but she then had the anticipation of England making the final in the build up... then winning. Turned into an even bigger gift than we thought.

A random Musical for a smaller child... they aren't really going to connect it.

It depends on their age and whether they have any interest in these experiences.

Football mad teen nephew would be delighted with Premier League tickets and drama student nephew would love theatre tickets, but imo, for young children the big experiences are much more for the parents than DC. The children are happy just to have time with parents, it doesn't need to be at expensive attractions.

I wouldn’t gift things that should be normal family activities. Nothing beats the excitement of a pile of presents for young children , in fact any age . The only caveat I would make is some gifts / some money in savings .

Is there any chance you could do a bit of both? I love doing trips and experiences over the Christmas period with my teens (probably a hangover from when we used to go to the panto and see Santa etc on December weekends when they were young) but this is separate to their gifts. This month we’ve been to a comedy club, ice skating, an outdoor spa and we’re going to a musical this weekend as a family so nothing particularly Christmassy but still quality time together.

It depends on their age I think, an experience gift some time in the future is a bit abstract to really register for a young child and they’d rather have something for the then and now.

Yes, we did this and asked grandparents for vouchers for things rather than "stuff". Kids were aged 7 plus at the time. They did one of those high ropes Go Ape type courses, pottery painting, the oldest went for a posh afternoon tea with her best friend when she was about 13, they got cinema vouchers, and also when they got a bit older things like escape rooms.

We always gift experiences- but they get presents alongside it. Kids like having things to open and it’s so anticlimactic to wake up on Christmas morning to nothing under the tree.
This years experience gifts are Disney on Ice tickets for the little ones and concert tickets for my older ones. We also have a group gift which is a trip to Disneyland Paris in January. They will still get a Santa sack of gifts on Christmas Day.

Could you stretch to still getting them stuff and do the wear/read/want/need thing?

If there’s other things to open and the experience is something they’ll be excited about then yes.

I was gifted £x for an afternoon tea experience at a hotel chain. The £x would have covered the cost of MY afternoon tea but I didn’t fancy sitting there alone so had to fork out the same amount to bring my mum. It was a VERY random hotel chain too that didn’t have anything in London so we had to get a train and then a taxi that cost £££. It was a super chintzy hotel full of pensioners having 2 4 1 fish n chips and the afternoon tea was literally the food and tea in a conservatory attached to the bar. No champagne. When I said I’d pay extra for a glass I was treated like a meth addict and a single glass of Prosecco was produced after about 20 minutes and much fanfare and whispered conversations between staff.
That ‘gift’ was basically a summons to spend several hundred £s to eat crap cake and sandwiches in someone’s grans drawing room.

I disagree. Most of the kids I know that went to Disneyland under 8 don’t remember much about it. My kids hardly remember all the ‘experiences’ we orchestrated. What stays with them is the excitement of coming down on Christmas morning to see proper presents of things kids actually want.

Don't do it op.

For me personally, when DC were young, experiences were just something I did as a parent, not a gift in itself. I wasn't particularly well off but a day out was something aside from gifts. So it's not something I would have done. I think they would have been disappointed if I had but then they only ever got gifts from me. Maybe if you have lots of family also buying gifts, it would be ok.

I won't gift experiences any more as both my father and my eldest son have not used the vouchers so it was wasted money. Somehow in my brain, giving them an actual thing that they may or may not use is totally different to gifting them an experience that they don't then use
Its such a minefield though - what you think may be awesome turns into a nightmare of planning for the receiver as they have to factor in (maybe) childcare, dogcare, transport, food and drink etc etc.

Thanks so much everyone! Yes, mine are older, pre teen and teen and trying to add some variety and try something new as they’re getting older. It’s a good point not to gift something we’d do anyway as a family and I’ll definitely figure out something they’d want to do, rather than why I’d like and save the nice meal out for me and my husband!