Give An Experience – Plus a Free Printable!

Learn four easy ways to give an experience for Christmas this year! This is a fun gift and will be remembered and LOVED for years to come. Scroll down for the free printable!

How is it the week before Christmas?! Are you finished with your Christmas shopping yet? We are busy writing a list of the things we want to do next week while my husband is home. Nothing too crazy—we want this to be a vacation—but we also don’t want to look back and wish we had done something. I think I’m going to write, “Take Pictures” on that list since we tend to forget that one (ironic, since we both love taking pictures!)

If you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping yet and are looking for a frugal and meaningful gift idea, give an experience instead of a traditional gift. Yes, the idea of giving an experience can be rather costly (i.e. tickets to a ballet or a hot air balloon ride) but there are many experiences that you can create that are free (or very frugal) that your family and friends would love. Here are four ideas to get you started:

How to Give an Experience

1.  Give the gift of time to your spouse, friend, or child.

Is there something your kid loves to do but you never have the time? This is your chance to block out an afternoon and give it to them as a gift. Do you really like going to coffee with your friend but you just keep on forgetting to ask her? Get it on the calendar and make a batch of cookies to give to her when you meet.

More creative Christmas experiences are making hot chocolate, putting it into portable mugs, and driving around to look at Christmas lights . . . camping out under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve . . . Making each person’s favorite meal for each day of Christmas week . . . Get creative!

2. Gift a Templeton Holiday.

We used to celebrate Templeton Holidays at my aunt’s house, and they were always a big hit. Templeton is the rat from the book, Charlotte’s Web, and in short, a Templeton Holiday is a day where the kids get to eat treats all day. I know, as an adult, it probably sounds terrible, but it was like winning the lottery to eat ice cream for breakfast. So simple, but your kids will love it.

If you don’t have kids, spoiling the person you love with treats (or whatever is special to them) would be just as fun! (And P.S., as the parent, you can define your Templeton Holiday any way you want just in case the idea of sugar loaded children scares you as much as it does me. :))

3. Make something together.

I love getting together with friends to make things. It gives us a chance to catch up and work on our projects. You could host a creative retreat at your home and make a super simple treat for your guests. This would also be really fun to do as a family. (We love to work on our happy journals together! :))

I also created a post of how to create a personal retreat for your friend — it will give her the tools she needs to create her own retreat! LOVE this one.

4. Be a tourist in your town.

This was one of my favorite things to do when I lived in L.A. I had determined when I moved there that I would enjoy that city, and oh, I had so much fun! You don’t have to live in a big city to be a tourist, though. Visit the places you usually only go to when you have company. Take pictures. Research if there are any free activities you can do together. Our local library gives free day passes to some of the popular tourist attractions in town. It’s a great way to experience the city on a budget. (Here are some more ideas for being a tourist in your town!)

Giving an experience can be really meaningful because you’ve taken the time to think through the gift rather than quickly buying something. To make your giving just a little bit more fun, I created a free printable for you.

Just click here to go to my shop and download it!

I recommend using card stock for printing but you can print the coupons on regular printer paper as well. Note that I provided both black & white and color versions just in case you don’t have a color printer or would rather color them yourself.

Have a lovely {and creative} day!