Alternative Gift Giving Ideas

Whether you’ve found your child an educational gift that will further learning or a toy that gives back to charity, traditional gift giving can be fun and personal. But giving a gift that doesn’t come in a box or fit under a tree can be just as fulfilling, if not more so. Alternative gift ideas can be a special way to add meaning and magic to your holiday season while helping you avoid crazed crowds and endless piles of wrapping paper.

Trips

A Weekend Away: If your calendar and budget allow for a day trip or an overnight adventure, head to the mountains for some skiing, sledding, or some good old-fashioned snowman assembly.

Playing Tourist: Traverse your city and explore the sites that you’ve taken for granted. Check out museums, monuments, libraries, and gardens.

Tickets

Movie Day: It takes a special occasion to afford a family outing to the movies these days. Why not make it a holiday treat and see one of the family friendly flicks premiering this December?

Concert: Purchase tickets for your kids to see their favorite performer. Even if Taylor Swift, or whomever their favorite artist may be, isn’t visiting your city until later next year, the tickets will be a fun surprise and the excitement will continue to build until the day of the event.

Sporting Event: What is your child’s favorite sports team? Nothing compares to being in the arena/stadium and watching your team dominate (or even suffer a hard-fought loss) in real life.

Educational

Book Signing: Take your kid to a reading or signing by their favorite author. Barnes & Noble’s website and FindBookSignings.com are the perfect resources for tracking down your kids’ literary luminary.

A Learning Program: Help your little one prepare for kindergarten by gifting them Embark for Preschool Learners. The program provides fun and easy-to-use activities, includes core subjects (math, language arts, science, social studies, art and music), and promotes mathematical reasoning, basic literacy, and scientific observation.

Activities and outings are wonderful gifts that become lifelong memories. What are some of your favorite alternative gifts that you have given or received?

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Image Credit – Joe Shlabotnik / CC by 2.0