Picture this: it’s Christmas morning, and for the first time, your living room isn’t covered in discarded wrapping paper or a million presents scattered everywhere. Instead, you and your family are sitting in a circle, holding envelopes. Your sister is hugging your dad, stoked to have gotten a card telling her that she’s off on her first ever Contiki trip. Your mum is sitting there with a huge grin on her face as she excitedly reads the menu for the fancy day spa she’s always wanted to visit.
And you? You’re sitting there in disbelief, staring at the Skydive Australia gift voucher in your hands, unable to contain your excitement.
Gift giving is a long-standing Christmas tradition, and nowadays, people are choosing to give the gift of experiences rather than material items. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons why you should give experiences as gifts this Christmas:
Reason 1: Experiences are more memorable
Do you really think your mum remembers that expensive Sandalwood & Ylang Ylang scented candle you bought her for Christmas in 2009? Let’s be honest, it probably burned down after several uses and then in the bin it went.
This is the case for most material gifts – they are easily forgotten, thrown out once it has been used or donated because the recipient didn’t really like it that much. When you give the gift of an experience, however, it is far more memorable. Can you remember any of the physical gifts you received as a child? You’re more likely to remember that special trip to the zoo where the monkey waved at you and you almost choked on your ice cream cone, or the pizza making class where your sister split red sauce on her white dress and wouldn’t stop crying (and you couldn’t stop laughing).
Remember – physical gifts often get thrown out or forgotten, whereas memories from an epic experience will last forever! Why wouldn’t you want to make your gift the one that nobody forgets?
Reason 2: Experiences are unique
How many times have you bought a gift for someone only to find out on Christmas morning that someone else also bought them the exact same gift? Not only is it annoying for one of you to have to return the gift you bought, but then you need to think of something else to get.
Experiences, on the other hand, are totally unique. You’d have to be pretty unlucky to give someone a Skydive Australia voucher for Christmas and then they receive the same thing from someone else. Even if that did happen, chances are the recipient would be absolutely thrilled – getting two copies of a book certainly doesn’t compare to getting two vouchers to jump out of a plane!
Reason 3: Experiences create anticipation
If you give your brother a new pair of board shorts or a hat on Christmas Day, chances are he’ll pop them on straight away. By the end of the silly season, the excitement of the gift has likely worn off and his new clothes quickly become just clothes.
Giving an experience draws out the gift for a longer period, with the initial gift giving and actually using the gift being two separate moments. Anticipation for the experience builds excitement and lasts from the moment the gift is received, to the actual experience itself, and continues with the incredible memories created from it.
Reason 4: Experiences create less waste
If truth be told, many Christmas gifts often end up as clutter, or hidden away in the back of the closet, gathering dust for years to come. This in turn turns us into hoarders because we don’t want to offend anyone by throwing out or donating their gift, and our physical space becomes cluttered with objects we don’t particularly need or want.
In today’s world where excessive consumerism rules, giving the gift of an experience creates far less waste than giving material items. Let’s not forget how much waste is created by the simple act of gift giving, where we spend hours wrapping up presents in fancy paper that is ripped off and discarded within seconds on Christmas morning.
Given that experiences aren’t tangible objects, it is a far more sustainable choice to give them as gifts over material items!
Reason 5: Experiences can be enjoyed together
Are you really going to sit around the Christmas lunch table with your family and try on all the pairs of socks you got in your stocking this year? Probably not.
Will your entire family go with you to the drop zone, watch you jump out of a plane and share in your excitement once you land? Hell yeah!
Experiences can be enjoyed together, by both the gift giver and the recipient. Sharing a memorable experience will make you happier and feel more connected to the person who gave you the experience. It truly makes the entire gift giving and receiving process more personal and meaningful, and the memories will last for many years to come!
So, there you have it – 5 reasons why you should give experiences as gifts this Christmas. Not only can you provide someone with a unique gift that they’ll remember forever, but you’ll also get the chance to see them enjoy it!
If you’re looking for the perfect experience to gift that special person in your life, then this is your lucky day. Use the code ‘XMAS50’ to get $50 off your Skydive Australia 15,000ft skydive gift voucher at checkout, and give someone the ultimate thrill this Christmas!
