Experience Gift Ideas To Give Right Now

A few years ago my husband was looking for experience gift ideas for me and came up with a great one–a kit to test our dog’s DNA. Of the four dogs we’ve owned, all have been rescues. So even though we had veterinary records about their background, we never really knew what kind of dog they really were. That is, until we tested their DNA. He got me the Wisdom Panel dog DNA kit, and it was an awesome gift!

Here is my complete review of the Wisdom Panel Dog DNA test kit.

That experience gift may not have given me something to put on a shelf or display when friends came over, but it gave me something I could talk about forever. It was an experience. A memory. It was priceless.

How to come up with experience gift ideas

Since then our family has focused on coming up with experience gift ideas. One year it was spa gift cards. Another year it was six months of food delivery. Hey, when you eat your gifts, you don’t have to worry about having stuff left behind. And cooking together is an experience unto itself.

We’re always brainstorming ways to come up with new experience ideas we can enjoy. We do this for the holidays but also at different gift giving times during the year.

One year our experience gift is to take everyone to a Broadway show on Christmas Day. Who knows what experience gift ideas we’ll come up with for the next year?

If you’re looking to buy presents for someone who doesn’t need any more “stuff,” I can help. I’ve put together experience gift ideas that you can easily buy online and have delivered to the gift recipient. Or you can buy it online, have it delivered to you, and then you can surprise that special someone with that gift.

Experience gift ideas: DNA testing kits

Here’s why you’ll want to consider giving this experiential gift, one of my favorites to give and receive. I was so excited when I received an AncestryDNA kit.

While I know a bit about my family’s history, I couldn’t wait to find out if there was more to my ancestry that I thought. The answer is “Yes” but more about that in a minute.

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Completing your AncestryDNA kit is super easy. First things first, you need to log onto Ancestry.com and register your kit. Then you need to, basically, spit into a little tube so you can send your saliva off for analysis. Shipping to do that is free.

Getting your DNA results

It takes a few weeks to get your results back, which appear on your Ancestry page. I was super surprised to find out that I’m 30 percent Irish.

My husband, who is only a second generation Italian American, was surprised by his results as well. While mostly Italian, he had a big swath of Irish as well. This will make for quite the conversation at our next holiday gathering. Also, it was fun seeing how our daughters’ ancestry matched up to our own.

DNA kits make great experience gifts

As I mentioned above, another DNA-related experience gift to give is Wisdom Panel doggie DNA test. I feel confident that anyone who has a rescued a dog who love this as a gift.

There are, of course, other DNA kits to consider. I’ve highlighted a few, below, available on Amazon.

Experience gift ideas: online clothing stylist

One of the best experience gifts you can get someone fashion challenge or even someone who loves clothes is the gift of a personal stylist. These days there are tons of options for online personal stylists for men, women and children.

I’ve covered online stylists in a number of blog posts. Here are some my favorite companies.

Favorite online personal styling companies

Dia&Co. In case you’re not familiar with the company, Dia&Co is a body-positive shopping experience for women who wear sizes 14 and up.

Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix can style men, women and children. Fixes come in plus sizes as well as maternity wear. You can always get a Stitch Fix gift card.

Wantable. I love the work from home wear I’ve gotten from Wantable as well as my workout clothing in the Wantable Active Edit. Men can also get clothing from Wantable–just activewear and casual weekend clothing, not anything they can wear to the office.

Experience gift ideas: Meal kit subscription boxes

I tried a lot of meal kit companies in order to write this review on the best meal kit delivery services. So, I know first hand what a great experience gift it can be to give someone the gift of a meal kit.

For a long time, there was only HelloFresh meal kits and Blue Apron. Now, there are so many more options for meal kits. I’ve rounded up a few, below.

Here is my review of Green Chef.

Final thoughts on experience gift ideas

In conclusion, here’s what I love about experience gifts. They aren’t just limited to Christmas and Chanukah or the holidays season.

You can give these kinds of gifts for an anniversary, a birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or even a high school or college graduation.

Here is my post about experience gifts for Mother’s Day. 

Also, here is a post on what dads really want for Father’s Day.

Frankly, you can give an experience gift for any other celebration that occurs during the year. So while this post is first appearing in December, it really is relevant all year long.