How to Give Intangible Gifts

Maybe you've heard about the idea of giving experiences instead of things, but you just don't think your children will buy into the idea. Maybe you'd love to do it but have trouble coming up with concrete ideas. If you're looking for "last-minute gift ideas" you don't have to fall victim to all the retailers scrambling to get you to buy more stuff to clutter up your house (and your life)- here are my suggestions for giving intangible gifts that everyone will be excited to give and receive!

There's a lot of gift-giving happening in my life right now. My family celebrates Christmas, and my twin daughters have their birthday the beginning of January. It's a lot to think about all at once! But luckily it's also the time of year when I'm most anxious to purge my house of all the clutter, which means for the last several years I've been focused on making sure I don't add to the clutter by giving my kids a bunch of toys.

I think the key to helping kids get excited about an intangible gift the same way they would about a shiny new toy is 1) making sure they still have something to unwrap, even if it's just a piece of paper that has a note about the gift, and 2) giving them time to adjust to the idea. I wouldn't worry if they are clearly a little disappointed with an intangible gift initially- I find once they actually have a chance to experience those gifts they realize how fun it is!

Another way to help children get used to the idea of giving experiences over things is to suggest that they give intangible gifts themselves! Here is a post I wrote on how I do this with my young children. I find it's perfect because the children can actually give it themselves rather than having to have someone else pay for it because they don't have their own money.

With all of that said, there are so many great ways to give intangible gifts- click each post below to read specific ideas that have been favorites in my family:

I hope this gives you some ideas that will make your next gift-giving opportunity more meaningful! If you have stories of how you've given intangible gifts (to kids or adults!) we'd love to hear them in the comments :)