Experience Gifts Fix It All

How many times have you found yourself standing in a shop wondering what to buy for a person who has everything? A novelty desk toy, a funny book, something with their name on to make it a little more personal? Often these are gifts that end up being appreciated for a day or two at most before being resigned to a box at the back of a cupboard, one day to emerge at a car boot sale or charity shop. If this sounds familiar, here are some solutions in the form of experience gifts, the new trend for gift giving for those who seem to have it all that we believe is based on a long gone TV classic.

They say that money can't buy love, or happiness, but it can now buy someone the chance to do something they have never done before. There is a huge craze of late for purchasing days out for birthday presents, wedding gifts or corporate days out. These days offer more than paintballing, in fact, they are comparable to the days of Jim'll Fix It, a hit TV series in the UK where children got to live out their dreams.

The programme would feature letters sent in by children desperate to experience flying in a hot air balloon, swimming with dolphins and flying over the Grand Canyon. Some of the requests were of a much more simple nature, such as simply having the chance to kick a ball into the goal at Wembley Stadium. Before experience gifts were available, Jimmy Saville was a young person's only hope of living out these dreams.

What experience gifts have offered is not only a chance for children to experience a day out of their dreams, but have given access for adults to try something new too. Sure there are days that are purely for pampering, which are great for a Mother's Day gift, but they're also once in a lifetime opportunities for children and adults alike to experience an out of the ordinary happening that will remembered for a lifetime.

Rather than seeing experience gifts as solely for the lucky few to spend a day out, they should be viewed as an opportunity for individuals to have a treat of a lifetime, much like the TV show which ran for nearly 29 years from 1975 to 1994. There should even be a special medal offered at the end as a reminder of the day; now that is something that won't end up in a charity shop bargain bucket!