Give the Gift of Experiences this Christmas

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Christmas always feels really chaotic for me; everyone is so frantic and stressed, there is a huge focus of consumption and so much pressure for everything to be perfect on the big day itself. In the past, I have always went above and beyond to think up amazing gifts for my friends and family, and nothing really lived up to my expectations. In turn, I always felt like once the wrapping was ripped from my gifts, I felt disappointment, like I just had all possibilities taken from me.

Now I recognise that I was just being a bit materialistic and putting too much emphasis on the gift element to Christmas, and I’ve been working hard on letting go. This year I’ve made a real point of telling people that I didn’t want presents, and if they insist of buying something, I’d rather have a gift of the experience of something, like a meal together or a day out. I’ve also been buying people vouchers as gifts for something I feel they’d get value from, rather than a traditional gift.

At home, I’ve been thinking about homemade vouchers for Mr M. Mr M is not a materialistic sort anyway, and the one thing he really hates is doing chores, so I thought he would benefit more from a day to rest and relax while I picked those up instead. When I suggested this as a gift, he was really excited. I suppose as you get older and with working full time, you start to really appreciate the little things like a lie in and a day to do nothing.

I had a think and came up with a few other suggestions; a night in with his friends to watch a World Cup match where I organise dinner, drinks and the clean up and then stay out of the way, his favourite dinner (a three-course meal of chicken wings, steak and chips and pavlova) and the clean up, watching all the Rocky films back-to-back for a day, and a trip to the Planetarium, which we’ve meant to do for years now.

For me, I’ve suggested he recreate the breakfast buffet at the hotel we stayed in in Marbella (it was a whole array of fruit, eggs, charcuterie, bread and cheese), an evening where we catch the sunset on the beach and he drives there and back (so I can have a wee glass of wine or two), and a Saturday where he does all of my chores (my busiest day) so I can relax.

Life can get so busy that I wish we would do these things without having to give each other ‘vouchers’ for them, but without planning, we would go to work, come home, do all of the urgent things, sleep and repeat, so I think these voucher ideas are great.

I’d love to know what you’re getting for your partner for Christmas below or on Instagram, so hit me up! Have a lovely Christmas everyone 🙂