Generally thought of as a gift for adults, an experience gift provides a great chance for nippers to fuel their imaginations or burn off some excess energy. In fact, there are experience gift ideas for even the youngest of children to enjoy, including things you can do as a family or in pairs, so you can enjoy some quality one-on-one time.
Treetop assault course
Swing through the trees and whizz down the zip wires at one of Go Ape’s courses. As long as your little ones are more than a metre tall they can use the Mini Tarzans course, with higher and more daring challenges for over 10s and over 16s. And because Go Ape sites are set within beautiful forests, you can take the whole family for a day of monkeying around.
We’re in the Army now
Dads and lads, mums and daughters or even brothers and sisters (if they’re over 16) will enjoy a tank driving gift experience – and it’s a fun bonding exercise too. While you drive the tank, your child (8 or over) will man the turret, with the chance to be a gunner on the paintball range. Great for mini army enthusiasts, entry to the military museum and collection is also included in the price.
Photo credit to Virgin Experience Days
Family day out
You and your kids will have a magical time at Warner Bros. Studio Tours’ Harry Potter Experience. You can step inside the world famous film sets including The Great Hall and Platform 9 ¾, try some Butterbeer (or Butterbeer flavour ice cream), be captured on film riding a broomstick and learn about props, costumes and special effects. If you’re buying this as a Christmas gift, you can visit the Hogwarts in the Snow festive scenes until 31 January 2016.
Action time
Mum: What do you want for Christmas, Jimmy? Jimmy: I want to fly like a bird. Mum: OK, we’ll see what we can do.
Cue indoor skydiving. Suitable for over 4s, little Jimmy can float in a wind tunnel with no planes in sight. If they prefer to be closer to the ground, zorbing is big right now. For those that don’t know, zorbing is where you get strapped into a giant inflatable bubble and rolled at speed. It’s a real adrenaline rush! Younger children can try hydro zorbing, which has a slower pace and allows them to stay on their feet inside the zorb.
Fuel their hobbies
For vets or zoo keepers in the making, choose an animal experience where they can feed or look after their favourite creature, be it pandas or lizards. If horses are their thing then try a horse-riding gift experience or cowboy adventure day. Budding detectives will love this kids’ spy camp where they can learn survival skills, how to use surveillance equipment and crack codes.
Photo credit to Spy Games Experiences