Consider Experiential Gifts if You Want to Connect

Published on November 29, 2019

This year, give the gift of experience.

This year, give experiential gifts.

Have you ever received a gift that meant so much to you it changed your life? Now, I’m not going to claim a good coffee mug or an especially soft pair of socks can’t change your life, but there’s something special about the gift of experience. Experiential gifts can help you connect.

Experiences give you something material goods cannot: memories. They also give you a whole lot more than just that, including a clutter-free house, a truly dynamic emotional experience, and a sense of connection with the person who gifted you the experiential gift. Let’s dig into the benefits.

A Clutter-Free Life

Minimalism is in and you already have enough. Don’t believe me? Open one of your cabinets. Just one. Do you really need your 37th coffee mug? How many socks can one person have? Sure, technology companies are almost rabid with their updates and new releases but is your life going to change drastically with a slightly more souped-up handheld device?

We don’t need more stuff.

When you give somebody the gift of experience, they can’t throw it onto the ever-growing pile of material things in their house. They get to live it.

When you receive an experiential gift there’s less for you to clean, to organize, or to see when you’re just trying to sit down on your couch and read a good book or watch a holiday movie. You don’t need that grotesque Santa statue taunting you from the dresser when you’re trying to read about bees. No thanks, Great Aunt Beatrice.

While it won’t take up space in somebody’s home, an experiential gift will take up space in their hearts.

Emotional Value

Most people love to receive gifts, especially if it’s something thoughtful or something they truly want. It can be a wonderful feeling, knowing somebody took the time and effort to spend their hard-earned cash on you.

Especially if it’s a sentimental gift, like a dolphin necklace for the dolphin lover in your life or a mustache waxing kit for your father who has never been without his ‘stache as long as you’ve been alive.

There’s still an emotional benefit to material gifts, but when you gift somebody an experience, the magnitude of the emotions they feel is typically greater.

Think about it: your loved one knows you love horses and arranges for you to go to a horse sanctuary for the day. The happiness you feel watching and interacting with your beloved majestic equines will be far more profound than reading a book about horses.

Of course, a book about horses isn’t a one-time thing and can live on in your bookshelf for the rest of your days, always accessible when you are jonesing to read about horses. However, the happy memory of your horse adventure lives on inside you forever.

Social Connection

Since science is beautiful and there are studies out there about everything under the sun, a couple of lady scientists recently looked into our feelings about material gifts versus experiential gifts.

They used three different study models to examine the impact of these two types of gifts and they found giving experiential gifts can strengthen relationships between the giver and the recipient.

Giving somebody an experiential gift adds another layer of I love you. You didn’t just know what they like, you know how they live. You gave them the cooking class, the ski lesson, the tickets to the Broadway show. Your gift changed the fabric of their everyday life.

That’s impactful!

It’s no wonder people feel warmly towards those who gift them experiences.

Give the Gift of a Beepods Membership

This holiday season, give the gift of experience. Beepods is redesigning their Member’s Area and the new and improved version (coming soon!) is the perfect gift for the bee lover in your life. Here’s what your loved one will find when they “open up” their new membership:

A continually evolving catalog of educational resources that allows them to embrace their love of lifelong learning.
Office Hours with a beekeeper to give them the opportunity to discuss their bee-related questions and concerns in real-time with a real person.
A private Facebook group, just for members where they can connect with other beekeepers and bee enthusiasts to share their trials, tribulations, and bee successes.
A mentorship program so they can get one-on-one support from a more experienced beekeeper who has been in their shoes before or if they are an experienced beekeeper, the ability to nurture a love for bees in a new-bee.
Premium discounts on bee products so exploring their love of bees is easier than ever.
Hive Management Software to provide an easily accessible way to monitor the comings and goings of their bees.
Different levels of membership to make their bee experience customizable.

Bottom line: one of the best ways to connect with your loved ones and give them the gifts they really want this holiday season is to give them the gift of experience.

Happy shopping!

Caitlin Knudsen

Caitlin Knudsen is a content writer for Beepods with a passion for lifelong learning and psychology. She is an avid gardener, grower of houseplants, and does recipe development and food photography in her spare time.