With Christmas right around the corner everyone is thinking gifts.. What do I buy for little Tommy and Suzy? I might have an excellent solution for you…
For a couple of years now we have talked about giving our children the gift of experiences, the gift of memories. However, how do you give this gift and still please six children of all different ages. I think we have found our solution.
This year we are starting small. We had always made plans about giving the kids a trip to Disney or something for Christmas, but logistics-wise, the ages of the kids just did not work until now.
To make sure that this is something that the kids are going to love, we have decided to break up the experiences. Gear them to the kids. First, we are taking our 4 and 7 year old to Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto. I am excited because the four older children have gone, and the rest of us haven’t. I think this is going to be an amazing time for these two.
We were also able to get tickets to Disney on Ice for the new year, and that is something that our 7 year old will absolutely love! She is a true Disney fan.
Now, our middle two, they are 9 and 11, and are boy and girl.. What is it that we do? I have racked my brain on this for months! I was just going to do the Aquarium with them, but I was told not too, they had been too many times before (this is my 16 year old daughter telling me this). Probably wise, I do think they would enjoy it, but it isn’t quite what I am looking for.
Well, this year we had an adventure park, The Factory, and a trampoline park, The Flying Squirrel, open up in the city close to us. PERFECT! They would both love, love, love The Flying Squirrel! Problem: they both went there to celebrate the end of my son’s football season with his team… bummer. Well, The Factory it is! With it’s high ropes courses, zip lines, virtual reality, trampolines (and more!) these two are going to be ecstatic! I really cannot wait to see their faces when they open up their tickets on Christmas morning! And, well, who am I kidding? I can’t wait to check out the virtual reality and arcade.
Now, that leaves us with the hardest two children in the world to buy for! What can we get for them, as an experience. One wants a trip to Korea, the other wants to go to California! See, it is very hard to try to make everyone happy ha!
Those destinations aren’t on the list this year, maybe another Christmas. But, I think I did find them something absolutely amazing. This past October I had the opportunity to go to the Stratford Festival with both my 11 year old and 13 year old daughters. Absolutely amazing, beautiful, stunning… I just cannot find the right words. I have never been to Stratford to see anything besides their Shakespeare productions (HUGE Shakespeare and live theatre fan). I jumped at the chance to go their school trip to see The Music Man.
While we were waiting for the production to begin, my 13 year old was looking through the program book. In it was a piece of paper announcing a production they are doing next year. As soon as she saw she was jumping up and down for joy! She text a picture of it to her 16 year old sister and asked me if we could go. I knew then what they were getting as their experience for Christmas.
In 2019, as a Christmas gift, I am taking my two oldest daughters to see one of our all time favourite movies, live on stage! The Stratford Festival is putting on a production of The Neverending Story, and let me tell you, we cannot wait to see Falkor live! I will definitely tell you what I thought, after we see it!
The gift of experiences and memories came as an idea because our kids have so much in the way of toys, books, and games. Sure new clothes are always good, especially with how fast they grow, but we wanted to be able to give them a lifetime of memories, instead of toy box full of unused things. Next year, maybe we will expand, I am thinking something a Norwegian Cruise, or a beautiful all-inclusive family resort, but we will see.. This year, I cannot wait to see everyone’s faces when they get to experience their gifts!
Travelling with Nichole 