Unusual, Intelligent, Creative Gifts

So Thanksgiving and Black Friday are gone and you are still looking for some cool gifts? Not "a gift, any gift" but a really, really, cool and unique gift? Maybe you should refocus your attention and instead of looking for an object you should start thinking about an experience.

Yeah, that's right, an experience. Each time I can that is what I "buy" for my loved ones mostly because things come and go, they aged, they get lost or they break down. Experiences are memories and as such they stay with you literally forever.

Until some years ago though, being able to give an experience as a gift wasn't easy. There was the research part (depending if the other one loves cars, food or traveling you needed to do a lot of research) and then availability. Not just the availability of the gift but also the availability of the one receiving it: can s/he travel on these dates? Would s/he be able to attend this event?

Good news are that things have changed (bless the internet!) and now giving the gift of a unique experience is way more easy. I know it for a fact when a couple of years ago I discovered Xperience Days...

They have a whole spectrum of experiences available and it was through them that my husband (a.k.a. Speedracer) got as a present a training day to drive a Formula 2000 car. Ok, I acknowledge that this particular present may not be in the price range you may be looking for -considering the times being-, but XperienceDays has been growing steadily and now you can find a good number of "experiences" for under $100.

Let me tell you some of the benefits of the service... To start with, you can get a lot of ideas just by browsing their "catalog". Most important so, the price is the same if you buy the present through them or directly at the provider (I know that for a fact, I checked) but through them you have a big advantage: if you want to change the Military Flight Simulator for a Pirate Dinner Cruise or a class on Exotic Dancing, it is pretty easy, so your chances of getting it "right" increase exponentially.

Last but not least there are two more advantages that other gifts do not have: the fact that you may have fun too (some experiences are designed for two people but even in some that are not, like the F2000, you can attend as a spectator as I did and enjoy it from the side); the other one being that you just need to search, point, click... and you have a very unique gift in its way!

These are some pictures of "our" racing day. First, Glenn getting ready for his second lap:

And here, "hippie me" having fun from the side:


There are driving experiences, spa experiences, cooking and golf classes, graduation gifts, engagement gifts and some very unusual things like the "Art of Exotic Dance".

Now I do have to warn you about the one big disadvantage that this kind of gifts may have. Chances are that the one receiving it will be talking about it for the rest of her/his life. So, if you live with them, be prepared to hear from now to eternity about the event!

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