Give the Gift of Experience Boxes this Holiday Season

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Do you hear what I hear? Yes, those are indeed jingle bells. It’s too late now…there is nothing we can do to stop it…the peppermint train has arrived and whisked away all traces of pumpkin spice. Now, if you are anything like my husband and feel the need to wait until after Thanksgiving to think about sugar plums, Christmas trees, and candy canes…you should look away now. It’s about to get very festive up in here for the next several weeks. I have a *slight* obsession with all things Christmas…so I am planning all kinds of fun and festive blog posts in the coming weeks!

I LOVE giving gifts…love, love, love it! What I don’t love is giving mindless junk that my kids are just going to lose, break, or never play with! This year I have made a goal to create mindful gifts that will fit in with our homeschool lessons for the spring and summer! To do this, I am going to be creating Experience Boxes!

WHAT IS AN EXPERIENCE BOX?

Last year I remember seeing several people in Instagram-Land talk about giving their kids experience boxes for Christmas gifts. I had never heard of this before! It seems as though everyone creates them differently…so this is just my plan!

An experience box, to me, is a well thought out box of goodies and supplies based around a common theme. These are wonderful if you have a child who has an obsession with a specific topic…it really allows you to focus in on their area of interest and find gifts that are perfect for them. It is also such an awesome gift for a homeschooling family…if you are planning a unit based around a specific theme this is a great way to collect all kinds of awesome learning tools! My plan for our Experience Boxes will probably center around a couple of books…being the book-obsessed Mama that I am it seems fitting! I am planning to add games, art supplies, toys, movies…anything that I can find that I think the kids will love!

SOME EXPERIENCE BOX IDEAS

So, over the course of the next few weeks, I am going to be sharing some ideas with you! I have been brainstorming all kinds of topics that would make awesome experience baskets…so stay tuned for that! Like I mentioned above, the sky is the limit when it comes to these baskets…anything goes! Here are some topics:

• Outer Space (We have an astronomy unit planned for the spring so this is one I am working on for our family!)
• Dinosaurs (This blog post will be released in a couple of days!!)
• Poetry Tea Time (I already have a gorgeous book picked out…and some fun mugs…eeeeek!)
• Greek Mythology
• Geography
• Gardening
• Sports
• Art
• Cooking
• Ancient Egypt
• Bugs
• Science
• Horses
• Harry Potter
• Book Lover (ahem…if ya’ll are looking for any last minute gift ideas for me…)

The list is endless!

WHAT DO I PUT IN AN EXPERIENCE BOX?

Just like the list of topics you could cover, the list of items you could include in your experience box is endless! Like I mentioned above, I am going to center our boxes around books…but that is just me…I am a book nut! Some other items you could include are:

• Movies
• Games
• Toys
• Flashcards
• Manipulatives
• Stickers
• Coloring Books
• Gift Cards to visit a place that correlates with your topic
• Craft supplies
• Art supplies
• Plush toys
• More books (seriously, I can’t stop)
• Magazine Subscription
• Food
• Clothes
• Museum tickets or membership

My plan is to get a really nice storage box or basket to put everything in. I will individually wrap the items so that the kids aren’t done in 30 seconds…I love to make Christmas morning last as long as humanly possible!

Do you have any specific topics you would like to see me cover? Have you ever created an Experience Box for your kids? I am so excited to get started and would love to hear your thoughts!!

To read about my Dino-Rific Experience box click here!