Leave the guesswork behind and gift an experience instead.
This holiday season is a chance to gift an experience they will remember. Gifting an experience can be a low-cost, high-impact alternative to a box with a bow.
“I’ve always been one to be in love with experience,” said Thomas Gofton, the owner of The Round Table and other experience-based Guelph venues. “To me the best present was presence, someone being there doing things.”
Gifting experiential activities is also a great way to help support the local economy. New experiences are regularly becoming available in downtown Guelph and this is a trend across Ontario.
“We see the changing nature of historic downtown shopping areas across Ontario,” said Marty Williams, Executive Director of the Downtown Guelph Business Association. “In the face of an onslaught of online shopping the things that hold well are the experiential things.”
With the swell of digital communication taking over daily life experience destinations provide an opportunity to connect face to face and create memories.
“Younger generations tend to value experiences more than material things,” said Sourov De, Managing Partner at Stryve Digital Marketing
“We are sitting at two ends of the spectrum where you are getting digital experience, a lot of it, but then you still have that human aspect [or] piece of ourselves that wants to connect with other people,” said De. “That’s why I think the experience aspect of gifting is important and it’s [at] the other end of the spectrum.
De also instructed in the post-graduate, Integrated Marketing Communications Program at Conestoga College. “People value experiences … you can get things done digitally but people still have that craving for human interaction.”
Experiences can also be free or low-cost: slap a bow on two crazy-carpets, pack a hot drink and call it date night, grab your skates and head to Market Square to get that movie moment, or make time to finally put up those Christmas lights for you mom.
Said Gofton: “I think people are interested in giving experiences because traditional gifts are increasingly difficult for people to properly guess what to buy … and an experience creates a memory that you can experience with them, that you can remember and talk about with them down the road.”
Whether it’s axe throwing trip with your Dad, a visit to a cat café with your mom or snowshoeing around the University of Guelph Arboretum, Guelph has a plethora of options for you.
