Toronto Star

The gift-giving process is changing

Many of us would prefer receiving ‘experience­s’ because they foster closer connection­s

- ANDREA YU SPECIAL TO THE STAR

“People like to buy kids stuff.”

That’s one thing Krista Beehler noticed when she had her first child in 2014. She was overwhelme­d by the amount of pretty presents that arrived after her daughter, Zinnia, was born.

An excessive amount of gifts piled up in her home in the Dufferin St. and Eglinton Ave. area. The experience was repeated when her second child, Ash, was born last year.

Come Christmas, Krista and Shane Beehler are inundated with physical presents. They travel between Kingston and Niagara to celebrate the holidays with their families and need to “drop off a load in Toronto on the way to Niagara to pick up more gifts.”

So, to turn the tides, the Beehlers now make a conscious effort to request experience gifts for the family when asked, and they give experience­s, too. The Beehlers are not alone in this move away from the traditiona­l wrapped boxes under the Christmas tree to the giving of an experience. It’s part of a growing trend. A Deloitte survey from the 2017 holiday shopping season showed that, on average, consumers spent $480 on experience gifts and $430 on material gifts.

Excessiven­ess may not be the only reason for this change. A 2014 study by Cindy Chan, an assistant professor of marketing at the Rotman School of Management, found that compared to material gifts, experience gifts foster a closer connection between the giver and receiver, even if that experience isn’t had together.

For birthdays and holidays, Krista has bought her parents experience­s, such

as the CN Tower Edgewalk and, most recently, an evening of axe throwing.

“They had a really good time and sent me videos of them doing it,” she says. “I think that opened their eyes to the value of experience gifts.”

Not only was the experience gift more meaningful, Krista appreciate­d the added element of convenienc­e. Her parents live in Niagara. “I didn’t have to ship anything to them or buy something, wrap it with wasteful products and deliver it. It’s something that I could do in two seconds and it just showed up in their inbox.”

However, if your recipients enjoy the thrill of unwrapping, and you want your experience gift to arrive with more fanfare than a single click, a Torontobas­ed start-up will personaliz­e the process.

UnWrapIt “wraps” experience gifts using challenges sent by email to the giver (to unveil in person) or recipient. These can vary from multiple-choice questions to games to photos and even scavenger hunts that use geolocatio­n with Google API and require the recipient to visit certain destinatio­ns before discoverin­g what the present is. “We had someone from Sioux Lookout build a scavenger hunt for a family member in Newfoundla­nd. It had him going around St. John’s to eventually reveal what the gift was: dinner at his favourite restaurant,” says UnWrapIt founder Peter Deitz.

These unwrapping experience­s cost $3 per “wrap” or $5 for a month of unlimited “wraps.” Deitz aims to “facilitate” giving one million gifts through his platform this holiday season. While developing UnWrapIt, Deitz did market research to find out what makes gift-giving stressful.

“A lot of people reported anxiety about picking out the right kind of gift,” he says. Other stressful factors included the actual wrapping of the gift and, if ordered by mail, worrying if the gift would arrive on time — a pressing concern this year given Canada Post’s cancellati­on of its holiday delivery guarantees.

The flexibilit­y of experience gifts can minimize that stress. By gifting dinner at a restaurant of the recipient’s choice, instead of a meal at a specific location, “They won’t worry about whether they picked out the right restaurant,” Deitz says.

Like Beehler, Deitz likes the ease of giving experience gifts, especially for family members who don’t live close by.

“Last Dec. 24, I was up late using UnWrapIt to wrap gifts for my brother in Seattle and my mom and fiancée, who opened their gifts the next morning,” he says.

If you plan to choose the gift of an experience, Beehler found it best to let the recipient’s interests and lifestyle be the guide. Find out what their favourite foods are and gift a restaurant meal. If they mentioned taking singing lessons, arrange for lessons. If they like plays or the ballet, gift a pair of tickets. And don’t forget about services. A few hours of babysittin­g or a cleaning service would be valued by tired new parents. Those who need work done around the yard or small home repairs might appreciate a handyman.

This Christmas, Beehler suggested friends and family wanting to give presents to her 4year-old tailor experience­s to her daughter’s hobbies. Zinnia recently became interested in theatre and her grandfathe­r gifted her classes to a local theatre school. And she got an early Christmas present from her grandmothe­r — tickets to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Princess of Wales theatre.

For Krista’s parents, she has a date night experience in mind that gets the empty-nest couple out together, but she is keeping quiet on the details. “If they read the story, that’d be a bust.” Stuck on what experience gift to give? Here are a few ideas:

For infants and children: classes at the Little Gym

For the foodie: cooking class at Dish Cooking Studio

For new families: babysittin­g hours

For retirees: introducti­on to a new hobby, such as lessons for ceramics or woodworkin­g

For the creative: membership to the Art Gallery of Ontario or the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

For the athlete: active experience­s such as bubble soccer, indoor obstacle courses or archery tag

For the stressed-out profession­al: an hour-long massage

“Last Dec. 24, I was up late using UnWrapIt to wrap gifts for my brother in Seattle and my mom and fiancée, who opened their gifts the next morning.” PETER DEITZ FOUNDER, UNWRAPIT

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KRISTA BEEHLER

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