Have you ever requested "experience" gifts from family? Were they receptive? Grandparents have asked us for Chrismas lists, and there's a music class & a museum membership that I would LOVE for LO.
I wonder if you've experienced grandparents being open to this, or if they really just want to send tangible goods.
I'm asking for airline points and Chipotle gift cards for myself. 
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
I know a lot are....but my inlaws prefer to gift physical things. 
My mom always gives us cash that I should use towards memberships! I think for Christmas I will do that!
pomegranate / 3595 posts
My parents have gifted us our zoo membership the last three years. We always make a point to tell them when we go and thank them and now they know we use it, they are happy to keep giving it to us!
I don't know if you have relatives who send monetary gifts but I have used those for activities. Like my grandma sent us money for Christmas and we earmarked it for soccer classes. I told her in the thank you note and she seemed happy.
pear / 1610 posts
Ours are very receptive to experience gifts! I'm so grateful! One thing they did was gift a day together where they took each grandkid and did something special with them on that day.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
@creativemomma15: Awww I love love that. My ILs make a point to do that when the out of town granddaughters are visiting. But it's so odd that 1) they've never done that with my oldest. 2) they don't think to include her. She's only in daycare. We'll gladly pull her so she can spend a day with her cousins.
coconut / 8430 posts
@littlejoy: rather than airline points (typically they are sold at 2-4c per point and redeemed for 1-2c per point), airline gift cards are probably less restrictive, though check what the expiration dates are on those and whether or not you can use more than one per reservation.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
I think our grandparents are receptive for experience gifts if it's something they can be involved with. When we visit my mom she usually pays for us to visit the zoo
nectarine / 2797 posts
My MIL gave us a children's museum membership this year which was amazing! I'm hoping she does the same this year.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
As long as it's in their budget, my parents are happy to give us anything we think LO would enjoy most.
pear / 1610 posts
@regberadaisy: It is really sweet & DS still talks about his day. It's fun too because usually afterwards MIL makes a simple photo book with pictures from the day and the kids love having that to look back on the day. I'm sorry you're ILs haven't included your DD! Hopefully something clicks and they welcome her into it too!
apricot / 370 posts
These are my favorite kind of gifts! My MIL has gifted us a membership to the local children's museum the last two years, and we have received money for classes from my parents. FIL and step-MIL prefer to give things, which is sometimes a pain because I'm trying to CUT DOWN on things, not get more!
honeydew / 7504 posts
We asked my ILs to pay for D's swimming lessons last year. They happily obliged. We'll probably do the same this year. Or we'll ask for annual passes for our local amusement park, which I'm sure they'd do - Hubs's grandparents did that for all the kids when they were growing up, so I'm sure they'd see it as carrying on family tradition.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
My mum and IL's never ask us about gifts, they just buy. My dad always asks though and bought an aquarium membership once. It was great, we used it a ton!
pomegranate / 3411 posts
my mom is the only one who would spend as much as a membership costs but she also seems to love finding things to buy. But i like this idea so if she does ask us, i will suggest contributing towards a renewal of our science centre membership.
grapefruit / 4903 posts
I have suggested it each year, but they really seem to prefer physical gifts for the kids. They'll take suggestions for experiences for us though.
pomegranate / 3791 posts
My parents like to, but will also gift something small they can actually watch them open.
My ILs never ask what the kids want and do their shopping so early I can't make suggestions without sounding presumptuous. This leads to lots of gifts the kids already have/we don't have space for/etc. I wish they'd do experience gifts!
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
I asked for gymnastics classes for E but they want to give a tangible gift. Or rather, many tangible gifts.
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
Infants I think we could get away with it more, however my in laws prefer a gift they can watch them open. It's tough when we don't need anything and they like to do a "big" gift for both birthday and Christmas. I'm hoping to have our in laws renew our children's museum membership for DD2, she will only be a 8 months old. We plan on renewing the zoo membership as her birthday gift next March as her gift. I much prefer these kinds of gifts, but it is hard when they get such joy out of watching them open a toy.
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