Christmas shopping can be a stressful, last-minute experience where you throw money at gifts you’re not sure your family and friends will like… Or it can be a fun, creative process where you look for new, exciting gifts to thrill and delight your lucky loved ones. If you’re trying to think of one or two interesting Christmas gift ideas, we’d like to make a case for why sailing experience vouchers can make for excellent gifts! Be sure to check out our Christmas Sailing Gift Vouchers for the ideal gift this year!
Why Buy an Experience Instead of a Physical Gift?
First off, we’d like to make a case for why experiences can make better gifts than physical objects. There has been an upward trend in recent years of people buying experiences as gifts for Christmas. There are lots of good reasons for this, and we hope you’ll be convinced by a few of these…
1. Experiences are better value for money
A study in the Journal of Positive Psychology back in 2014 showed that people often assume that physical gifts are better value for money, but that they almost never are when you measure the happiness or satisfaction levels.
2. Experiences encourage people to be sociable
A sailing experience makes for a great Christmas gift!
Unless you buy someone a spa trip for one, they’ll almost certainly share the experience with someone. An experience shared will always be more enjoyable and more memorable as the memories can be recalled together. Talking about an experience you shared with someone is the best way to consolidate a memory.
3. Create great memories that last years
A physical gift may last longer than the day- or week-long experience gift you get someone, but it will be forgotten about over time in a way that a truly great experience never will! Give your loved one an unforgettable experience and they’ll remember it for the rest of their life.
4. An experience will stand out against other physical gifts
Another great reason to choose an experience gift over a material gift is that it will stand out from the other gifts. Even though experience gifts are getting more popular, they are still nowhere near as popular as material gifts. This means that your experience gift will seem more unique than the other gifts, offering your loved one something they probably didn’t expect.
5. With an experience gift, you’re also giving someone anticipation
A huge part of giving gifts is the excitement of opening a present and discovering what it is. With experiences, the excitement carries on as they look forward to the experience in the future. Sure, they can’t use the present as soon as they receive it, but their anticipation can build for months and months as they get more excited about their up-coming experience!
Why is a Sailing Experience a Great Gift?
Hopefully, we’ve convinced a few of you that an experience can be a better gift than a physical object. Now we’d like to explain why a sailing experience can be a great gift! Remember that you aren’t just buying someone a trip on a boat; you’re buying them a sailing experience where they are involved in the movement and journey of the yacht. This element of participation transforms the gift from simply a pleasant trip into a personal adventure that can be as active or relaxing as you choose. The reasons why sailing experiences make good gifts completely depend on the person you’re buying the gift for…
Buying a Sailing Experience for Someone Who Used to Sail
If you buy a voucher for one of our yacht charters for someone who used to sail when they were younger, you’re helping them reconnect with their youth, encouraging them to renew their old skills and tap into their childhood or teenage years. Lots of people sail when they’re at school or at university, then their busy work life gets in the way. Buying someone like this a sailing experience encourages them to take a trip down memory lane.
Buying a Sailing Experience for Someone Who Has Never Sailed
Flamingo Yachts have a wide range of vessels for the perfect Christmas gift experience!
If you’re buying a sailing experience for someone who has never sailed before, you are giving them a push to try an incredibly freeing, immersive experience, unlike anything else. There’s something amazing about your first sailing adventure — and this goes double for anything on the West Coast of Scotland (where our fleet of yachts is based).
Buying a Sailing Experience for Someone Who Needs a Break
Perhaps the best person to buy a sailing experience for is anyone who is stressed with work, life, or other commitments. Buying a sailing experience or a voucher towards the end price encourages someone to actively decide to get away from their busy life and get out into nature and the elements. Sailing is a pretty challenging activity, so you have no time to check your emails or worry about anything else. There’s something wonderful about sailing that forces you to be mindful and live in the moment; all of this makes it the perfect way to de-stress.
Buying a Sailing Experience for Your Family
Another great way to make the most of a sailing experience gift is to get it for your family. Sailing can make for a brilliant family holiday as it forces your family to work together and bond unlike any other activity. Children love to participate in activities with their parents, to be part of the group and to take on new responsibilities and learn new skills. A sailing holiday is sure to provide the whole family with memories they can cherish for the rest of their lives. If you’d like to figure out where you’d like to go with your family, you can check out our other blogs for some inspiration.
A Note About the Expense of a Sailing Gift Voucher
By its very nature, yacht charter, along with hiring a skipper (should you need one), is never really cheap. This means that buying someone an entire yacht charter gift experience might be way above your Christmas budget. Don’t fret, however, as you can simply buy them a voucher that they can subtract from the overall cost of chartering a yacht. This way, you make booking a sailing holiday much more affordable for them and you’re giving them a friendly push towards booking a trip you know they’ll enjoy!
We hope this blog has convinced most readers that experiences make for incredible gifts and that sailing holidays are particularly special experiences for a number of reasons. And if you have any questions for Flamingo Yacht Charters about our Christmas Sailing Gift Vouchers, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can also opt for other kinds of experiences as gifts: whisky tastings, spa days, rock climbing, cooking masterclasses, and so much more. Don’t just give the standard Christmas gifts this year; give people experiences instead!