“Experience over gifts” – a sustainable experience gift guide

Experience gifts don’t gather dust on a shelf. They typically involve less material use, require minimal packaging, and if you choose a local provider, your money stays within the community. Plus, experiences often build connections: between people, and between the place and its visitors.

The key isn’t to have “nothing,” but to choose wisely: local, seasonal, with a trusted provider, and something the recipient will genuinely enjoy.

One of the most tangible dimensions of sustainability is strengthening the local economy. When you give an experience as a gift, the greatest impact comes from choosing a local provider: a local guide, artisan, small producer, café, family winery, or small cultural venue. In such cases, the gift benefits not only the recipient but also helps preserve local jobs, knowledge, and traditions. This is especially important during the winter season, a critical time for many tourism providers to survive.

Choosing “local” is often a choice for quality as well. Small-group activities are more personal, flexible, and often provide deeper experiences than mass-market offerings. As a gift, this matters because the recipient doesn’t just “get a ticket,” but an experience where they are cared for, can ask questions, connect, and truly feel they’ve received something valuable.

Craft workshops work particularly well as experience gifts because they offer knowledge, a sense of achievement, and a personal item – all while focusing on creation rather than consumption. Pottery, basket weaving, felting, making natural cosmetics, printing, or even a short furniture restoration session: all these activities bring participants closer to materials, the value of craftsmanship, and the time it takes to create a quality item.

This type of experience also subtly shapes perspectives. Someone who experiences the effort behind a well-made ceramic or textile item is likely to make more conscious choices later, be less tempted by cheap, disposable goods, and appreciate repair and reuse more. In this way, a craft experience isn’t just an afternoon activity but has a longer-term impact: it’s one of the best “gentle” entry points to sustainability.

Guided walks and small-group tours make excellent sustainable gifts because they are inherently low-resource experiences: they don’t require significant consumption or infrastructure but can still offer high value. A good local guide can present a neighbourhood, cultural district, or natural area in a way that helps participants understand new connections and change their relationship with the place. As a gift, this is powerful because the “story” stays with them – and is often shared with others.

The added sustainability value here lies in reducing strain. Responsible guided programmes can help visitors avoid overcrowded hotspots by suggesting alternative routes, less busy times, and ways to engage with the local community respectfully. When gifting, look for providers who work with small groups and treat the place as more than just a “mass product.”

The most common pitfall of experience gifts is that they end up unused. From a sustainability perspective, this matters too: the greenest gift is the one that actually gets used. That’s why it’s worth planning for flexibility when giving the gift: offer multiple dates, make the redemption process clear, and ideally include an option to reschedule. If you’re giving a voucher, avoid “fine print” and make it simple and user-friendly. An experience becomes a gift when it arrives as an easily achievable joy, not an additional task.

Even the packaging can be stylish without adding clutter. A beautifully designed one-page “invitation,” either digital or on recycled paper, with a personal message, a brief programme description, and a “why I chose this for you” note, can add a surprising amount of value. This way, the gift isn’t just more sustainable but also more intimate: the focus is on attention and meaning, not the size of the box.