Whether it’s because they already seem to have everything, or because nothing feels quite right, we all have that one person who is impossible to shop for (and it’s our dad, all of us). Nevertheless, here we are — a mere three weeks out from Christmas, scrambling to come up with the perfect gift. Luckily, this year we have an answer for you: experiences, baby.
Who doesn’t love a good experience? Where material gifts are often forgotten once the novelty has worn off, experiences provide connection and, inevitably, stories to share for years to come. They’re gifts of the *heart* rather than the hands, meaning they’re the perfect way for you to show them just how well you know them. Plus, if you’re extra lucky? They might just throw you an invite when it’s time to cash in.
So, all of that said, because we love gifts (giving and receiving) and we love you (kidding), we editors went ahead and compiled a list of experiences that we’d be ecstatic to receive this year or any year. From Broadway shows and cooking classes to spa days and full-blown, T.V. show-themed trips, we think your dad whoever your buying for will be pretty stoked to receive them, too.
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In-Store Cooking Class at Sur La Table
We love Sur La Table for many reasons, especially because their selection of kitchen goods is so robust. But the retailer’s in-store cooking classes, taught by actual trained chefs, are underrated — and also make for the perfect experiential gift this holiday season. Choose from basic training lessons like Knife Skills or French Pastry 101, a date night-focused class like Italian Steakhouse or Winter in Paris, or spring for a seasonal session like Handcrafted Holiday Tamales and Bûche De Noël. — Amanda Gabriele
A Ticket for Passport to Dry Creek Valley
For the wine lover in your life who has more cellaring bottles than they know what to do with, a ticket for Passport to Dry Creek Valley, taking place April 25-27, 2025, is a perfect experiential gift. The Healdsburg, California, event isn’t your average “tented” wine festival because you can actually go to each participating winery for the tastings (more than 25 open their doors each day) instead of walking from table to table among throngs of other attendees. The weekend also features food pairings from local chefs, live entertainment and a twilight welcome party on Friday evening if you want to get a head start on the weekend. — AG
Coffee House Press Book Subscription
You could certainly sign up your favorite bookworm for Book of the Month. The first name in literary subscriptions offers compelling avenues for customization: your recipient can take their pick from a slate of books each month, they can choose physical tomes or audiobooks, and there’s even a companion app. But if you want to truly impress the hardcover hoarder in your life, sign them up for a six-book subscription from Coffee House Press, an independent publisher that’s been a champion of boundary-pushing, experimental work in the realms of fiction, nonfiction and poetry (including some in translation). Their latest subscription, for Spring 2025, includes titles across all these categories, with subjects that range from a novel about a punk musician to a memoir by Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra to a long poem (984 pages) that took three decades to complete. Books ship a week before their official publication date, from April through August. — Alex Lauer
Tickets to the Hottest New York Theater Season in Years
Chicago, The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, Wicked — these are the long-running musicals that most people associate with Broadway. But if you’re only a casual theatergoer, you may not know that New York is currently experiencing the most exciting theater season in years. Skip the old standbys and get them tickets to Maybe Happy Ending, a surprise critical smash about two robot outcasts (trust us!); Gypsy, a splashy revival of the classic showbiz story starring six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald; the 15-week limited run of Othello, starring Denzel Washington (fresh off Gladiator II) and Jake Gyllenhaal; the Broadway debut of George Clooney in Good Night, and Good Luck; or Swept Away, which is technically a jukebox musical (using music by the Avett Brothers), but taken to its darkest, most audacious form. You’ll be going with them to the theater, of course — so it’s a gift for you, too. — AL
Coast to Coast
Rat Race stages endurance adventures all over the world, and most of them would be somewhat insane to gift another adult (even one who runs marathons). Hey, happy holidays, now go run 100 miles across a frozen lake in Outer Mongolia. That said, some of the events strike a happy medium in both challenge and cost, and will make sure your beneficiary won’t have to quit their job.
I recommend this romp across the Scottish Highlands, which calls for “general fitness” and gives entrants two days to cover 21 miles by foot, 78 by bike and just one by kayak. Check out the GPS data here. Sights along the route: Cawdor Castle (made famous by Macbeth), Glen Nevis, Glen Coe and the great Loch Ness.
As entry gets harder — and a little played out, to be honest — in the marquee endurance events, a race like this is a great way to earn a totally unique medal. If you don’t want to explicitly sign up your friend or family member, consider gifting them an adventure voucher, which will shave off a percentage of the entrance fee. — Tanner Garrity
A National Parks Pass
For the outdoorsman or woman, in your life: a national parks pass. Good for a year’s worth of visits, the America the Beautiful Pass covers entrance and day-use fees at all of the national parks, as well as all other federal recreation sites across the country, and is valid for one year from the month of purchase. A not overly-expensive gift, the America the Beautiful Pass will tee them up for all of that self-guided national parks tour they’ve been talking about for years. — Lindsay Rogers
Alamo Draft House Season Pass
The Criterion Channel is often quoted as the ultimate movie buff gift, but let’s be honest: no one is actually watching Godard deep cuts on a Saturday night. Instead, we recommend gifting a season pass to dine-in theater Alamo Draft House. The subscription, available in a variety of monthly and annual packages, earns your Gladiator II-loving giftee one free movie per day, every day — if our math is correct, that’s up to a whopping thirty-one movies per month — along with exclusive access to companion tickets, advanced tickets, special screenings and more. Toss in recliner seating, a few dozen locations nationally and a half-decent draft list, and you’ve got yourself the perfect present for any film freak…or anyone who needs an excuse to crush a few beers during Wicked. — Paolo Sandoval
A Spa Day
From week-long wellness retreats to top-tier spa treatments, SpaFinder makes it easy to give the gift of relaxation. The site partners will world-class retreats, hotels and spas, including Ritz-Carlton and Six Senses, to name a just a few. All you have to do is purchase a gift card and they’ll be able to book massage, facial, nail and more luxury services in their area. — Logan Mahan
A Barkbox Subscription
Any “dog parent” out there will love receiving a gift for their pet. Maybe even more than if they were receiving a gift for themselves. With Barkbox, the dog in their life will receive a monthly package that includes treats, toys and a surprise item that changes based on the monthly theme. Barkbox offers a range of subscription plans at different price points, and you can customize certain aspects of the box so they’re tailored to the dog’s preferences, like if they have allergies or would be best served having a toy-only box. It’s the kind of gift that any proud, head-over-heels dog owner would rave about — it’s basically a mini dog Christmas once a month. — Joanna Sommer
A Black Tomato Trip
If they’re into traveling, nice things and singular, once-in-a-lifetime adventures, consider surprising them with a Black Tomato trip. A curator of totally bespoke travel packages, Black Tomato offers experiences like “Set Jetting,” a collection of immersive, TV-inspired trips that will sees partakers sipping Old Fashioneds across all of Don’ Draper’s favorite cocktail bars in Manhattan or traipsing the snowscapes of Game of Thrones’ Iceland; “Drone the World,” a trip filmed and edited by an international director so that they’ll have their own personal film to show off when it’s all said and done; and “Get Lost,” which is a challenge that involves, “train[ing] with elite survival experts before traversing a polar, jungle, coastal, mountain or desert region in [a] mission back to civilization. Though, if that all sounds a little extreme, Black Tomato also offers safaris, luxury train trips, culinary and gastronomic getaways, as well as next-level camping trips and even proposal services. — LR
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