What Is A Gift Experience? (And Why You Should Choose Experiences Over Stuff)

How do they work and what are the benefits of giving someone an experience?

We all know the feeling of being completely stuck for that unusual Christmas, Birthday gift or something special to show someone you care. Sometimes it feels like hard work buying gifts for the people we care about as they just seem to have everything they need or don’t want to accumulate any more ‘stuff’. This is where a gift experience could be the perfect gifting solution for you.

In this guide we will take you through what a gift experience actually is, who to buy a gift experience for and the advantages of buying a gift experience over ‘stuff’ as well as how to wrap and present the recipient with this unique style of gift.

1. What is a gift experience?
2. How do gift experiences work?
3. Who can I buy a gift experience for?
4. What to consider when buying a gift experience?
5. Are gift experiences expensive to buy?
6. What are the benefits of buying a gift experience?
7. Why should I buy a gift experience from Uniquely Local?
8. How should I wrap a gift experience?
9. Frequently asked questions

What is a gift experience?

By giving an experience you are enabling the recipient to try or learn something new and make memories that will last a lifetime. Rather than gifting them the usual smellies or bottle of whiskey why not give them the experience of making their own soaps or visiting their local whiskey distillery for afternoon tea.

How do gift experiences work?

When you give someone a gift experience you are giving them a voucher for an experience that can be redeemed at a point in the future that is convenient for them. The gift voucher will give them all the information they need to book onto the experience and what is included in the experience.

Gift experiences can be undertaken at a business premises, they might be conducted online or you might have to send off for a physical kit that will be delivered to your home to complete.

Who can I buy a gift experience for?

Gift experiences are literally for everyone! No matter what hobbies take your interest, your age, budget, if you want to do them on your own or together we have something to suit everyone.

The gift experiences on Uniquely Local are organised in lots of different ways to help you find that special gift. Our main categories take into account their personal taste such as food and drink, crafts and creative and outdoor and adventure.

If you are shopping by occasion we have inspiration for retirement gifts, 40^th birthdays and wedding gifts to Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Hen Party activities.  

For specific recipients we can advise on best gifts for teenagers, couples, families and groups to name but a few. Or if you simply want to browse by location you can see what is on offer in each of Yorkshire’s four counties.

Check out our blog for inspiration on gift buying including fun filled gifts for families, top 10 unusual gifts for foodies, 5 unusual wedding gift ideas and more!

Still can’t find what you are looking for? Drop us a line to tell us about your gift recipient and we will recommend some options for you as we have tried and tested our experiences to offer you gifts we are proud to share. Or alternately you can buy a Uniquely Local gift voucher and let them choose an experience for themselves, with over 200 experiences on offer there is plenty on offer.

What to consider when buying a gift experience?

What is the recipient into? What makes them tick? Are they a real foodie or do they like to do activities as a family. Try using our different search categories to find the best fit for your recipient.

Our gift experiences tend to come with everything the recipient will need for the experience such as materials or ingredients if you are making something, samples if you are tasting something, and possibly lunch if you are there for a full day, full details are on each of our experience pages.

You might need to dress appropriately if you are taking one of our outdoor or adventure experiences but all the information about our experiences is listed next to each gift including where it is, how long it lasts for, the cost, how to redeem your voucher and anything else you might need to know.

We have included a range of photos and some of our experiences have reviews to give you a really good flavour about the experience and the local person or business who will be looking after you on your experience.

Are gift experiences expensive to buy?

Our gift experiences start from as little as £5.00 per person so we have something to suit most budgets and tastes. You can sort our experiences from any of our category pages by price from low to high so our budget friendly options appear at the top of the page.

Why not take a look at our most popular experiences to see what takes your fancy.

What are the benefits of buying a gift experience?

For the person who has everything, gift experiences are a great way to give happiness and make memories. Giving someone the gift of a new skill or trying something they have never experienced before is such a memorable gift.

People don’t tend to buy gift experiences for themselves as they are a real treat item, so you can be sure you are gifting something really different.

Gift experiences are often a more sustainable gift than ‘things’ that can sometimes get hidden at the back of the closet or sent to the charity shop. By giving a gift experience you are also supporting a local maker, producer or crafts person in Yorkshire.  

Why should I buy a gift experience from Uniquely Local?

The idea for Uniquely Local came from our own desire to find interesting, memorable experience gifts that we’d be pleased to receive.

“We had a vision to start a business that inspired us, offering quality experiences with a personal service. Something we would use ourselves and could be proud to recommend.”

Uniquely Local has over 250 unique, thoughtful experiences on offer and work directly with over 70 businesses across Yorkshire. Most of the experiences on the Uniquely Local site are unique and are not listed anywhere else. We have tried and tested all our experiences to get to know the businesses we work with and ensure we only offer things we are proud to recommend.

We have signed up to carbon offsetting with two companies, one global – Ecologi – and one local – Make it Wild. We love what Make it Wild is working to achieve and want to support them in any way we can. Check out their website https://www.makeitwild.co.uk/

We donate 1% of our profits to global carbon offsetting projects with Stripe.com, our payment provider.

We have also committed to meeting all ten components of the Good Business Charter –

Real Living Wage, Fairer Hours & Contracts, Employee Well-Being, Employee Representation, Diversity and Inclusion, Environmental Responsibility, Pay Fair Tax, Commitment to Customers. Ethical Sourcing and Prompt Payment to Suppliers. Find out more https://www.goodbusinesscharter.com/

How should I wrap a gift experience?

At Uniquely Local you have the choice to receive your gift voucher in one of our eco friendly gift boxes or you can print a voucher off yourself at home.

Our eco friendly gift boxes can be sent to you to simply hand over or they can be sent directly to the recipient if you can’t be with them. We carefully pack our eco gift boxes by hand with love and care so you can be sure that your gift recipient will enjoy revealing their gift experience with excitement and delight!

If you opt to print off your gift voucher you could present it to the recipient in one of these creative ways to give them the wow factor when they receive it from you:

1. Fold up and place inside a birthday or celebration card with your own message inside.
2. Hide it in their favourite recipe book for them to discover one day.
3. Package it in a box, within a box, within a box, within a box…who says good things must come inside small packages!
4. Conceal it within a Christmas cracker….don’t forget which one you put it in.
5. Create a scavenger hunt around the house and put the voucher at the final clue, it could with something related to the experience such as a bar or chocolate for a chocolate making experience or a stuffed toy alpaca for an alpaca family walk.

Frequently Asked Questions

CAN I BUY A VOUCHER FOR THE RECIPIENT TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE?

Of course! We sell Uniquely Local vouchers which can be used to buy any experience on the website. You’ll find these in denominations starting at £10 here.

HOW DO I USE MY UNIQUELY LOCAL EXPERIENCE VOUCHER?

1. Choose an experience on the Uniquely Local website
2. Select to have the voucher sent to you via email and fill in the recipient name and email address. Don’t worry about the message field, it’s not required.
3. Click on ADD TO BASKET.
4. On the basket page enter your voucher code into the voucher code field on the basket page then click APPLY VOUCHER CODE.
5. Complete the rest of the checkout process and your voucher will be emailed to you. There will be booking instructions on the email voucher for your chosen experience.
6. Enjoy the experience!

HOW DO I BOOK MY EXPERIENCE?

Printed on your experience voucher there should be a phone number or email address for the experience provider. You will need to contact the experience provider to book as Uniquely Local can’t make the booking for you. If you are struggling to contact the experience provider please get in touch and we’ll do our best to help.

WHEN WILL MY EXPERIENCE VOUCHER ARRIVE?

Voucher gift box orders placed by 1pm on weekdays will be sent the same working day by First Class post via Royal Mail. Most should arrive next day, please allow a little longer for orders placed after 1pm or at weekends.

PDF e-voucher orders placed during business hours will be processed and emailed within a few hours of ordering. Orders placed out of hours will be processed the next working day.

HOW CAN I PAY?

You can pay using PayPal or with any major credit or debit card. All payments are secure.

CAN I EXCHANGE MY EXPERIENCE VOUCHER?

Yes, you can exchange your voucher for another experience of the same value. If you’d like to upgrade to a more expensive experience you can pay the difference and upgrade. Unfortunately, you can’t get a part refund on a cheaper experience outside of the 14 day post purchase period.

CAN I CANCEL MY ORDER?

Sure – you may cancel up to 14 days after purchase for a full refund (minus any postage and packaging costs).