--- title: Here's Why Concert Tickets, Food Tours, and Other Experiences Are Hot Holiday Gifts This Year description: The best holiday gift ideas this year might be experiences like food tours and concert tickets, rather than stuff like tech and toys. authors: - name: Kristen Bahler role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/ bio: Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. Today, she leads Money's sponsored content channel and reader-favorite franchises like Best Places to Live and Best Places to Travel. education: Northeastern University, MA Journalism at_money_since: 2016 articles: 52 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bahler/ published: '2019-12-16T21:12:33.000Z' modified: '2024-05-17T04:30:00.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - gifts - holiday shopping word_count: 355 canonical: https://money.com/best-gift-ideas-experiences-environment/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Drake In Concert - Atlanta, GA](https://img.money.com/2019/12/gift-ideas-experiences-concert-tickets-1069778556.jpg) *Drake performs at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.* This season of excess, more Americans are adding secondhand gifts and “experiences” to their wish lists. Marking a dramatic shift from the scarves and slippers that traditionally fill holiday gift packages, new data points to growing consumer awareness of environmental waste, climate change, and the impact [rampant consumerism](https://money.com/overspending-overconsumption-stuff/) has on both. And it's changing the way people shop. Half of consumers [polled](https://www.mintel.com/press-centre/retail-press-centre/still-not-over-it-33-of-americans-holiday-shop-between-black-friday-and-cyber-monday) by the market research firm Mintel say they would prefer cooking classes and concert tickets over tangible presents, up from 17% in 2018. By a similar token, 56% of respondents to an [Accenture survey](https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/most-us-shoppers-expect-to-spend-as-much-or-more-this-holiday-season-than-last-year-with-many-turning-to-physical-stores-for-inspiration-accenture-survey-reveals.htm) said they would welcome secondhand clothes over brand new items. “This is where we’re going forward as consumers are shopping more with their values and with social consciousness,” Diana Smith, associate director for retail and apparel at Mintel told the [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/business/gift-guide-used-experiences-homemade.html). “People are defined more these days not by what they own but what they value, and their buying habits are reflecting that.” There’s still a disconnect between what consumers want and what their loved ones actually *buy* them. This Black Friday was one of the biggest e-shopping days in history, and a record 189.6 million Americans bought goods online and in stores from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation. Only 7% of those shoppers bought something at a thrift store, a NRF representative [told the](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/business/gift-guide-used-experiences-homemade.html) *Times.* Still, alternative gifts are on the rise, particularly for “experiences" — a broad category that includes things like skydiving and spelunking, museum tickets, food tours, and online and in-person classes on everything from wine tasting to creative writing. December gift card sales at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, a professional theater venue, have grown 28% over the last five years, according to the [*Chicago Tribune*](https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-experience-gifts-holidays-20191209-nkgbmjtylzfffccbrxg2zgc7vu-story.html). One thousand miles East, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has already sold 22% more gift certificates compared to last holiday season, the *Times* reports. People want “lasting memories versus the gift that might be the big wow for a week or a month but will be forgotten,” a travel agent told the *Times.* “They realize that these are the experiences that last a lifetime.” ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/best-gift-ideas-experiences-environment/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Places to Travel", "item": "https://money.com/places-to-travel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Here's Why Concert Tickets, Food Tours, and Other Experiences Are Hot Holiday Gifts This Year" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/best-gift-ideas-experiences-environment/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/best-gift-ideas-experiences-environment/", "name": "Here's Why Concert Tickets, Food Tours, and Other Experiences Are Hot Holiday Gifts This Year", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2019-12-16T21:12:33.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/best-gift-ideas-experiences-environment/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/best-gift-ideas-experiences-environment/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-17T04:30:00.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Here's Why Concert Tickets, Food Tours, and Other Experiences Are Hot Holiday Gifts This Year", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2019/12/gift-ideas-experiences-concert-tickets-1069778556.jpg", "width": 5568, "height": 3712, "caption": "Drake In Concert - Atlanta, GA" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kristen Bahler", "url": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kristen-bahler/#author", "description": "Kristen Bahler has spent more than a decade turning culture, work and consumer spending trends into conversation-driving stories. 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