The Top Six Most Amazing Gifts for Families

Updated for 2023!

Family gifts are some of the best presents you can give! They encourage family time and bonding. Plus, they are often the most fun and make the most lasting memories for everyone in the household!

Here are some of my favorite family gifts to give!

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Zoo Pass

I love zoos and animals and I think most people do! Zoos are great places for kids to run off some energy and for adults to enjoy a leisurely stroll (or not-so-leisurely power walk). There are new things to enjoy every time you go and zoos are definitely a great learning experience filled with many, many teachable moments.

Three young children with statue at the zoo
Slightly old pictures….considering the baby is an adult now!

We have had a zoo pass at our house for years. I love the fact that you can get into other zoos around the country for free or half price. We have planned vacations around where our zoo and museums passes could be used to get some free or inexpensive educational entertainment!

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Aquarium Pass: Share the Love of Marine Life

Aquariums are another one of my favorite places to visit and my kids and grandkids love them too!

Aquariums are another fun and educational family activity. We were not lucky enough to have an aquarium closer than three or four hours away, so we have not had aquarium passes. However, I definitely love visiting aquariums when we travel!

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Museum Pass: Educate in a Unique Way

Museums are another fun family activity. The idea of visiting museums may not be the top fun activity on the family’s to-do list, but they are so much fun!

I have always enjoyed introducing my children to a wide variety of activities so they have a broad view of what the world has to offer. Museums are a great way to introduce kids to new things in one nice climate-controlled area!

Dragon at Tower of London
This dragon is located at Tower Museum in London, England

Plus…there is an almost endless variety of museums–art museums, children’s museums, science museums, history museums, museums of anthropology, and on and on.

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Board Games–Share Your Memories with Old School Activities

Board games are another great way to spend family time together and you don’t even have to leave the house!

My kids enjoyed board games when they were little and I still enjoy them today! I think some of the most fun board games are the ones we played as children. Great bonding experiences are created by sharing these same board games with your children and telling them about your childhood.

Here are some of my personal favorites:

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Give Future Fun

The gift of future fun is a gift that keeps on giving!!!

Gift cards are a great way to give them something to open on the special Holiday and allow them to have fun and make memories on another day! Miniature golf, movie tickets, painting, pottery, and themed restaurants are just some of the endless options of activities and fun that you can give.

Build-A-Bear is a fun family activity with little kids!

My family’s all-time favorite is Rainforest Cafe, but T-Rex is becoming a quick second favorite! These are not restaurants we have close to us, but ones we enjoy greatly! We have had many years of great memories at these fun, themed restaurants and I have every intention of making many, many more!

Rainforest Cafe

Chuck E Cheese is a local favorite of our grandkids and mine too! It’s where we celebrated many first days and last days of school and made amazing memories!

Toddler boy playing skee ball at Chuck E Cheese
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Any Activity with YOU–Your Time and Attention is Priceless!

Out of every gift idea we have suggested here, your time is the best gift you can give any of your family members or friends!

Ample Hills at Boardwalk

Time with you does not have to be expensive. It just needs to be one-on-one time with you and enjoying their company. Ideas are endless, but here are some of my favorite:

  • Go for ice cream
  • Bake cookies
  • Have a “date” at the local park
  • Volunteer at a local food bank
  • Have a slumber party
  • Do crafts together
  • Have a dance party at home
  • Do a pizza and movie night at home
baking with a toddler

Options are endless and you can use creativity to pick out what would be the most fun for you and your loved ones!



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For other great gift ideas, check these out!

58 thoughts on “The Top Six Most Amazing Gifts for Families”

  1. I love the activity gifts. There is no better gift you can give than the gift of time well spent.

  2. These are some great ideas for families who are are wanting experience gifts and not just more toys! I am always looking for ideas to share with extended family when they ask what my daughter wants for Christmas or birthdays. We also love the zoo and a season pass would be well used!

  3. Great ideas!! Nobody ever seems to gift tickets or places to go and I think that’s a wonderful idea. Material things come and go but the memories from experiences last a lifetime!

    1. That’s amazing! I did theme park passes with one of my adult kids last year and all my kids when they were little and still at home!

  4. Those are great gifts idea, especially this time of the year. I personally would love those attraction passes. We are a family of 6 and it get really expensive when we do an outing in parks or movies.

    1. We could not have done near as much when my kids were little (we had seven) without passes to zoos and museums!!

  5. I like the idea of giving someone an experience as a gift, rather than a trinket. Memories last forever… possessions often clutter our homes and our minds!

  6. As my boys outgrew the toy stage of life, my favorite gifts were experiences. I think their favorite was the year I got King’s Dominion passes and then we went every other week all summer long. They didn’t care that we had Busch passes already. They loved the change of pace.

    1. Absolutely! I also love the idea of one-on-one time with the kids using those tickets or passes together!

  7. These are great gift ideas. We received annual zoo passes one Christmas and loved it! To be able to go whenever we wanted for free for a year made all of our trips more relaxing because we weren’t trying to fit it all into one visit since we knew we could just come back next week. I love gifts like that, that just keep on giving!

    1. Yes! To me, that’s the best about passes! You can do whatever you have time for and whatever you want and don’t have to feel rushed!

    1. That’s amazing! That is my plan as well. I also think I’m going to open savings accounts for my grandkids and put money in there that I would have spent on toys and such.

    1. Me too! One of my kids was always so hard to buy for and we started doing gifts of trips and activities with him and it grew from there!

  8. And the passes for the zoos, museums, and aquariums will help the facilities out right now too! Christmas gift that gives on multiple sides!

  9. I love the idea of gifts given to the entire family, not just each individual. And family-oriented gifts are definitely the most memorable! I love this post.

  10. I love these ideas! We have enough “stuff” and have talked about doing experiences and quality time instead this year. Thanks for the ideas!

    1. I love giving these types of gifts! I’ve seen too many of my Christmas presents for my grandkids in the Goodwill pile six months later!

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