This Christmas, gift an experience to dear ones

Clothes? Shoes? Watches? Perfumes? Nah. This Christmas it's all about gifting experiences. Everything from passes to baking workshops, a New Year resolution box with ways to help one achieve the resolutions, spa or salon treatment or even chopper rides are being lapped up this season as families work hard to come up with unusual and unforgettable Christmas gifts.

One can book a chopper ride for their near and dear ones through the Uber app. In an alliance with Droom (an online marketplace for new and used vehicles), chopper rides are available between 1 pm and 3 pm on Christmas day on the app in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

"One can book the ride on the app and gift it to whoever they wish to or book one for themselves," said Rishab Malik, co-founder & VP of business development, Droom.

With a clear focus on experiences, gifting platform Giftxoxo is offering free entries to cake-making workshops, carol recitations and fine dining experiences in hotels.

Customers can also gift unusual experiences like flying a plane, learning cocktail mixing, dining on a yacht, golfing and DJing. "Most of the buyers are corporates whose employees avail of these offers. There are over 600 corporates including Infosys, BCG energy and Cadbury in our list of clients," said Manoj Agarwal, co-founder Giftxoxo.

The whole idea, this year, is to 'experience' something new rather than simply buy a present from a store. And their novelty makes experience gifts far more exciting. Take Paromita M, an Infosys employee, who went on a dining holiday as part of a 'twixmas' gift. Other gifting options include salon and spa experiences with gifting websites joining hands with brands. Wooho.

in, for example, has tied up with restaurants, beauty parlours and even cinemas, offering gift vouchers which enable the recipient to enjoy the experience.