Finding a good gift for an adult can be surprisingly difficult.

They already have clothes. They buy the things they actually need themselves. And another candle, mug or bottle of something often ends up becoming just one more thing in the house.

That's one reason experience gifts can be such a good alternative.

Instead of giving someone another object, you give them something to do, discover or look forward to.

And an experience gift doesn't necessarily mean booking an expensive weekend away. It can be anything from concert tickets and a restaurant visit to a mystery you can solve together at home.

Here are some ideas for giving a gift that creates an experience rather than more clutter.

Why Experience Gifts Make Great Presents

Most physical gifts have a fairly predictable journey.

They're unwrapped, used for a while and eventually put in a cupboard or drawer.

An experience works differently.

The value comes from what happens while you're doing it.

Maybe you spend an evening laughing together. Maybe you discover somewhere new. Maybe you learn something. Or perhaps you spend two hours arguing over whether a suspicious witness is lying about where they were on the night of a murder.

That's what can make an experience feel much more personal than simply buying another product.

1. Give Them a Murder Case to Solve

For someone who loves true crime, crime novels, puzzles or escape rooms, you can give them the chance to become an investigator themselves.

Instead of watching someone else solve a crime, they receive the case.

They might need to examine:

• Police reports
• Suspect interviews
• Witness statements
• Crime scene photographs
• Messages
• Maps
• Receipts
• Other evidence from the investigation

The objective is to piece everything together and determine who committed the crime, why they did it and what evidence proves it.

Ink & Clues creates downloadable murder mystery investigations designed around exactly this experience.

The games can be played on screen or printed at home, turning a normal evening into a full criminal investigation.

Explore the Ink & Clues murder mystery games.

2. Plan a Restaurant Experience

Instead of simply giving someone a restaurant voucher, choose somewhere specifically for them.

Maybe it's a restaurant they've talked about visiting.

Maybe it's somewhere connected to a memory you share.

Or perhaps you choose a type of food they've never tried before.

The experience becomes even better if you're going together.

Rather than:

"Here's a restaurant voucher."

the gift becomes:

"I'm taking you here. Pick a Friday."

3. Give Them Tickets to Something

Concerts, comedy, theatre, sport and exhibitions all make natural experience gifts.

The event doesn't need to happen anywhere near the birthday or holiday either.

In fact, having something to look forward to can be part of the gift.

Choose something connected to their interests and make a day or evening around it.

4. Create a Mystery Night at Home

You don't necessarily need to leave home to give someone an experience.

Turn an ordinary evening into an event.

Choose a murder mystery, arrange some good food and drinks and set aside the evening for solving the case together.

Spread the evidence across the table, put the phones away and see whether you can agree on who the murderer is.

This works particularly well as an experience gift for couples, because you're giving both an activity and time together.

And because a downloadable mystery can be accessed immediately, you don't need to make complicated arrangements months in advance.

5. Book a Class You Can Take Together

Give someone the opportunity to learn something new.

It could be:

• Cooking
• Pottery
• Painting
• Photography
• Cocktail making
• Dancing
• Baking
• Wine tasting

Choose something neither of you is particularly good at and it may actually make the experience more entertaining.

The point isn't necessarily to become experts.

It's to do something different together.

6. Plan a Day Trip

You don't need flights and a hotel to create a memorable experience.

Pick somewhere within travelling distance and plan a day around it.

Visit a town you've never explored.

Go hiking.

Visit a museum.

Find an unusual restaurant.

Spend the day at a spa.

Or simply return to somewhere that means something to both of you.

You can create a simple itinerary and give that as the physical present.

7. Give Them an Escape Room

For someone who enjoys puzzles and problem-solving, an escape room can be an excellent gift.

You're not just giving them admission to an attraction.

You're giving them an hour of searching, decoding, arguing, getting completely stuck on something obvious and hopefully escaping before the clock runs out.

It's especially good for couples, families and groups of friends because everyone participates.

8. Plan a Tasting Experience

Wine, chocolate, coffee, cheese or something completely different.

A tasting can either be booked professionally or created yourself at home.

Buy several varieties, hide the labels and turn it into a blind tasting.

You can even create scorecards and see whether the expensive option actually wins.

It doesn't have to be elaborate to become an experience.

9. Give Them an Adventure

For someone who prefers excitement, choose an activity they probably wouldn't buy for themselves.

Depending on the person, that might be climbing, kayaking, go-karting, ziplining or another outdoor activity.

The important thing is knowing your recipient.

An adrenaline experience is a fantastic present for someone who loves adventure and a terrible present for someone whose idea of adventure is ordering something different from their usual takeaway.

10. Give Them a Future Weekend Together

This doesn't necessarily have to be expensive.

Book somewhere nearby or simply choose a weekend and plan what you'll do.

A night away gives you something that's increasingly difficult to put in a gift box:

time.

For partners in particular, that can make it much more meaningful than another physical present.

Experience Gifts for Someone Who Has Everything

The phrase “someone who has everything” usually doesn't literally mean they own everything.

It means you can't think of another object they actually need.

That's exactly when experience gifts become useful.

Instead of asking:

“What can I buy them?”

ask:

“What would they enjoy doing?”

Someone who loves crime stories might enjoy solving a fictional murder.

Someone who loves food might appreciate a tasting or restaurant experience.

Someone who loves music might prefer concert tickets.

Someone who values time together might appreciate a planned weekend or day trip more than anything you could wrap.

Changing the question makes gift shopping much easier.

Experience Gifts for Couples

Experiences also work particularly well as gifts for a partner.

You're not just giving them something.

You're creating something you're going to do together.

A restaurant visit, weekend away, concert, tasting, escape room or murder mystery for two can turn the gift into an actual date.

For couples who enjoy puzzles and crime stories, an investigation game works particularly well because you're working towards the same goal rather than competing against each other.

One of you might notice a contradiction in an interview while the other finds something strange in a photograph.

Before long, you're comparing theories and accusing completely different suspects.

That's much more of a shared experience than simply handing over another object.

How to Make an Experience Gift Feel Like a Real Present

One concern with experience gifts is that there isn't always anything physical to unwrap.

But that's easy to solve.

Print the tickets.

Create your own invitation.

Put a clue inside an envelope.

Print a photograph of where you're going.

Write an itinerary.

Or create a small box containing something connected to the experience.

If you're giving someone a murder mystery, for example, print the cover and put it inside an envelope with:

"A case has just landed on your desk."

The actual experience might be digital, but the moment of giving it doesn't have to be.

Give Them Something They'll Remember

There will always be occasions when a physical present is exactly right.

But when someone already has everything they need, another object isn't necessarily the answer.

Give them something to investigate.

Something to taste.

Somewhere to go.

Something new to learn.

Or simply an excuse for the two of you to spend an evening together.

Because sometimes the best gift isn't something they can keep.

It's something they'll remember doing.

Looking for an experience you can give immediately? Explore Ink & Clues murder mystery games and give them an entire case to solve.