10 PLUS Experience Gift Ideas for South Shore Boston Kids 2025

November 15, 2017 admin

The 365 things South Shore Gift Them Experiences guide offers you great ideas for hassle-free gifts for kids with gifts that give back through unforgettable experiences. Are aunt, uncles, grandparents looking asking what to give your kids, tell them give a gift experience instead of toy or a game.

Here are some ideas for Christmas 2025

Children Museum Memberships

Easton’s Children Museum Easton children’s museum belong to Association of Children’s Museums’ Reciprocal Network which includes discounts admission to Boston Children’s Museum.

Zoo Memberships

Both Buttonwood Zoo in New Bedford and Capron Zoo in Attleboro have family members starting at $75 plus it has a reciprocal agreement with the Museum of Science

Art & Craft Time

Playtime!!

Mom favorite lots of local play areas Children’sWorld in Canton New trampoline Parks in Plymouth , Braintree Plaza

Bowling can be a great activity to do we got Timberlanes in Abington, Alley Kat and

Maplewood in Easton has a punch card for 10 visits if you got little ones on your list this is the perfect gift. Happy Hearts Norwell plus Jam Time in Hanover have memberships that are great to give

Kids World in Hingham has a punch a card as well

Theater Tickets still updating this section

The South Shore always has great local theater like the Company theater in Norwell and Priscilla Beach theatre in Plymouth You can also

Big Shows

Before Christmas

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child NOVEMBER 9 – DECEMBER 20, 2025 Emerson Colonial Theatre

The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show at Nov 22nd Wang Center

Twas the Night Before… By Cirque du Soleil Wang Center Nov 26th -Dec 14th

The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight Dec 16th

NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet Shubert Theatre Nov 29th

Cirque Dreams Holidaze in Providence Dec 19th-21st

Christmas FUN Cape Cod Polar Express Train Buzzard Bay

Christmas Break

Disney on Ice: Boston and Providence

Harlem Globetrotters on Thursday Dec 26th 2 shows

January

Dancing with the Stars At Wang Center

Sound of Music at Citizens Opera House

Monster Jam Providence coming over the last day of the January/first day of Feb

May

June

July

Derek Hough – Symphony of Dance: Encore

August

The Wiggles Come to Boston

Sports Tickets

Also tickets to one of our great sports team Boston Bruins , Boston Celtics, Red Sox Patriots

Local Attraction Tickets or Season Passes

Canobie Lake Park Salem NH

black Friday and Holiday sales will be here soon

StoryLand Glen NH

Make life long memories with a trip to Story Land! Save 40% on season tickets check out all the details on how to save money at Storyland

Water Wizz Wareham in years past they have done Black Friday half priced tickets

LegoLand Discovery Center Boston

LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston is a LEGO World full of color, creativity and fun for children aged 3-10 and their families. This indoor attraction, featuring a range of educational and interactive experiences, will inspire imaginations with 2 LEGO rides, hands on LEGO build and play experiences, a 4D cinema, and even Boston area landmarks brought to life made completely out of LEGO bricks

Travel

Boston Cruise to Bermuda

How about a Boston to Bermuda Cruise? Cruises from Boston will be would make a great family gift (and you don’t have to deal with the hassle of the airport). Find your perfect cruise here

We also asked some moms in our group

I’m booking a hotel with a pool up in Gorham NH, between storyland and Santa’s village and on the ATV trails. We are going to rent a four seater side by side and do all the things for a weekend as a Christmas gift for our 6 and 9 yo (boy and girl

Disney on ice in providence and a fun night at the hotel. Is what I am doing for my 9 year old. Its right after Christmas

We’re doing a photo album with gift cards and experiences for our 12/10/10 year olds who also have everything!

What’s your budget? A quick trip to Florida for Red Sox spring training if they are into baseball

We have done envelopes for each month for the following year and they couldn’t open the envelope until that month. each month was tickets for something or gift cards for something – some were specific plans and some were generic plans like – movie tickets and gift certificate for candy/snacks/drinks or painting pottery, etc. or more specific like Disney on ice over Feb vacation week concert tickets for July, etc. we would decorate each envelope so they would be so excited to open it! I lovvved that gift! One of our faves

We do Boston Staycation weekend! Boston Science Museum, maybe stay in a Seaport hotel with a pool. The new Omni seaport has an outdoor heated pool and hot tub, walkable to childrens museum

Homemade coupons for things like “Eat whatever you want for dinner” or “get dismissed early from school for ice cream” or other small, fun homemade experiences

We call them mystery rides, and the kids have fun guessing along the way. We never say “yes” if they guess it lol so when we get there they’ll say “haha I knew it!!” Like you could say “Mystery Ride in April” and just decide later
Anything that may seem mundane to you, will be awesome to them, because they are doing something out of the ordinary WITH YOU. That’s all they want! So even if you go to the beach all the time, but you find another beach with a ice cream shop and a playground they’ve never been to in another town, it’ll be awesome. Also, really Google things and different places. There’s a bowling alley in Connecticut that is ocean themed, and it looks so cool. I love bringing my kids places, we have such wonderful memories, and I love when family takes them places, because I know they’ll always hold those things in their hearts

Years ago, I got fed up with the commercialization of Christmas. My kids were 8 and 10 at the time. I said “no more store presents.” Instead we spent Christmas making a list of 12 THINGS for the year (1 per month) we could DO TOGETHER as a family. Some were free!! Over the years, just a few examples…
Board game night
Skiing trip
Picnic at the zoo
Dinosaur museum
Magic show
Bike ride in the mountains
Snow Sledding
Roller skating
White water rafting
Train ride
Dinner murder mystery
Slumber party with the family
Hot air balloon ride

Pickleball

Fast forward 15 yrs… We’ve never gone back to store presents. The experiences of family together is so much more meaningful. We’re running out of ideas though. Kids are 23 and 25 now

We just did a Staycation at patriots place staying the Renaissance Hotel for 2 nights which has a pool. Walk around bass pro shop….bowling at splitsville…. Do some Gaming at the e-game center,…movie theater…..ice cream…muse paint…. Everything is right there! Great shopping and restaurants…mine are young too, the get something to wear, read, and do from Santa still but then instead of gifts from us, we do a mini get away that we normally would not. Last year was great wolf lodge and this year Seaport hotel with a pool. They got the choice and picked the trips over gifts. We leave the day after Christmas.

We do zoo or museums memberships for birthdays, movie tickets, Disney on ice, concerts, water park, an overnight in a hotel.

YMCA membership (can use the pool in the summer – can also use ANY YMCA with a membership – not just your local one). Go-karts – museums – horse back riding – waterparks both indoor or outdoor (Water wizz – cape cod inflatable – great wolf lodge – cape codder hotel) – day trips to fun places like go to Boston and go on the Codzilla boat and a trolly ride around town – day trip to Cape Cod and see the seals in Chatham or go on a whale watch. Tube ride on a river – snow tubing in the winter at ski resorts that have those lines you hold on to that pull the tube back up the hills. Hayrides and fall festivals – carnivals and amusement parks like 6 flags or Canobie lake park? day at Foxwoods (lots for kids to do now – great wolf lodge will open soon there – plus VR google fights and 4D movie you shoot at – smash room – escape room – craft room – zip line from the tower there – bowling – arcade – eat at Sugar factory or Hard Rock Cafe. Go to ice castles in Conway NH?

I did a scavenger hunt with my teens last year to give the gifts ! Outside, inside, everywhere! We did paint nights and go cart racings and aquarium memberships….they loved it all!

You could do one for each month of the year.
Fishing day
Picnic in the park
Mommy daughter manis and pedis
Scavenger hunt @ beach or somewhere she loves
Cooking class with kid focus
Secret road trip day

New England Aquarium and Mystic Aquarium does animal encounter experiences and Franklin Park Zoo does them too with the giraffes. My husband gifted me one from the Aquarium in 2012 to swim with the harbor seals. It was absolutely incredible. Worth every penny!

We loved experience gifts too. My mom gifted us Buttonwood Park Zoo memberships with a plus one so the kids could bring a friend & it was reciprocal at other zoos & MOS. My aunt also gifted us Museum of Science, Boston membership for a while as well as park passes for MA state parks including Horseneck beach.
Maplewood Country Day Camp and Enrichment Center is another awesome place to get a membership/punch cards for. Even movies theatre gc. Can you politely send a msg to family & state that you are so grateful that your son is so well loved & provided for but that you are respectfully not in need of any physical gifts. If they feel they must gift they could contribute to an experience gift. I know if I was gifting an experience gift say to a zoo or local farm I would add a little stuffed animal or something to the package. Sometimes kids just like opening boxes at that age. You could put a pack of bubbles or a little squishy ball in a box for a park pass etc. to give him something tangible to open but not add to your stress of stuff. We have a tiny house & I remember feeling grateful but overwhelmed with stuff. I was grateful when my mom understood that we really did appreciate experience gifts.

365 things to do in South Shore MA