CINCINNNATI — Still haven't found that perfect gift?
There's no need to wander the mall looking for something a loved one has probably received five times before.
Instead, consider an experience gift this holiday season.
Indoor skydiving
Nedra McDaniel is a travel writer who writes the Adventure Mom Blog. She recently posted an article on Experience Gifts Around Cincinnati.
Of course the easiest thing is to gift someone a membership to the most popular places, such as the Cincinnati Zoo, Kings Island, Playhouse in the Park, Broadway in Cincinnati, Museum Center, and more.
But she is a fan of the unusual.
She showed usiFly in West Chester.
iFly is an indoor skydiving facility with two dozen locations nationwide from Florida to California.
For about $75 a person, customers get a training session, flight suit and helmet, and then a skydiving session in a 30-foot wind tunnel.
"I loved it. It was so much fun," McDaniel said. "They will always look back and remember that time they had and the person who gave them that gift!"
But indoor skydiving is just one of several experience gifts that a loved one will remember for years to come.
McDaniel says a simple Google search for "experience gifts" will turn up dozens of activities in your area.
Axe throwing, indoor archery
She recently tried indoor axe throwing at Class Axe Cincinnati. Customers throw real axes at a target as if they are an actor at a Renaissance fair.
Not for you? How about combat archery atArchery Arena?
Don't worry, they train you and it's all supervised. Real arrows also aren't used.
"Combat archery is sort of like a Nerf war, except you have an arrow with a soft tip at the end," McDaniel said.
Cooking, drinking, and afternoon tea
If that's all a bit too extreme, consider a gift of cooking classes or a food tour. Like eating? Consider aCincinnati Food Tour.
"You can learn more about the city and great restaurants in the area, and you are guided through the experience for two hours, and visit multiple restaurants," she said.
One tour unique to Cincinnati, not offered in other cities, is the American Legacy Tours Underground Cincinnati Tour.
You get to explore the brewery tunnels underneath Over-the-Rhine, and several underground burial crypts (no need to fly all the way to Paris).
And if that loved one is not a drinker, consider an afternoon tea session, available at Churchill's, at places like Findlay Market and The Bon Bonerie. Grandma would probably prefer tea to skydiving – she will feel like royalty, and you don't waste your money.
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