30+ Experience Gift Ideas for East Bay Families

We appreciate Children’s Fairyland for sponsoring today’s guide to thoughtful local experience gifts. Now through December 31, receive 13 months for the price of 12 (that’s an extra month free!). Benefits start immediately, including 50% off tickets to Fairy Winterland, a magical celebration of winter happening December 16 through 30.

San Francisco Bay Area experience gifts can work for any age or budget. We love memberships for a whole family, show tickets to stuff in a stocking, unique classes to reward a child’s interest, and eating tours a group can enjoy together. The gift of a shared experience is a perfect last-minute and clutter-free gift solution and so thoughtful!

Experience Gifts: Memberships | Experience Gifts: Tickets | Experience Gifts: Family Trip Inspirations

Experience Gift: Family Memberships to Enjoy All Year

We love these local kid-friendly museums for year-round enjoyment. Membership usually pays for itself after 2-3 visits.

Membership to Children’s Fairyland

Founded in 1950, Children’s Fairyland is a Bay Area icon, once serving as an inspiration to Walt Disney’s Disneyland. Fairyland is a wholesome space for families, where their young children can create, imagine, play, and learn in a safe, stimulating, stress-free zone. For more information about the park, please visit fairyland.org >>

Children’s Fairyland supports early learning, with robust summer camps and educational programs, forty outdoor Storybook sets, and 27 Talking Storybook Boxes where fairytales and fables come to life in English and Spanish with a Magic Key, a zoo with 16 gentle animals, whimsical gardens, and four child-size rides.

Give the gift of Fairyland with membership and memorabilia. From now until Dec. 30, 2021, buy a membership and get an extra month — that’s 13 months for the price of 12 — no code required!

More Kid-Friendly Museums

We love these other family-friendly museums, zoos, and experiences in the Bay Area. Buy a membership that the family can enjoy all year. Huge appreciation to the grandparents that put these under the tree.

• Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito
• Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley
• Cal Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
• Oakland Zoo – reciprocal membership gets you discounts at Lindsay Wildlife Experience and vice versa, too!
• Lindsay Wildlife Experience, Walnut Creek
• Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland

Experiences Our {510} Team is Wishing For

We asked our team of contributing writers what they wish Santa would bring and here’s what they told us:

• For outdoorsy families, Maureen loves her California State Parks pass and National Parks pass (fourth graders can get free ones for the family!).
• Julie loves having a stash of local ice cream shop gift certificates as a pick-me-up anytime.
• Parul enjoyed the gift certificate her family received for Plank in Oakland.
• Michele likes to have pre-bought tickets to the Tilden Steam Trains or Concord’s Pixieland. She also likes gift cards for lessons for new sports and activities (we have lots more of those below, keep on scrolling!)

Experience Gift: Tickets to Teams and Shows

Support our East Bay favorite teams and troupes with forward-looking tickets to mark a special day!

• A Fairyland membership gets you admission to the many kid-friendly puppet performances throughout the year (join now, and get one month free)
• Harlem Globetrotters return to Oakland and San Francisco in mid-January. The kids loved the show two years ago, and we even hung around afterward and got autographs. We are superfans!
• Oakland A’s Baseball is getting ready for spring training. Pick up tickets now for your favorite rivalry.
• Monster Jam will be at Oakland’s RingCentral Coliseum for one afternoon only on January 7. Superfun, but bring ear protection for yourself and the littles.
• Oakland Roots Soccer Club is planning for summer with memberships including all 17 home games.
• Cal Sports Games are often free or cheap, but little kids don’t know that.
• See our DEALS page for discounted virtual performances and shows.
• See our Ticket Alert page for more shows coming to the Bay Area soon!

Experience Gift: Activities & Classes

As we mentioned up above with museums, membership has its privileges. Choose a single special visit, sweet workshop, or regular pass.

• Would your young artist like a figure drawing or sculpting class? Pair a new set of materials with art classes and workshops for kids.
• Would your kid who climbs the walls like a class series or special day out at Traverse Fitness Ninja Warrior Complex or a rock climbing gym for big kids (Pacific Pipe, Bridges, Ironworks)?
• Space out. Check out the VR Infinite Experience through April 2023.
• See our Toddler Class Guide for more ideas for the 0-5 crowd, from gymnastics to music to swimming. More big kid classes here >

Experience Gift: Travel around the Bay Area

Make a day into an experience by creating a special little day trip to make magical memories. Do you like the ocean, the mountains, the forests? We’ve got it all!

• • Climb & Swing. Try your skills at Quarry Park Adventures for rock climbing, rappelling, or ropes courses in Rocklin. See website for holiday deals >
  • See animals. A tour of Safari West to see African animals roaming free.
  • Edible Excursions walking, eating, and drinking tours of Oakland and Berkeley are tasty and lots of fun. Our {510} team has done three of them and totally recommends them. Also fun for visiting grandparents or big kids. View website >
  • Choose your own adventure. Take a Staycation that lets you sleep in your own bed tonight after playing all day.
  • Hit the snow. With or without skiing, a day in the snow is a joy for our fair-weather city kids.
  • Play tourist in the Bay Area with a trip to Alcatraz with your kids or an ebike tour.
  • See the stars. Pair a trip stargazing with children with hot cocoa in the car.

Vacation Inspiration: Driveable Family Getaways

What’s better than the Best Day Ever? The best weekend trip, of course. Would your kiddos get excited to think about the next great vacation? I will tell you mine do NOT care but they love it once it is over. Here’s the inspiration for your calendar that can make a special experience gift.

• 🎡 Disneyland (best rates here through our affiliate)
• 🏖 Vacation Inspiration: Plan A Trip To Avila Beach With Kids
• 🌴 Vacation Inspiration: Road Trip to Palm Springs + Joshua Tree
• 🏝 Vacation Inspiration: Balboa Island Anytime
• 🚂 Weekend Road Trip: Railroad Park Resort and Lake Shasta Caverns

See our DEALS page for discounted experience gifts — virtual and safer outside.
See our HOLIDAY ACTIVITY GUIDE for ideas in December.

 

Thanks again to Children’s Fairyland in Oakland for sponsoring today’s guide to local experience gifts. Now through December 31, receive 13 months for the price of 12.

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