This holiday season, give a gift they can use all year round. A membership or subscription lets friends and family enjoy their present for months to come. Memberships or subscriptions offer the opportunity for an intensely personal and meaningful gift.
Types of memberships to look for
There are a lot of different subscriptions or memberships your friends and family might enjoy that go far beyond the sock-of-the-month club. Look for digital or online subscriptions, such as for courses, magazine or newspaper subscriptions, or platform memberships from YouTube or Patreon.
A more traditional gift is a membership to a club or organization that brings a variety of benefits to the recipient, such as AAA or a local museum or zoo. Memberships for a museum or zoo usually include free visits, special events and discounts on merchandise and are great options for a family with children that could use something to do.
Around the holidays, there may be discounts or additional items available, such as experience packages or other merchandise.
Keep an eye out for deals, particularly on Small Business Saturday or Giving Tuesday.
How to give a subscription or membership
You might not even have to leave the house. Many subscriptions or memberships can be purchased and gifted online. Just look for a gift option on the website and choose the appropriate membership tier and recipient information. A lot of the platforms will allow you to add a personalized note. You may be notified when the recipient opens or uses your gift.
If you need to physically give a gift, consider packaging it as a themed present. For instance, give a membership to the local zoo with stuffed animals for the children and a pair of binoculars for animal spotting. A theater membership could come with popcorn and boxes of theater candy.
Other subscriptions and memberships to look for include:
Monthly or other regular box deliveries.
For the foodie, look for Raw Spice Bar’s The Spice Adventure starting at $15 per month. They’ll get small-batch spices and recipes to use with it. Ipsy, TheraBox and other beauty boxes include makeup and skin care products. Then there’s the old standby: The Book of the Month Club, starting at $59.99.
Zoo, museum and park memberships.
Contact their local zoo or museums to ask about tiers of family memberships, or opt for a state park pass. The America the Beautiful National Park Pass is $80 and includes park admission for the pass owner and passengers in their non-commercial vehicle.
Movie memberships.
Several movie theater chains, such as Regal’s Unlimited, AMC Stubs A-List and the Cinemark Movie Club offer memberships that allow recipients to view a certain number of movies per month. There may be restrictions for specific formats, such as IMAX movies, but some come with perks such as discounted concessions and other rewards.
