Give A Gift For Life!

It’s that time of year again, and the top selling Christmas gift lists have been released. LOL Surprise Dolls, Hatchimals, Watch Ya Mouth, Pie Face, Lego, Furreal Friends…… how many years in a row can these toys continue to dominate? I have 3 children, so between them, we have pretty much ticked all of those boxes and I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but storing endless numbers of loud, bright plastic toys, and puzzles, Lego and board games with about a million pieces to pick up each evening has well and truly stopped being fun.
I definitely don’t want to encourage any more technology coming into the household either, as more time spent on the iPad and/or PlayStation may just turn my children’s nearly square eyes completely screen shaped.
So I got to thinking of a gift that needs no storage space, promotes health and safety, is fun, and teaches a skill that will last a lifetime. Swimming lessons ticks all of these boxes, and it seems I’m not alone in looking for a broader range of gift ideas.
In an emerging trend over the past few years, we have seen grandparents, parents, carers and relatives also bypassing more traditional presents for experiential presents, or gifts which teach children a skill. Swimming lessons proved to be one of the most popular choices over the past 3 years, with gift voucher sales increasing year on year.
Alan Bentley, owner of Nepean Swim and Fitness agreed. “Based on recent conversations with our customers, I think we are all looking for gifts that will enhance our children’s learning outcomes, or provide them with a skill or an experience. Plus with the usual start of summer focus on water safety, especially after last year’s tragic holiday period, when presented with the comparison between buying another toy which will quickly lose its novelty, or potentially life saving swimming lessons, the choice is a no brainer to many people these days”.
He added “Of course children’s safety is a huge factor in the decision making process when choosing the gift of swimming lessons, but I am also hearing from parents that they are reluctant to give their children another piece of technology to encouraged screen time, and instead would like to see their children get outside and play. A gift that ticks both these boxes represents value for money to parents” said Bentley.