PHOTOS COURTESY OF ZINGERMAN’S BAKE!

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Just Do It!

Give the gift of an experience —
and making memories.

JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TOP: An instructor guides a student during a class at Zingerman’s BAKE!
ABOVE: Sammy Vieder as sous chef at Bacco Ristorante.

S

ome people have a gift (pun
intended) for picking out
the perfect gift. They always
seem to find the exact item the
recipient didn’t even know she
needed or wanted until she got it.
I am not one of those people.
My go-to gift is a gift card. It’s an
easy, stress-free way to give some-
one the opportunity to pick out
something she actually wants.
The downside, of course, is that
gift cards lack in creativity or can
get lost or expire.
My family was lucky enough to
have the same babysitter for 10
years, which meant more than 20
gifts, counting birthdays, holidays
and three graduations. When she
got her master’s degree last sum-
mer, I just couldn’t do another
gift certificate. I happened to be
browsing Groupon, an online
coupon site, when I came across
a discount for skydiving. Jumping
out of an airplane isn’t on my
bucket list, but I knew it was on
hers. I clicked purchase, printed
the Groupon and for once our
babysitter was getting something
more than a gift card.
Turns out I’m not the only
one who discovered that giving
an experience as a gift is a great
idea. A number of families have
ditched the toys and are gifting
things like summer camp, event
tickets, lessons, memberships
and more.
Jen Goren of Bloomfield Hills

says that every year her in-laws
give money to what they call the
“Experience Fund.” Her family
then decides how they want to
use the cash. This year they saw
the theatrical production of the
Lion King. In the past they’ve
purchased memberships to
the Detroit Zoo and Greenfield
Village.
Aside from Legos, Ivy
Pomeroy’s boys Alex, 8, and Tyler,
10, don’t play with toys anymore.
Instead they spend the major-
ity of their free time outside or
participating in sports. So when
this West Bloomfield family puts
together a gift list for birthdays
and Chanukah, it includes things
like basketball, percussion les-
sons and, for the first time, over-
night camp.
“My kids want to go to
Tamarack and camp is expensive
so we’re going to enlist family
members to contribute to their
camp fund,” said Pomeroy, who
estimates there are a dozen fam-
ily members who give her boys
gifts this time of year.
Gifting experiences works
well for grown-ups, too. Suzi
Rappaport, a former Joe Cornell
dance teacher, has been giving
dance lessons to friends as a
wedding gift for years.
“I’ve known some of these
brides and grooms their entire
lives and it’s an honor for me to
experience this special time in

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December 7 • 2017

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