Category "Experiences"

Individual and Family Memberships | Experience Gifts

Princess Diana - December 16, 2014 - Birthday, Christmas, Experiences, Family, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Wedding

I have thoughtful last-minute gift ideas for you that will create year-round fun for the lucky gift recipient or their entire family!

What is it? Individual and family memberships or annual and season passes.

You can easily purchase these items online and they are easy peasy to wrap. Best of all, experience gifts make the most memorable type of gift! That’s my “experience” any way.

Envision this… children will have you to thank for their trips to the water park, families will have you to thank for their zoo outings, and couples will have you to thank for their season tickets to a performing arts theater.

If your gift is loved, it can become your annual Christmas gift tradition!

For a “thoughtful twist,” pair the membership or pass with a small related gift item, such as a stuffed lion with a zoo membership or a pair of ski goggles with a season pass to a ski resort.

Here are some ideas for types of membership and passes that make wonderful Christmas gifts.

INDIVIDUAL & FAMILY MEMBERSHIPS

Drive a Lamborghini | Experience Gift

Queen Darlene - December 4, 2014 - Birthday, Business, Christmas, Experiences, Gifts for Him

Dennis, our boss, always enjoys experience gifts so for a Christmas present, his staff gave him a gift certificate to drive a Lamborghini. Varoom! Varoom!

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Dennis drove three laps in a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder worth $214,000

We got the idea from Gotham Dream Cars which had a Groupon to drive premier exotic cars such as a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. They were going to be in Oklahoma City during the early part of December. This would work perfectly as it would not interfere with his holiday travel plans.

For that “thoughtful twist” we gave him a gift box to open which contained a remote control race car replica of a Lamborghini. It was charged up, ready to go, and as soon as he took it out of the box and set it on the floor, he quickly learned to “drive” it.

We told him he did such a marvelous job driving the toy race car that we thought he would like to drive a real Lamborghini.

A Private Music Concert | Unique & Thoughtful Gift

Princess Diana - November 18, 2014 - Anniversary, Birthday, Business, Christmas, Experiences, Gifts for Him, Valentine's Day

When my mother Robyn turned 50 years old, her six children wanted to show her just how much we love her. Our gift needed to leave a mark on her memory as big as the mark she had made in our hearts and lives.

Private Music Concert Meaningful Gift Idea

My mother and grandfather sing and clap along to the music Edgar Cruz plays on his guitar.

Instead of having her children one at a time, our mother pretty much had us all at once. My parents adopted my two brothers (Garry and Kevin), my two sisters (Jeny and Julia) and me so my siblings and I could stay together. A few years later, we added Ochi to our family.

That still blows my mind because I didn’t have Aiden until I was 30. My parents were in their late 20s when they opened their hearts and home to five kids ranging from ages five to 18! God bless them!

My brothers and sisters and I decided to DOUBLE surprise our mother on her birthday.

Breaking the Turkey Wishbones | Thanksgiving Tradition

Queen Darlene - November 13, 2014 - $20 or Less, Experiences

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If I close my eyes, I can still remember Grandma’s house and the delicious aroma of Thanksgiving dinner filtering from her tiny kitchen. Like so many other families, every year there was discussion of who would be the lucky two people to break the turkey wishbone.

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Queen Darlene & Jody making a wish!

It was a big event at the end of the meal to watch who would win the biggest part of the bone and declare a wish!

I had no idea of why we did this ritual of breaking the wishbone, so for this post I researched it. Did you know that the Thanksgiving tradition of breaking a wishbone dates back over 2,400 years?

The Etruscan people believed that fowl could predict the future and the chicken’s collarbone was thought to be sacred. Seriously?!?! Wishes were made by rubbing on the bones in hopes of bringing good luck. (Maybe I should try this on my next lotto ticket purchase). Thus, the “wishbone tradition” began. Continue Reading

Coach Barry Switzer | A True Story

Queen Darlene - November 12, 2014 - $20 or Less, Birthday, Experiences

My step-father Paul’s birthday falls in November, and he will turn 90 years old. He loved two things his entire life, my mother and University of Oklahoma football.

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Step-father Paul, Coach Switzer & Queen Darlene

Since Mother passed away, there’s just not a lot of moments he gets real excited about except OU touchdowns and a WIN, of course. I wanted to do something really over the top for his birthday and Coach Barry Switzer would fit the bill.

I wrote Barry a letter and here are some excerpts. For a thoughtful twist, I wrote the letter in a thank you card.

I’m thanking you in advance for a favor. Our step-father Paul will be 90 on November 10. He was born in Norman and feels lucky because that is the home of OU. Every positive adjective I could come up with is not enough to describe his love of OU football. He never misses a game on TV. Continue Reading

Happy Birthday to Me!

Queen Darlene - October 2, 2014 - Birthday, Business, Experiences, Gifts for Me

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I love my birthdays. Always have. I really never worried about turning a year older. Well… maybe once. When I turned from 16 to 17 years old. I would never again be 16 and never been kissed!

My mother made sure my brothers and I had a birthday cake, a gift, and that we always celebrated birthdays together as a family. We had very few birthday parties where we invited our friends. I’m not sure why other than it was kind of the norm back then.

As I got older, I would celebrate with friends and co-workers by going out to dinner, a movie or even dancing.

Now I celebrate birthdays for an entire week!

It happened quite by accident. During a week of my birthday, my best friend from grade school who lives in Texas mailed a birthday package to my office. She was not the only one. A friend from Albuquerque also sent a package. One of my dear friends who I work with presented me with a gift. You see a pattern here? My mother showed up with a gift on another day and on the last day of the week, my actual birthday, my husband took me to lunch.

Thus, the Birthday Week was born!

The following year I declared Birthday Week and for that thoughtful twist, instead of receiving gifts I give gifts to my co-workers. No gifts for me! Period! Because my co-workers thought it was weird not to give birthday gifts, I relented by saying, “OK… you can get me a birthday card.” Continue Reading

Ordering the 25th Wedding Anniversary Special at Sonic

Queen Darlene - September 9, 2014 - Anniversary, Birthday, Experiences

My husband and his best friend, Curtis have been friends since they were 16 years old. They played on their high school tennis team and were known to be pretty salty players. They even won a state championship in doubles their senior year. When Curtis started dating Susan, the four of us became best friends.

Curtis and Susan’s daughters were planning a 25th wedding anniversary for their parents and asked if Randy and I would “distract” them while guests were arriving to their parents’ home.

Through the years, the four of us have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries together by going out to eat. So Randy and I made plans to take them out for a 25th wedding celebration dinner. That way it wouldn’t look suspicious.

Susan wanted to know what to wear and I told her the place we were going was a surprise but to wear their Sunday best. Afterwards, we would return to their home to change into more comfortable clothes for the second event of the evening.

That gave us a reason to go back to the house! Continue Reading

The Big 1-0 | Happy 10th Birthday Gift

Queen Darlene - July 31, 2014 - Birthday, Experiences, Kids

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Growing up, I could not wait to turn 10 years old and thought it would never get here soon enough. I was so excited to have a two digit number, the big 1-0 for my Happy 10th Birthday! It was a big deal to turn 10. Even the word “ten” sounded so much older!

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My nephew, Carson, was also excited about turning the big 1-0 this year so my sister-in-law, Lesa, and I brainstormed about giving him 10 different experiences for his Happy 10th Birthday gift.

We purchased gift cards or certificates to local arcades for mini-golf, laser tag, bowling, kayaking, zip line, and a gift card to McDonald’s. We placed all of the gift cards and gift certificates in a new wallet and placed a $10 bill inside.

Gather the Family to Celebrate in a Limousine!

Princess Diana - July 29, 2014 - Anniversary, Birthday, Experiences, Father's Day, Mother's Day

Besides being fancy and having seats that face each other, do you know what else is awesome about a limousine? It holds a LOT of people!

The adults will have just as much fun as the kids riding around town in a limo!

My co-worker Sandra took advantage of all that space and coordinated an eight-hour limousine excursion for her parents, her brother, her other brother and his wife and their two sons, and her own husband, son, and herself. That’s a total of 10 people!

They had a lot of reasons to celebrate – Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, her father turning 75 years old, and her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary!

One by one the limousine picked them up at their houses and drove them to Bricktown in Oklahoma City. Sandra’s parents hadn’t been there in years, not since it’s revitalization into a popular dining and entertainment district.

Hunger Games Inspired Wedding Anniversary Surprise

Princess Diana - July 8, 2014 - Anniversary, Experiences

My friends Desi and Peyton love a good adventure. It’s no coincidence I first met them at a “Dirty 30” mud obstacle 5K race, and I’ve borrowed their snowboarding helmets. They not only love that kind of thing but they love experiencing it TOGETHER.

They also love The Hunger Games and Peyton used their shared interest to surprise Desi on the night of their third wedding anniversary.

Desi came home to find a letter taped to her front door and two weapons – a gun and a bow and arrow – leaning up against it.

(No, the gun and bow and arrow weren’t real. I was just trying to be dramatic. Gotcha!)

The letter read: