It’s that time of year again…

The holiday lights are up…green and red is splattered everywhere…and all the stores have huge, red “SALE” signs hanging in the windows.

The Black Friday craze just swept through and shoppers are now recovering from dragging their butts outta bed at the crack of dawn to snag wish list gifts at discounted prices.

I was one of them. My husband, Tom, and I do it every year…and it’s a tradition we look forward to.

In years past, we’d grab anything and everything that was on deep discount…even if we didn’t really need it…even if we didn’t really love it.

The sale was too good to pass up. We didn’t want it to pass us by and miss out.

Not to mention, all the other shoppers around us were loading their carts high with Roomba vacuums, designer bed sheets and the Hatchimals that landed on every kid’s list to Santa.

We were just following suit…going along with the buying blitz…buying oodles of gifts for our kids so we could fill every inch under our Christmas tree with beautifully wrapped packages.

It was fun in the moment…but it wasn’t fun when I got the credit card statement.

Yikes!

Did we really spend that much? What did we even buy?

The pang of regret hit hard…especially after my kids unwrapped all the gifts and then just pushed them aside to watch a Christmas movie.

They didn’t really want all that stuff…and we definitely could have put that money to better use…and saved ourselves from going into serious debt.

So, this year looks a lot different.

Tom and I still went Black Friday shopping…but all we bought was a new game system for the girls (the BIG gift from “Santa”- don’t tell!) and new outfits to wear to a New Year’s Eve wedding we plan to attend.

That’s it.

Before you run around the house screaming, “But what about the gifts?? Aren’t you giving gifts??” just know that we’re still giving gifts…

…but this year’s presents will be EXPERIENCES…not MERCHANDISE.

The girls will be getting a beautiful book filled with all kinds of coupons for fun, adventures and learning ops.

Elan gets piano lessons for the year and Adley gets Hip Hop dance classes.

They both get movie tickets, admission to the skating rink and trampoline park and a spa day for Mommy and Me mani/pedis.

My husband is getting sessions with a personal trainer and my Mom is getting an hour massage and lunch with me – my treat.

I’m totally obsessed with experience gifts for so many reasons:

1. Experience gifts add so much value to life and help the recipient to grow into a better, more relaxed, more skilled, more interesting version of themselves.

2. Experience gifts will be remembered far longer than a barbie or iPad.

3. Experience gifts don’t force you into debt. You can dole out the cash throughout the year when the recipient cashes in the coupon. (Your money will thank you!)

4, You can find a ton of FREE experience gifts!!

There’s nothing better than a meaningful gift that you pay zero dollars to give to someone.

With a little creativity, you can give amazing experience gifts that cost you nothing- or close to it.

Here are a few ideas to get the wheels turning:

Gift a “Girls Painting & Wine Night” and invite all your lady friends to bring a canvas, paints and their favorite bottle of Vino to share with everyone. You supply the place, the 90’s pop background music and put out some cheese and crackers.

Gift a “Kid’s Sleepover” and let your kids invite their bestie over for movies, popcorn and a pj party at your place one weekend.

Gift your partner a “Romantic Winter Hike in the Woods” and then strap on your winter boots, pull on your wool hats and head up the mountain after the next snowfall as you chat about the shocking plot twist in Game of Thrones.

Gift a friend or neighbor a day of pet sitting or a puppy playdate where you entertain their furry friend at the park or fluff her fur with some grooming

Gift your colleague, bestie or business partner a FREE high-quality eBook, online course, audio program, biz tool, training, or how-to guide to help them gain happiness at work, manage stress, get a better job, upgrade their love life, track their health or master their money.

Or better yet…give YOURSELF the gift of some awesome business goodies and make 2020 the year you create a happier, healthier life with more money, more love and more awesomeness.

Fifteen incredible women who help people live their best lives (including ME!) decided to give some of our most valuable strategies and tools to YOU for FREE so you can live your best life next year.

So if you (or someone you love) want to:

• Map out the path to a fulfilling career (FINALLY) — or become an entrepreneur
• Negotiate a big ol’ pay raise or epic offer
• Date people with actual potential
• Start working abroad for the first time
• Get better with money in 2020

Head over to https://newyearnewkickassyou.com/ to get your hands on all the goodies for free! It’s $2,000 worth of tools, courses, and eBooks for you to enjoy…or gift to others.

Just be sure to get your gifts before Saturday, December 14th before we take them off the shelf.

I hope you LOVE these free experience gifts and fall madly in love with gifting experiences to others…so you can love up on your money and save yourself from going into serious debt.