Clutter-free Gift Guide - Updated for 2025

 
Holiday gifts surrounded by candles and greenery.

Experiential gifts are excellent for the clutter-free gift seeker. I always aim to look for gifts that will meet my personal Gift-Giving Trifecta:

  1. It is thoughtful — the gift can be customized to the recipient’s preferences

  2. It is functional — the recipient is likely to use it

  3. It is enjoyable — the recipient will enjoy the experience of the gift; and as a bonus, the gift’s benefits will continue to provide continued joy and function!

When the gift hits ALL THREE, it’s the ultimate gift in my eyes! This holiday gift guide is full of clutter-free gift recommendations and some of my favorite small & local businesses. Even if you aren’t local to Southern California, hopefully, this will help spur ideas for finding local businesses that also provide these similar type gifts.

➡️ Check out my strategies for HOW TO REQUEST CLUTTER-FREE GIFTS WITH GRATITUDE, plus a free download letter you can share with family and friends.

  • Charity Donation

    • Donate to a meaningful cause in their name

    • Order from an organization that donates its proceeds from your purchases, like: Stitch.for or Parks Project

  • Unique experiences

    • Experience Quality Time Together - never underestimate the power of gifting a personal date of connection + an experiential adventure, outing, meal or vacation

    • Aerial Yoga (Orange County)

    • Alpaca Farm - meet and take photos with adorable alpacas up close and personal (Carpinteria, CA)

    • Aquarium or Zoo

    • Attraction or amusement park

    • Axe throwing

    • Bluebird Canyon Farm events (Orange County) or Apricot Lane Farms aka “The Biggest Little Farm” events (Moorpark, CA)

    • Escape room

    • Luxury treatments:

    • Miniature golf

    • Museum

    • Nurtured by Nature - meet and take photos with otters (San Diego, CA)

    • Pop-up dinner from EatYourDrink (Los Angeles) — see our amazing experience here!

    • Rage Room (Los Angeles)

    • Sound bath or Y7 Restore yoga stretch + mini sound bath class (Orange County)

    • Storyworth* - emails the gift recipient a question about their life once a week for a year; answers are then bound together in a keepsake book = a beautiful way to capture memories of a loved one
      *Referral link gets you $10 off your order

    • Wine/beer/tea tastings or food tasting like F&Bar or Cielo Farms

    • Yoga with Goats (Los Angeles) or Yoga with Puppies (Los Angeles)

    • Here are some of my favorite sites to find things to do in the city:

  • Memberships & Subscriptions

    • Attraction memberships or yearly passes:

      • Amusement parks, museums, zoos, aquariums, etc.

    • Book subscriptions:

    • Fitness memberships:

      • Class Pass - provides access to different studios, gyms, and wellness offerings (*receive a free trial at link)

      • The Sculpt Society - on-demand sculpting, dance cardio, yoga, pre and post-natal, meditation and stretching classes plus multiple live workouts each week (app/streaming)

      • To their favorite local Hiit training, yoga, meditation, rock climbing, cardio barre, dance or group workout

    • Food subscriptions:

      • NakedWines or local wine club

      • Bokksu - delivers curated boxes of authentic Japanese snacks & teas

  • Gift Certificates (for favorites)

    • Dessert (ice cream, cupcake, etc.)

    • Drink (coffee, tea, boba, etc.)

    • Online or local retailer

    • Restaurant

GuideStacy Leeholidays, gift ideas