How to Give a Trip as a Gift: Creative Ways to Surprise Them

When you’re a kid you normally are on the side of the boat that “getting gifts is better than giving them.” But as you grow older you begin to slowly walk over to the other side of the deck as giving gifts is often way more fun than receiving them. There’s something special about finding the perfect gift and giving it to someone you love that’s unlike anything else. 

But what if you wanted to get a gift that was a little different than “normal”? Something that can’t necessarily be wrapped- (or can it…). We are looking at how to give a trip as a gift. Yes, that's right. We want to give a trip to someone. But how can you give someone a trip? Look no further because we have the answers. In the past we’ve taken a look at places in the country for future travel trips like this guide for Fun Things to Do in Jackson, WY! Now we are giving you ideas for before the trip, the surprise of it all.

Before we plan the steps for our big surprise, we should talk about GiftYa. GiftYa is an online distributor for thousands of eGift cards to restaurants, famous retailers, department stores, local businesses, online subscription services and shops, spas, hotels, airlines, and more. You can surprise a friend or loved one with a gift card whenever you feel like instantly thanks to GiftYa’s fast delivery system. All you have to do is go onto the website, pick a card they might like, choose an amount up to $250, customize it by adding a picture, video, and message, then decide whether you want to send it via text or email- it’s that easy!

Send them an Airbnb Gift Card

Plan to have this card delivered on a random day so it really surprises them!

Buy An Airbnb Gift Card

One easy way you can surprise your partner in the middle of their day is by sending them a text (or email) for an Airbnb gift card. They’ll wonder what the heck is going on and that’s when you can drop the trip plan. This way you both can choose a place from their catalog that suits your needs. Use this gift as a “guess what, we’re going on a trip” announcement, that’ll make their mundane Monday one that isn’t so forgettable. 

Airbnb is an online marketplace for vacation home and condo rentals all over the world. 

There’s beachfront properties, countryside and lakefront homes that get you away from the hustle and bustle of the city, tiny homes, cabins, tree houses, castles, mansions, and more. Airbnb makes finding accommodation for your next trip easy, all you have to do is go onto the website (or download the app), search your intended destination, add your check in and check out dates, and the number of guests that will be staying. Airbnb will then give you a list of places available for your criteria in just a few seconds. 

You can Purchase a GiftYa Gift Card to Airbnb here!

Give them the Voucher, Gift Recipient, or a Picture

Falling in line with sending out a surprise Airbnb gift card, the easiest and most efficient way you can give a trip as a gift is by figuring out all of the details, booking the home(s)/hotel(s), renting a car if need be, and planning out sight-seeing attractions; then presenting it to the recipient via gift voucher, recipient, or with a picture of said destination.

You can present this to them in a number of ways, a classic is getting an envelope, writing down a few words, and giving it to them when the moment is right. Another way is doing it out of the blue like we mentioned above- send them a seemingly random text or email with the picture/info.

If you’re feeling extra creative you can even make a video, tee up the surprise and announce where you’re going but add your own inside jokes and any special guests that might be coming along for the journey. If that’s a little too far outside your comfort zone, make a presentation. There are plenty of guides online on how to make your presentations pop- so go big, this is the trip of a lifetime!

Set up a Scavenger Hunt

Set up a day where your partner, friends, and/or family members figure out fun puzzles and clues to get them to their end goal: a trip!

Scavenger hunts have been around for a long, long time, in fact they were popularized by gossip columnist Elsa Maxwell in the early 1930’s. There’s not really a “wrong” way to do them, you can set up a path in your neighborhood/city where you leave clues, puzzles, or riddles that lead you to different places; then eventually to the main reveal. And if you’re only surprising one person, get others involved! Have your friends and family members be in those clue spots with said puzzles so everyone gets to be involved in the fun all while you get to watch them continue on the hunt.

🧩 Scavenger Hunt Clue Idea 🧩

If you’re having trouble coming up with clues or puzzle ideas, we found this fun and easy idea from Reddit user KIschue specifically as a gift for a mom:

“The way I did this with loved ones is by creating a Hangman game and by the time they guess the letters, it spells “We’re going to Ireland in the spring!” Or whatever. If you’d rather her pick everything out, you could do something like “I saved up for us/you to go on a trip! You pick where!” Or “Happy Birthday, Mom! Pick a travel spot and I’ll book it”

That way it’s still fun/surprising, but she gets what she wants.”

All the clues can make up the “trip” so when they put it all together at the end they realize what the gift was, or it can lead them to opening up that envelope telling them what’s going to happen. This time it’s about the journey and the future destination 😉

Surprise Them…but Plan it Together

Booking a trip for someone can be super exciting, but for some it can also be overwhelming, especially if they themselves are a bit of a planner. They might be super grateful, but they may also have some reservations since they were a part of the planning process themselves. So if you are planning to give a trip as a gift to someone like this- then maybe before you start clicking “check out” on Hotels.com – we should instead take a step back and plan the trip together. 

“But I want to make this trip a surprise! How can I do that if we plan it together?”

No worries our faithful readers, for we have a solution. Print out a “blank boarding pass template” which you can hand them with their name scrawled on it. This will obviously lead to curious questions and that’s when you drop the news of wanting to plan a trip with them.

Here are two examples you can print out and use courtesy of creative zheva site on Canva. These are the Blue Simple Boarding Pass Arlines Ticket(s). One with a “first class” option if you plan on going BIG with this trip and one without.

Canva has an entire “Ticket Templates” section where users post their blank tickets free for you to customize and use. And there isn’t just blank boarding passes, there’s also movie tickets, concert tickets, raffle tickets, sporting event tickets, and more.

If you’re not sure you want to fly then you can also go the “blank cheque” route where you can get a blank check or print out one out:

101Planners.com has a number of Free Customizable Check Templates where you can edit the text, add your logo or background image. There you can add the amount you’re planning on giving them for this trip and tell them that this money is for our future trip. That way you both have a starting budget so you can slowly start to plan out your adventure together.

🛄 Bonus Idea: Ask them! 🛄

This also falls under the “Surprise Them…but Plan it Together” section as you can do what we call: recon. If you have this trip gift idea but know it won’t be for a while, ask them what their dream trip would be in a casual manner. Sleuth out clues so you know what to begin to look for. This way you can get a lay of the land before fully committing to booking. That way they’ll be even more delighted as this is literally their dream and all the things you planned lined up exactly how they would have done it.

Travel Gifts and Books

There are a few products out there that are specifically designed for giving a trip as a gift, or make for a great “teaser” for the upcoming trip.

Surprise “Pop-up” Boxes have become popular and Etsy user SayItWithLoveCoShop makes a ton of these boxes for holidays, birthdays, celebrations, and of course: trips. This one is their “Vacation Surprise Beach Box Card, Surprise We're Going on Vacation Card” which comes in two sizes like every box: a small (5.25” H x 2.5” W) for $10.95 and a large (7.5” H x 2.75” W) for $14.23.

They also have pop-up boxes for a number of locations- (not just a generic, “we’re going to the beach” like the one above). Look at their New York, Hawaii, Chicago, Italy, Nashville, Japan, Mexico, France, Thailand, and more all on the SayItWithLoveCoShop Etsy page.

This is “Destinations of a Lifetime: 225 of the World's Most Amazing Places” by the very own National Geographic and it’s a great way for the two of you to plan a trip together. That way you can still give this as a “hey guess what, we’re going on a trip” gift but it also allows you to find where you want to go together. On Amazon for hardback it is $40.00, but if you have kindleUnlimited it’s free. 

Or if you already have the destination in mind, look for a travel book that is of said place and gift it. Then they will get a sneak peek at all of the cool things they’ll get to see when you finally get to go.

IIf you’ve seen Pixar’s “Up” then you might recognize the “Our Adventure Book Travel Diary Photo Book” which is made to look exactly like the cartoon. It is on sale for $19.95 (normally priced at $25.99 at Amazon). This could be a great way to gift a trip to your partner as you can say “here’s this, now we can start our very own adventure together because we’re going to x!”

Get them Travel Essentials

If they haven’t traveled (or have but could use an upgrade), then there’s a good chance they will need some travel essentials like a suitcase, packing cubes, or mini-organizers. These gifts alone are a great tip off that you’re going to be going on a trip- because what else do you need a set of packing cubes for?

Packing cubes keep the packing stress away as they keep things organized and compact. The Veken 8 Set Packing Cubes for Travel from Amazon on sale for $16.99 (normally priced at $33.99) can hold: 32 shirts, 7 pants, 5 pairs of underwear, a pair of shoes, and socks. 

This is the FYY Travel Cable Organizer Pouch from Amazon on sale for $9.85 (normally priced at $12.99) which is the perfect place to keep cords, wires, charging ports, mini-battery packs and more. Another great teaser for what’s to come!

TIP: You can even add our blank boarding pass ticket inside one of these cubes or organizers as an extra gift layer.

Ultimately however you choose to give a trip as a gift, whether you decide to go super creative or super practical, this gift will be one you and your family will be talking about forever.