When feeling nostalgic and thinking back on fond memories, it’s interesting the things that stand out.

BIG purchase items like a house, vehicle, wedding ring, boat….all definitely stick out.

So do awesome days spent outdoors – on the lake, hiking around or just having a good conversation on a deck overlooking beautiful scenery……

It seems, that if purchasing an item as a gift or otherwise, for it to be memorable it has to be BIG. People don’t develop fond memories of the $200 jacket you bought them even though they wear it every day.

It appears, the most affordable way of giving a memorable gift, is to give the gift of an experience that you can share together.

People might think they want more stuff, but what becomes clear as we age is that what we really want are more fond memories.

It’s best if you want to give a memorable gift this Christmas, to buy your loved one an experience.

Everyone would love to be considered a good gift giver. A vacation package to Birch Island Resort is a good place to start.

Our resort is designed to deliver memorable experiences. We focus on all five senses:

• Guests remember the beautiful Canadian Shield Scenery around our private island.
• They remember the smell of the mature pine trees and fresh air off of the lake.
• The taste of our signature walleye stir fry during their shore lunch.
• The sound of the waves crashing onto the shore as they fell asleep.
• The feeling of disconnecting from technology and reconnecting with nature.

It’s a very self-serving suggestion that the only way to give a memorable gift is to take your loved one(s) for an experience like you get at Birch Island Resort.

But many studies have shown that material possessions do not equal happiness and that experiences are much more intrinsically fulfilling than things.

Below are a few of the studies supporting this:

• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439760.2014.898316?journalCode=rpos20
• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797614546556?rss=1#aff-1

The studies basically conclude that people tend to get less happy with material purchases over time, and more-happy with experiences.

They speculate that this is because we adapt to physical things, so even the nicest car or newest phone becomes commonplace after enough time, while memories tend to get fonder over time.

It’s interesting how even negative experiences are often looked back upon as a funny story and a bonding experience – Experiences are the ultimate uniting factor.

The anticipation of an experience is also part of what makes it such a great gift because even this creates happiness.

Win #1. Happiness in the anticipation.

Win #2. Happiness during the experience.

Win #3. Happiness in the memories.

Experiences are truly the gift that keeps on giving!

It turns out that Aristotle had it right all those years ago: “Men fancy that external goods are the cause of happiness (but) leisure of itself gives pleasure and happiness and enjoyment in life.”

If you’re still searching for the perfect Christmas Gift – we hope you’ll consider gifting a trip out to Birch Island Resort. Have a Safe upcoming Holiday Season!