This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

5 Tourism-Inspired Gift Ideas

Travel: A gateway for giving meaningful gifts.

Many of us will be going over the river and through the woods to somebody’s house this week, be it for turkey, football or to pick up a fellow shopper.

Ah, yes, the shopping. It’s difficult to ignore the obnoxious advertising and retail emphasis that kicks off at midnight this Friday. I’ve never been a fan of Black Friday shopping. Rather, I like to shop all year long, especially when I’m traveling. I’ll see an item in a local gift shop that reminds me of someone. I bring it home and tuck it away for Christmas. It is fun to tell them the circumstances surrounding the purchase and how much fun I had picking it out for them.

A road trip is a great opportunity to get off the beaten path and to explore a local or small business. Saturday is “Small Business Saturday,” an opportunity to take a surprise exit as you return from your Thanksgiving get-together. Sure, you can hit the metropolitan malls, but think about your route ahead and that one shop that you’ve always wanted to browse but never took the time to enter. Is it across the street from where you gas up? Maybe it’s a “sit-down” restaurant instead of a drive-through window.

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here are a couple of off-the-beaten path locations where I found or received great holiday gifts:

1. While at a tea house with my mother-in-law, we both admired a framed picture on the wall above the table. The colors were perfect for my new home. She surprised me with it later. Every time I look at the picture, I’m reminded of our afternoon tea.

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

2. During a summer trip to the Brainerd Lakes area I spotted a series of collectible black bear statues that I knew my sister-in-law collects. A Missouri resident, she started her collection by camping in the same area a few years earlier. She was excited to add to her collection.

3. After visiting an Afton spa during a girlfriend getaway, we explored a Victorian-style house across the street that had been converted into a gift shop. We had no idea what was inside. I'd been agonizing over what to get the gardener on my list who had recently entered a nursing home. One clay pot and a few bulbs later, he was enjoying the spring shoots in his window sill garden in February.

4. My sister attended a destination wedding. She took various photos that spelled out a letter in the couple’s last name. For example, a tree looked like the letter Y; the end of a swing set became the letter A. Rocks laid in the sand created a difficult letter to find. She made black and white prints of each “letter” and mounted them into a photo frame. The couple now has a personalized gift that is a reminder of their wedding trip.

5. Of course, travel itself makes a wonderful gift. There are many ways to give travel, such as donating airline miles, unused timeshare weeks and loaning your cabin for a long weekend. Don’t forget about being a tourist in your own backyard. Tickets to an attraction, play, 3-D movie, concert or new restaurant may be splurges that we don’t treat ourselves to but love to receive as gifts.

Sure there have been times when December rolls around; I dig out my stash, and I say to myself, “What was I thinking?” But with enough forethought, spreading the cheerful giver season to 365 days instead of the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas helps me to focus on what the season truly means.

Feel free to add your own examples of travel-related purchases that resulted in meaningful gift-giving. Have a great Thanksgiving and may your sleigh not have to be pulled through the “white and drifted snow-oh!”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?