Holiday gift guide: the best travel gifts for those with wanderlust

Sometimes the best gifts aren’t things at all; they’re memories. Activities. Events. Explorations.

Travelers know this. Wanderlust could be summed up in one phrase: “The need for experiences, not objects.”

If you’ve got an avid traveler on your list, the best food for his or her heart is to help feed the travel bug. Here are our favorite holiday gifts for travelers—from stocking stuffers to ways to save money on purchasing the best gift ever: a holiday vacation.

Stocking stuffers: A creative or cool luggage tag

This is an inexpensive but thoughtful gift that will be a travel buddy for years to come. These flip-flop style Kate Aspen luggage tags at Target are great for beach bums and tropical explorers. Check out this full beachy keen luggage tag gift set for $25. For something super cheap but quirky, how about a Storm Trooper luggage tag (under $5 at Target)? Or, if your traveler is more of a luxury travel type, we adore these silver airplane luggage tags at Target. Best of all, you can score 12 for $45, which means outfitting a whole family and their luggage. This also is a clever way to announce to your family you’re taking them on a trip: Stick a printout of the itinerary in the tag slot!

For kids: An exciting object to announce a big vacation

One of the cheapest times of year to fly is right before or right after Christmas—and it’s also of the least busiest seasons to hit up tourist hotspots. If you want to take your kids to Disney World, a great idea is to gift the tickets under the Christmas tree. But kids like and often expect things, and the promise of a future vacation can feel like a bit of a letdown in the immediate moment, so present their gift to them with excitement and flair. Put a huge box under the tree and fill it with helium-filled Mickey Mouse and Disney balloons—like 125 Mickey Mouse latex balloons at Walmart for just $18.66 (plus free shipping). When your kid opens the box, a bundle of Disney balloons will fly out. At the bottom of the box, put a card from Mickey, a Disney DVD or a new Disney backpack (better yet, a Frozen backpack) for them to bring on the plane. With the rest of the balloons, get creative. You could create a pathway of balloons from your kid’s bedroom to the Christmas tree, leading up to the box. Or fill the entire living room with balloons.

Big-ticket gifts

Many travel websites also hold amazing Black Friday specials. Check out Travelocity’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday events to save money on the gift of a vacation. The first 100 bookings on a week or longer cruises get a bonus $100 cruise cash.