I’ve always had a hard time giving someone a gift certificate or card. I want it be exciting, not just an envelope with tickets or a gift card in it. So I decided to think outside of the envelope and came up with 5 creative ideas to give a gift certificate.

Creative Ideas for giving a gift certificate

1. Find out something about what you’re giving them. My example is tickets for Blue Man Group. They do a bit about Captain Crunch so I hid the certificate inside the box. The confusion of the recipient is part of the fun, but when they realize the tickets are inside they get excited.

2. Hide the surprise in a balloon. With this cute Pop Me tag they’ll be so excited to find out what’s inside they’ll probably pop the balloon before you even get the pin. Add some confetti for big surprise! Here’s a free Pop Me! Printable

3. Sew together paper. Not everyone’s a sewer so you can staple it together, but make sure you add a fun element inside to give it some texture. Here I’ve got some M&Ms to throw them off track!

4. Jar puzzle. Take an old jar and some slips of paper. Make a puzzle for them to piece together with you holding on to the last piece (or if you don’t want that pressure tape it to the jar lid) so they can’t figure it out too quickly. You can download and print my puzzle here!

5. A few friends have asked how they should give Frozen on ice tickets to little ones. My idea is take an ice cube tray and place the tickets on top. The little ones may not get it, but the other adults will think you’re genius!

Giving a gift certificate is such a great experience gift. Whether it’s for a show, museum or zoo membership or a special date together it’s important to set the excitement from the start.

Do you like giving gift certificates? How creative do you get?

Disclaimer: I do work for Blue Man Productions, but was not compensated for this post. These ideas are mine and I simply used their gift certificate because I had one. All opinions are my own.