Two Can’t-Miss Annual Gifts for Your Grandchildren

Do you want to entice your grandkids away from their smartphones, video games, and TV?  Do your grandchildren have enough stuff?  Perhaps it’s time to invest in some memories together. Here are two season passes that are can’t-miss get-outside gifts that you can share with your grandchildren.

1.  A Carowinds season pass.  The advantage of a season pass over a day pass is you don’t have to stay all day to get your money’s worth.  If you also get a pass for yourself and the parents, any combination of you can take the kids for a few hours at a time and take advantage of either the rides or the water park depending on the weather.  For grandparents, it’s a great way to spend time– maybe not exactly with your older grandkids–but certainly around them.  They will be on rides you may not want to ride, but you can sit on a bench in the shade and read a book.  One grandmother in our Sun City neighborhood picks up her grandkids a few times during the summer, takes them to Carowinds for a couple of hours, and then takes the kids out to lunch. It’s a great day for everyone.  A season pass also gets the kids into the SCarowinds Halloween themed evenings in October.  SCarowinds is a major fall attraction for area kids, but it is not for younger children.  One 11-year-old girl told me, “I love the roller coasters, and I’m not afraid of them at all, but I really don’t like the clowns.” Carowinds has something for all ages such as Planet Snoopy, Dinosaurs Alive, and live entertainment.  It is a can’t-miss annual gift.  
2. U.S. National Whitewater Center (USNWC) season pass.  The AllSport season pass comes in two prices:  Adult (10 and over) and Youth (9 and under).  The pass gives the holder unlimited access to almost everything the USNWC has to offer, which is a ton of fun stuff–hiking, mountain biking, ziplines, rafting, a climbing wall, and much more.  The canopy tours are not included in the AllSport Pass, but they are certainly worth the extra cost, especially when you consider there are both day and evening tours.  The whitewater activities range from family-friendly beginner experiences (minimum age 8) to adventure rafting (minimum age 11) to rodeo rafting (minimum age 16).  A guide warned us about the rodeo rafting: “You will at some point be out of the boat.”  He was right.  Land activities include multiple rope courses as well as the climbing walls.  The USNWC also has summer camps and K-12 Educational Adventures.  

Instead of buying your grandchildren more things, try buying them memories.  Memories last longer.  You get to be the cool grandparent, and your grandchildren get something they really want.