“You know you want to!”
With Christmas now only a week and a half away, time is rapidly running out to finish up all of your shopping and wrap all of those gifts. In fact, if you have just looked at your list and realized that you forgot someone or that you still haven’t found gifts for some of the people that are hard to shop for, you may be starting to reach that point of panic. However, there’s no reason to fear the fact that Santa is coming to town because if you need some gifts quick, one of the easiest ways to grab some gifts (and help out a local non-profit at the same time) is to purchase a membership to a local public garden, museum, or zoo for your friend or family member.
Local public gardens, museums, and zoos typically offer annual memberships that will give your friend or family member a number of benefits including free or discounted admission, discounts on purchases in the gift shop or other similar locations, invitations to special members-only events, and a variety of other perks. In fact, many gardens, museums, and zoos actually have reciprocal agreements with other similar institutions so that if you have a membership for one garden, museum, or zoo, you may be able to use it to get free or discounted admission at another garden, museum, or zoo (although, it is important to note that only some institutions will accept memberships from other institutions, and there may be some additional conditions that apply in some cases.) Best of all, you don’t even need to leave your house to get one. All you need to know is your friend or family member’s address and the website of the organization you want to get them a membership from such as the Museum of Science or Zoo New England.
Photo via VisualHunt