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Forget the Toys—These Metro Detroit Experience Gifts Will Blow Your Kids’ Minds (and Save Your Sanity)
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items Skip the toys and give the gift of memories! From the Detroit Zoo and Michigan Science Center to hands-on farms, trampoline parks, and outdoor adventures, these experience gifts offer a full year of exploration and fun. Every membership on this list ...
Map
Sections
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Indoor Learning & Museum Adventures
Outdoor & Nature-Based Experiences
Sports, Thrills & Movement-Based Experiences
Creative Arts, Imagination & Cultural Play
Indoor Learning & Museum Adventures
Ideal for curious minds, these memberships and passes deliver hands-on learning through art, history, and science. Families can visit again and again for creative STEM exploration and cultural enrichment.
A Michigan Science Center membership means hands-on STEM experiences, live science shows, and a full year of unlimited access for the whole household. Perfect for children who are naturally curious and for families seeking meaningful educational outi...
Michigan Science Center
With a Detroit Institute of Arts membership, families gain unlimited access to world-class art, cultural exhibits, and engaging programs designed for children and youth. This membership doubles as a gift that deepens visual literacy and cultural unde...
Detroit Institute of Arts Museum
The Wright Museum membership invites families into immersive history and culture, with exhibits focusing on African American experiences, social justice, and community narratives. This is an exceptional gift for fostering empathy, civic literacy, and...
The Wright
With a Detroit Historical Museum membership, children and families can explore Detroit’s unique past through dynamic, interactive exhibits and local history storytelling. This membership makes a powerful experience gift that supports social studies l...
Detroit Historical Museum
These two together offer a powerful combined membership opportunity for families: hands-on science play, nature exploration trails, and animal encounters. Whether for early elementary learners or whole-family outings, this gift supports inquiry, obse...
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and Leslie Science & Nature Center
A membership to The Henry Ford gives families free admission and free parking to the museum of American innovation, Greenfield Village, and special events—a compelling gift that blends STEM, history, engineering, and social studies. With a clearly ri...
The Henry Ford
This hands-on indoor-outdoor hybrid facility brings Michigan’s wild places into the city with interactive exhibits, simulators, a giant indoor tree climb, and a 35-foot waterfall in downtown Detroit. A family membership is a stellar gift choice—offer...
Michigan DNR Outdoor Adventure Center
Give the gift of year-round discovery with a Cranbrook membership—families get free general admission to two adults plus children/grandchildren under 18, planetarium shows, changing exhibits in science and art, and reciprocal benefits at hundreds of ...
Cranbrook Institute of Science & Cranbrook Art Museum
Located right next to LEGOLAND, SEA LIFE gives families close-up underwater adventures with sharks, sea turtles, and jellyfish tunnels. Memberships offer year-round access and pair perfectly with a day of shopping at Great Lakes Crossing.
SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets - Official Site
Outdoor & Nature-Based Experiences
For families who love to explore outside, these memberships bring adventure to parks, trails, farms, and wildlife habitats. Each outing encourages movement, observation, and connection to Michigan’s natural beauty.
The Detroit Zoo family membership unlocks unlimited daytime admission, free parking, and special member-only perks—all year long. This membership makes an outstanding education- focused gift, allowing kids to explore animal habitats, conservation pro...
Detroit Zoo
The Metroparks annual pass offers entry to all 13 parks across the region—nearly 25,000 acres of trails, lakes, nature centers, beaches and more. It’s a superb gift for families who love outdoor adventure, nature exploration, and year-round healthy, ...
Huron Clinton Metroparks
Just about an hour from Detroit, the Toledo Zoo membership offers unlimited visits, aquarium access, and special member experiences—ideal for families willing to venture a bit for big memories. This makes a high-value experience-gift for older kids o...
Toledo Zoo & Aquarium
Maybury Farm offers families a full year of natural-farm learning: interacting with animals, exploring gardens and forest trails, and connecting to agriculture in suburban Northville. This farm-experience membership gift is ideal for younger learners...
Maybury Farm
Located in Ann Arbor, Domino’s Farms Petting Farm offers hands-on animal encounters, hayrides, playground fun and outdoor exploration—making it a delightful membership gift for early-elementary families. It provides a year of farm-life experiences, p...
The Petting Farm
For active families who love winter sports, seasonal passes or ski lessons make a great cold-weather experience gift. Kids can learn new skills and build confidence while spending time outdoors.
Mt. Brighton | Vail Resorts Mountain Overview
Sports, Thrills & Movement-Based Experiences
These adrenaline-boosting gifts get kids moving and smiling—from indoor trampolines to rock climbing and skiing. Perfect for high-energy children or families who want fun that doubles as fitness.
Bounce It Up in Livonia offers a massive indoor fun zone with a tri-level playground, giant bounce houses, trampolines, slides and obstacle courses—perfect for energetic kids and families needing a weather-proof outing. This membership or pass option...
Bounce House in Livonia | Indoor Fun | Inflatables Livonia Michigan
Ninja Kids Action park features over 30,000 square feet of wall-to-wall trampolines, foam pits, dodgeball courts and an arcade—creating an experience gift ideal for older kids or “big family fun” days that combine high-energy play with social time.
Ninja Kidz Action Parks | Westland, MI
Memberships and day passes offer endless climbing fun for all ages, from beginners to advanced climbers. It’s an empowering way for kids to develop strength, confidence, and focus.
Planet Rock
For teens and thrill-seeking families, this go-kart and VR adventure park offers memberships and packages for racing and virtual reality experiences. A great way to turn screen time into high-energy, real-life fun.
Full Throttle Adrenaline Park
Take flight—literally—with an iFLY Detroit experience! This indoor skydiving center gives kids and families a safe, thrilling way to “fly” in a vertical wind tunnel guided by professional instructors. Experience packages and gift cards are available ...
iFLY Detroit
Topgolf Auburn Hills is part driving range, part arcade, and all fun—families can enjoy climate-controlled bays, food, music, and friendly competition year-round. Gift cards and memberships make it easy to give the gift of play for golfers of all ski...
Topgolf Detroit - Auburn Hills
Creative Arts, Imagination & Cultural Play
This category celebrates the magic of Metro Detroit’s arts and imagination spaces — where kids can create, perform, and express themselves through hands-on experiences rather than toys. From pottery and painting to theatre and immersive exhibits, the...
A STEMville membership unveils a creative “maker-space” zone for kids to engage in robotics, engineering challenges, and design thinking in Northville. As an experience-gift, it aligns with classroom STEM goals while offering children repeated, fun, ...
Stemville
Kids can spend hours building, exploring the mini Detroit LEGO city, and riding kid-friendly attractions. A membership provides unlimited entry and discounts on birthday parties—an ideal gift for little builders and future engineers.
LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Michigan
A vibrant art-studio destination offering pottery painting, mosaics, glass fusing, and six-week wheel-throwing classes that nurture artistic expression and fine-motor skill development in children and tweens. Children walk away with self-created piec...
Creative Arts Studios Royal Oak Pottery Painting
This nonprofit performing, visual and media arts organization in Southwest Detroit empowers youth to explore culture, identity and creativity through high-quality arts experiences—making it an ideal gift to support not just fun but deeper self-expres...
Living Arts
This historic Detroit pottery studio offers hands-on clay workshops where kids can craft and glaze their own ceramic creations. A Pewabic experience fosters appreciation for craftsmanship and Detroit’s artistic heritage — a meaningful, screen-free gi...
Pewabic
Families can gift tickets or memberships to see high-quality, family-friendly performances that inspire empathy and imagination. Each show becomes an opportunity to discuss characters, stories, and the creative process — a cultural experience that la...
Detroit Public Theatre