If your family is like our family, you don't need more "things." I've long believed that stuffed animals replicate themselves at night. If you have multiple children, you undoubtedly have plenty of toys.
I've always been a fan of "experience" gifts. They are my favorite gifts to give and to receive. I love watching my girls' faces light up when they experience a new show or try something new. This holiday season, consider gifts of experiences—not toys—for your family and friends.
Tickets
Disney On Ice Preferred Customers can purchase advance tickets starting today to get the best seats available before tickets go on-sale to the public on November 21. Fans can still sign up to become a Disney On Ice Preferred Customer and get exclusive access to the pre-sale offer code: PARENT
Memberships
We love family memberships to local attractions. Members enjoy free admission, special members-only events, and, in many cases, reciprocal relationships with other venues in other cities for discounted or free admission. Some favorites include:
Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium FOTZ Membership: You can choose your membership level to include just admission or add on unlimited rides (a favorite for families with young children). In addition to enjoying our fabulous zoo year-round, members enjoy special events and discounted or free admission at zoos across the nation. When you purchase a Premier Friends of the Zoo Family Membership (an excellent family gift) to the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium you’ll receive a free plush sea turtle, representing KC's resident sea turtle, Tortellini. Gift memberships may also be purchased in person at Guest Relations. To ensure delivery by Christmas Day, we recommend ordering by Dec. 15. Kansascityzoo.org
KidScape at Johnson County Museum
Johnson County Museum: Members enjoy free admission to Kidscape and the entire Johnson County Museum, as well as a 10 percent discount in the Museum Store, discounts on museum programs, and invitations to exhibit openings and special events. Become a member today!
Urban Air Trampoline Park: You may choose a membership at the Overland Park or Lenexa locations or buy a combo membership to enjoy both parks year-round. They offer three levels of memberships so you may choose the value. Attractions include virtual reality, Sky Rider, ropes course, climbing walls, Leap of Faith, Wipeout, ProZone performance trampolines, Warrior Course, Battle Beam, Drop Zone, indoor tubes playground, and basic trampolines.
Science City Membership: Science City is a great indoor venue for families to enjoy year-round. Members enjoy special events and discounted admission for ticketed exhibits. Free admission to Science City for 12 months, discounted tickets to exhibits, ASTC Travel Passport Program with discounted admission to 300+ museums, Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium first visit for free and additional tickets for only $4. Regnier Extreme Screen theatre popcorn for only $1 and a 10% discount at Union Station venues. Membership is reciprocal with other science museums across the nation, meaning you can enjoy free or discounted admission when you travel. Buy a membership to Science City. Tip: Treat the family to Holiday Reflections at Union Station to reveal the surprise of a Science City Membership. Holiday Reflections Ticket Price: Monday – Friday: $7, Saturday & Sunday: $10. Get up to 4 FREE tickets when you buy or renew a membership. And, be sure to check out their newest big exhibit, Bricktionary!
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Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium
Explore the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium, with nearly 10,000 animals on 202 acres, it's the most affordable family fun for kids of all ages! Travel all over the world without ever leaving Kansas City.
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Science City at Union Station
Kansas City’s Science Center, Science City at Union Station Kansas City, is a dynamic, hands-on science center featuring nearly 200 individual interactive exhibits and daily programming. Kids of all ages experience the amazing world of science fir...
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Urban Air Trampoline Park Lenexa
If you’re looking for the best year-round indoor amusements in Shawnee, Bonner Springs and Lenexa area, Urban Air Adventure Park is the perfect place!
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Urban Air Trampoline Park Overland Park
Urban Air Overland Park is an attractive solution to a common problem: needing one place to entertain kids of every age.
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Oceans of Fun
With waves of fun from mild to wild, Oceans of Fun offers AMAZING for everyone in the family. Extreme water slides appeal to thrill seekers and kiddos love our pint-sized slides, geysers, and foundations at Crocodile Isle.
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Worlds of Fun
Kansas City’s amusement park with 235 acres of family rides, thrill rides, and waterslides, including seven world-class rollercoasters and admission Oceans of Fun, the city’s first waterpark.
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Johnson County Museum staff, 2020
Johnson County Museum
Featuring award-winning long-term and changing exhibitions as well as public and school education programs, the Museum is a great place to spend the day learning about our county’s history and having fun in our hands-on exhibit spaces.
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LEGOLAND Discovery Center
Legoland Discovery Center Kansas City offers a fun, highly interactive and educational 2-to 3-hour indoor experience. Based on the ever-popular Lego® brick, Legoland Discovery Center provides a range of interactive play areas.
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Sea Life Kansas City
This aquarium experience will get you up close and face-to-face with amazing underwater creatures such as sharks, octopus, our green sea turtle named Gertrude, stingrays, sea stars, seahorses, jellyfish and thousands of colorful fish! A favorite a...
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Powell Gardens
Powell Gardens is a not-for-profit botanical garden located just east of Kansas City, Missouri. Our mission: to be an experience that embraces the Midwest’s spirit of place and inspires an appreciation for the importance of plants in our lives.
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Tanganyika Wildlife Park
Tanganyika Wildlife Park
Forget We Bought A Zoo! This family built one from the ground up. Learn more about the fascinating origins of Tanganyika and how we built a world-class collection of animals.
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National WWI Museum and Memorial
The National WWI Museum and Memorial is America’s leading institution dedicated to remembering, interpreting and understanding the Great War and its enduring impact on the global community. Named one of the top 25 museums in the United Sta...
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Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is Kansas City’s favorite free attraction, as voted by readers of KC Parent Magazine! Discover masterpieces in the galleries, spend quality time together at a festival or drop in for a weekend art activity. Classes...
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tomofbluesprings Getty Images
T-Mobile Center
T-Mobile Center is Kansas City’s home for sports, concerts, family shows, collegiate competitions and special events.
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J Robert Schraeder
Coterie Theatre
The Coterie Theatre, named "One of the Five Best Theaters for Young Audiences" in the U.S. by TIME magazine, provides unique theatre experiences for families and young audiences.
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Midwest Trust Center
The Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College connects and enriches the community with live performances for all ages.
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RoKC North KC
RoKC’s facility is housed in a building that was initially used to build tanks, and later to rebuild trains. It is important to RoKC that the building retains its historic industrial feel, while providing a modern, world-class climbing facility wi...
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RoKC Olathe
RoKC’s mission is to bring a state of the art climbing facility to the Olathe community, and provide a fun, adventurous environment, capable of teaching and challenging individuals of all ages and abilities.
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Tick Tock Escape Rooms
Our quality and creativity is what separates Tick Tock® from the crowd. We use sound, technology, and other special effects to bring your game to life in an immersive experience you won’t soon forget. Our puzzles are well thought out, and blen...
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Ceramic Café
Pottery painting and glass fusing. Walk-ins welcome. Great for birthdays and group events too.
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Family Tree Nursery Overland Park
What sets Family Tree Nursery apart is our passion for plants. Our bedding plants look better because they’re grown better – we grow almost every bedding plant we sell at our own greenhouses.
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Crown Center Ice Terrace
Enjoy ice skating at Kansas City's original outdoor rink, open annually November-March.
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Chicken N Pickle: Overland Park
An indoor/outdoor entertainment complex including a casual, chef-driven restaurant and sports bar that boasts pickleball courts, a variety of yard games and enough space to kick back and relax with your favorite peeps.
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The Rink at Zona Rosa
The Northland’s newest ice rink is at Zona Rosa this winter season. The Rink at Zona Rosa is open daily through February 2021 for public ice skating, curling, pond hockey, special events and more.
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Kanga's Indoor Playcenter and Cafe
Open 7 days a week, America’s newest indoor play venue offers kids hours of running, climbing, jumping, and sliding through incredible play spaces.
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Inspired Play Cafe
A positive, nutritious, and educational indoor play space for a child-led approach to play-based learning. Featuring interactive classes and event schedule, private celebration space, and a full food and beverage menu.
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Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun: Enjoy unlimited visits and free parking to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun with your season pass. Best of all, your Gold Pass includes exclusive discounts, early park access, and more! This year is the PERFECT time to buy a season ticket to Worlds of Fun! Buy a membership today!
Open 7 days a week, Kanga's Indoor Play Center offers kids hours of running, climbing, jumping, and sliding through incredible play spaces. Kids 3 and under can play in their dedicated toddler play area, while the bigger kids can explore our 7,200 square foot, multilevel playscape and test their skills in the ball cannon arena. When they’re ready to tame the high seas, they can take a ride on our exclusive pirate ship swing or go for a bounce in the jumping castle. Kanga’s also has a full café, complete with barista-style espresso drinks, fresh baked muffins and cookies, and a variety of yummy food options sure to please almost any palette including kid-friendly combo meals at very affordable prices. Purchase 5 or 10-visit passes for savings to this favorite indoor play spot. Hint: Kanga's Indoor Play Center is a great go-to on cold winter days!
SEA LIFE Aquarium
Sea of Lights
Legoland and Sea Life memberships: Legoland and Sea Life offer multiple membership levels offering free admission, discounts in the shop, discounts on tickets for guests, and birthday parties - and even a combo pass to enjoy BOTH attractions for unlimited visits all year long!
The Coterie Theatre A great option for busy families, a Spotlight Pass is like purchasing season tickets without committing to a set schedule. The flexible pass includes 10 tickets for any mainstage show in our season. You may use all your passes on a single production or spread them out over any combination of shows throughout the season. With a $150 Spotlight Pass, it’s all up to you!
Powell Gardens' Festival of Lights photos by Kristina Light
Powell Gardens: Members enjoy free admission to top-notch annual festivals (including the Festival of Butterflies and Festival of Lights) and free or discounted admission to more than 200 gardens and arboretums across the country and discounted classes and programs for families.
Tanganyika Wildlife Park
Tanganyika Wildlife Park is offers great membership packages. Learn all about this incredible place (where you can swim with penguins, ride camels, feed big cats, and experience unforgettable animal encounters, here.
This holiday season spread joy and love with ultimate gift for nature lovers: Tanganyika Wildlife Park Season Passes. Get 'em now at the lowest price of the year, and enjoy perks like early entry, exclusive goodies, and a $100 gift card for more excitement. But hurry, last season's Gold Pass sold out. Season passes your key to: fun animal experiences.
- VIP Treatment: Enjoy early entry to the park. winter access and activities, and passholder exclusive events.
- Unlimited Visits: Visit as often as you’d like throughout the entire season, immersing yourself in all Tanganyika has to offer.
- Splash Park Access: Dive into fun with exclusive access to our exhilarating splash park.
- Exclusive Perks: Receive special discounts on food, merchandise, and additional park experiences.
- Learn about all of the perks of our passes here.
Sean Pavone Getty Images
Liberty Memorial Tower at the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Opened in 1926, the museum is dedicated to remembering, interpreting and understanding the Great War.
The National WWI Museum and Memorial: Enjoy free admission and special events. You may also purchase additional museum tickets for guests at half price.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Members enjoy free admission to featured exhibitions and free parking. Upper levels also include free admission to other art museums.
David Tjiptogarsono
Design Ranch: Truman Library photo shoot. New renovation of 30 million USD.
The Harry S. Truman Library & Museum: One of 15 presidential libraries, visitors are able to experience engaging exhibits and programs, the library aspires to reach a broad and diverse audience in a continuous effort to keep President Truman’s life and legacy alive, emphasizing his ideals of citizenship, learning, and service. Friends of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum enjoy these membership benefits: Free Museum admission at the Truman Library and all Presidential Libraries of the National Archives. Museum Store discounts. Invitations to Member-only events. Subscription to TRU Magazine. Free or discounted tickets to the annual Howard & Virginia Bennett Forum on the Presidency.
More Ideas
- Crown Center Gift Card: Enjoy dining and shopping at Crown Center, or a spin on the ice at the Ice Terrace while experiencing the holiday decorations.
- Pool Passes: Buy a membership to your local indoor pool at the neighborhood community center or YMCA or buy next summer's outdoor pool pass.
- Sports Season Tickets: Kansas City is home to several terrific sports teams—tickets to one game or the entire season make a great gift. Buy season tickets for Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Chiefs, Sporting KC and KC Mavericks.
- Theater Tickets: Our local theaters offer a variety of shows for all ages. Season tickets are often less expensive than the per show ticket price. Families with children will enjoy season tickets to the Coterie (you may choose shows for older or younger children or a mix). KCRep offers shows that are typically suited to teens and adults, but A Christmas Carol is fun for all ages. Midwest Trust Center at JCCC offers shows for all ages throughout the year, and other local live theater groups are other great options. You may purchase single or season ticket packages as a great gift for theater buffs.
- Tickets to Shows Coming to Town: Follow our Kansas City calendar to discover the latest shows coming to town.
- Summer Camp: Register now for summer camp. Use our “Camp Guide” for the scoop on the best local camps.
ROKC Olathe, photos by Kristina Light
Unforgettable Experiences
- Rock Wall Climbing: ROKC Olathe is an indoor rock wall climbing facility featuring 35- to 50-foot walls for all skill levels from beginner to expert, 15-foot bouldering walls, fitness equipment available for ages 14+, cardio equipment, elliptical equipment, Jacob's Ladders and facilities for Advanced Climbing Training (for those with a year of experience). The attraction is great for single-day visits (purchase a day pass or multiple visit punch card), memberships and parties.
- Escape Rooms: Tick Tock Escapes is our favorite local escape room company. Their Pyramid Paradox room is a favorite with incredible special effects reminiscent of an Indiana Jones film. Teams of six to 10 people are "locked" in a room for an hour, and they solve puzzles trying to figure out how to escape. Each room features a different theme and a different set of puzzles. Find even more escape rooms in our Going Places Guide on KCParent.com.
- Movie Tickets: Treat the family to a movie. Save money and head to the theater during a matinee or discount night, or splurge on a dine-in theater or 4D experience.
- Paint Your Own Pottery: Ceramic Cafe offers clay building, ceramic painting and glass fusing. Enjoy Creative Story Time for little ones, special classes or their walk-in programs to make gifts and holiday decorations.
- Classes, Plants, Landscaping: Family Tree Nursery boasts three local locations. This beautiful local nursery not only offers everything you need for landscaping, they also offer home decor and a variety of classes. Colonial Gardens in Blue Springs offers a Kids Club and great family classes as well.
Ice Skating: There are many great places to ice skate this winter, and you'll find them all in our Going Places Guide.
- We especially love outdoor ice skating at Crown Center Ice Terrace (2425 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO, 816.274.8411). The Ice Terrace opens for the 2023 season Nov. 3 with FREE skating from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. The rink overlooks the mayor’s Christmas tree during the holiday season. Enjoy public skating daily. For more details on the Ice Terrace schedule and policies, visit CrownCenter.com/IceTerrace.
- Chicken N Pickle (5901 W. 135th St., OPKS. 913.703.5950) is another favorite. Offering the most affordable daytime skate rates in town, Chicken N Pickle offers fun on their Ice Pond all season long. Check their calendar for family skates, character skates, and holiday skate parties. Chicken N Pickle is the place to gather on game day. "Sunday Funday" is where parents can watch the game, kids can play in the game yard, and families can come for brunch & bingo. For adults - Snowbound holiday pop-up! Make a reservation to experience our craft holiday cocktails, small bites, and a great place to gather pre-holiday.
- The Rink at Zona Rosa (8731 N Stoddard Ave, Kansas City, MO. 816.208.3690) Enjoy shopping from local and national retailers, dining at an eclectic mix of restaurant options and ice-skating under the lights at Zona Rosa. For hours and information visit: https://www.zonarosa.com/events/events/the-rink-at-zona-rosa/
This list should get you started. For even more local inspiration, search our Going Places Guide on KCParent.com where you can search local attractions and discover some great unique options from indoor skydiving and inflatable places, to go-karts, arcades and more!
Kristina Light loves the wide variety of local attractions across the metro. She blogs regularly about the best of Kansas City on KCParent.com.