It’s the holiday season, which means time to do some serious shopping. But what to buy everyone? I get so many gifts that end up in the back of the closet, and I don’t want to do that to the ones I love. That’s why we like to give the gift of adventure! So we put together an adventure holiday gift guide for Utah.
One of the best gifts you can give is the opportunity to get out of the house. Everyone wants to go out and have fun, but they don’t always make the splurge and purchase an outing for themselves. We like to splurge for them, and these gifts are always really popular. Today we are sharing our favorite family adventure gift ideas, as well as the best deals for adventures in Utah. Here are a few that we have found that all Adventure Families in Utah will love.
Black Friday Deals
Here are a few great Black Friday Deals. We have also included some of the deals for our favorite passes in the sections below, so watch for the words Black Friday Deal in bold throughout this post!
Passes
Get Out Pass
The Get Out Pass is an awesome Pass that in Utah. It is so easy to use and has venues all over the state, mostly in Salt Lake and Utah counties. Lagoon is the huge highlight on this pass, and it makes the pass worth it all by itself, especially because Lagoon is raising prices in 2023. You can read all about the specifics on our post about the Get Out Pass. Best of all is the amazing Black Friday deal they are having. Check their website and use our code ADVENTURE for $75 off through Black Friday.
Your kids will be thrilled with a pass for Lagoon, Splash Summit, Kangaroo Zoo, Fat Cats, and much more. They have added a gift option on their website too, so it is really simple to give the pass as a gift. When you purchase the pass as a gift, it sends a code for the person to redeem.
TIP! If you have a Get Out Pass, you can purchase a gift for yourself at this amazing discount. Just choose the gift option, purchase for yourself, and then when your Get Out Pass is about to expire, use the code to renew!!
Lagoon
Lagoon always offers a Black Friday deal on their season passes. If you want to be able to go to Lagoon as often as you’d like, use this deal. Black Friday Deal: Passes are $160.95 through Black Friday, which is an awesome deal since a day pass cost is going up to $98/day. Visit Lagoon.com to purchase.
Some of our favorite places offer passes. We don’t have many special deals for these passes, but we still think they make great gifts because you can use the pass all year round. The pass saves you money as long as you plan to visit enough times to cover the cost. Some of the best places to visit over and over again as a family are listed below. For more detailed info about locations, click on the links to read our posts.
Splash Summit
This is a fun pass for the summer. Splash Summit was once Seven Peaks, but it has lots of fun slide, as well as other water splash areas for all ages. Our boys love it. Black Friday Sale: Season Passes for $35. There are also other deals on parking passes, tube passes, single-day passes, and more.
SeaQuest Aquarium in Layton
They have changed their family passports to just individual annual passports. $39.99 for an annual pass/person. One of the benefits is that you get a free animal interaction during your birthday month.
- SeaQuest Aquarium is a hands-on aquarium where you can feed birds and pet sharks.
Thanksgiving Point in Lehi
- $299 family pass. Black Friday Deal: Family Pass is $251. More info here.
- There are 5 great venues at Thanksgiving Point, so this pass is definitely worth the value (Dinosaur Museum, Museum of Natural Curiosity, Ashton Gardens, Farm Country, and Butterfly Biosphere). They also offer discounts on food, souvenirs, and special tickets with the membership pass.
Hogle Zoo in SLC
- Family Pass $199
- The zoo has added many new exhibits, lots of fun animal shows, and a great playground and splash pad. It’s such a fun place to visit as a family.
- BLACK FRIDAY SALE promotion: Get 2 free Zoo Lights tickets when you purchase a membership.
Tracy Aviary in SLC
- A family pass for up to 4 people is only $99. For up to 8 people is $149.
- We love visiting the aviary. The bird show is so fun, there are lots of hands-on experiences, and it is never very busy. You can visit the aviary year round, too!
- They also partner with lots of places to offer discounts if you purchase their membership like Hogle Zoo, Willow Park Zoo, Discovery Gateway, and more. Makes the pass really valuable. Info here.
Utah State Parks
- $100 for an annual pass.
- With 44 Utah State Parks, this pass allows you to explore Utah. We have visited a lot of our Utah State Parks, and there is something for everyone. When you buy an annual pass, make sure to plan some fun outings over the next year. (Pass does not work at This is the Place Heritage Park.)
This is the Place Heritage Park in SLC
- $100 annual pass.
- This is the Place helps bring history alive. We love visiting the farm, riding the wagons and trains, and interacting with those portraying pioneers. For only $100, the entire family is admitted, and it also includes all the special events except Candlelight Christmas.
Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum in SLC
- $175 for annual pass for adult +2 guests, or $250 for adults +5 guests
- This museum is one of the best in Utah. It has fun for all ages, and they are always adding and updating the fun play areas. The membership pass also includes 3 hours of free parking!
- BLACK FRIDAY SALE: $10 off any membership between November 26-November 28, 2022.
Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper
- $249.94 annual pass for 6 member family, $199.95 for 4 member family
- The aquarium has a lot to see and do, and it is indoors unlike the zoo and the aviary. Our boys love seeing the animals and visiting the touch pools. The membership includes the play area, which our boys love.
- BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: Buy or renew a membership on November 25, 2022, and get a month-long membership for a friend FREE!* Family Memberships will get ONE free month-long membership for every named member on their pass. That means a Quad Family Membership would get FOUR free month-long memberships, and a Grandparent Plus Membership would get TEN free month-long memberships for friends. More details here.
Leonardo Museum in SLC
- The Leonardo is a unique museum with lots of interactive, hands-on things for kids. Our boys love this place, especially the create your own art area.
- Memberships are $105 for families (2 adults and 4 kids).
Treehouse Museum in Ogden
- $110 for 4 adults/youth and 2 children (price depends on number of children)
- We were surprised at how much fun this little museum is. Every exhibit is hands-on and built with kids in mind. My kids love visiting.
Ogden Dinosaur Park in Ogden
- Black Friday Deal: $20% off Memberships. Family passes are only $60.
- Perfect for dinosaur lovers. There is a museum, a playground area, and lots of outdoor dinosaur statues to enjoy.
Family Games
One of our favorite things to do as a family at home or when we are out traveling is to play games. We have found some amazing family-friendly games over the years. Check out our post for the full list. Here are two local companies that have Black Friday deals going on.
Grandpa Becks Games
We have every single one of the Grandpa Becks Games, and we love all of them. They are having a Black Friday sale: $3 off small games and $5 off large games (This was the 2021 deal. I will update once I find out 2022). If you miss the Black Friday sale, you can use our code “Adventure” to save 15% off any game on their website. Our favorite Grandpa Beck’s Game is Skull King.
Gatwick Games
Another local Utah company makes a bunch of fun games. We love It’s in the Bag, Knock out Punch, and Goat Lords. They keep adding new games all the time, too. Black Friday Deal: They are offering up to 57% off all their games just on Black Friday. Our favorites are Goat Lords and “It’s in the Bag.” Check their website on Amazon for all the deals.
Active Adventure Gifts
It’s winter in Utah and kids need to burn that energy. A great gift to give is a spot where they can run, jump, and play for a few hours. We have visited quite a few of these places throughout Utah, and there are tons more to see. So if you have one close to you, consider buying some passes for your family to spend an evening exercising in a fun way. Here are our favorites.
Airborne Lindon
Airborne is new to Utah and they have two locations in Draper and Lindon. We were impressed with how many trampolines were inside, as well as all of the extra things to try, such as obstacle courses and olympic trampolines. This is a great one for teens, too. Black Friday Deal 2022: Bonus Cash on Gift Cards. So you can buy a $50 gift card, for $35 (there are other amounts, too). Great deal since you can use it for birthday parties, jump tickets, and more! All the details here.
Fly High Adventure Park
This location has Adventure right in its name. We had such a fun time jumping and climbing at Fly High. They have a huge dodge ball area, as well as places to do tricks, and even an obstacle course above the lower level. This is a great spot for all ages. We will keep our eyes out for their Black Friday deal.
Products We Love
We try to keep our lives very simple, so we don’t purchase lots of extra items to take on hikes or trips. We don’t buy hiking boots, or fancy car games, so the items we are sharing our real favorites. They are products that we have tried, tested, and found to be worth the money! So here are a few recommendations (and most of these we have given as gifts to our kids before). Click on the picture to be taken to Amazon for more details.
Camelbak Mini Mule
This is the greatest item we ever purchased. Our boys love them and it keeps them happy on hikes. They have a small pocket where I can put a snack, and it makes my backpack so much lighter because they are carrying their own water. Camelbak Mini Mule are currently between $33 and $40 on Amazon depending on the color! That’s less than I paid for ours, but we bought them 7 years ago and they are still going strong.
Melisa & Doug License Plate
One of the best gifts we were ever given was this license plate flip board. We take it on every single road trip, and we have now purchased two more so that everyone has one. We all enjoy watching for different license plates, and this is such an easy way to keep track of them. It also serves as helping kids learn where all the states are, and we sometimes quiz our older kids on capitals, too. Check Amazon for their current price.
Binoculars
We use binoculars on all our National Park trips, as well as any birding adventures we go on. Binoculars are fun because kids can easily learn to use them, and they feel very important with their own set of binoculars. We have bought plenty of cheap pairs of binoculars and they have all been broken by our children. We finally started letting them use our nicer set, and things went a lot better. Everyone could see, and nothing was broken. We have 3 pairs of these, and a few other sets, but this is a solid pair of binoculars for kids and adults.
Headlamp
We keep headlamps in our car. It seems silly, but lots of times on adventures we come across caves or other spots where we need extra light. The best part about headlamps is they are hands free, but you do have to teach your children to point the light down and not to look directly at someone. Our boys love their headlamps and we have loved this Vitchello headlamp. It has lasted really well, has a red light mode for star gazing, and is super comfortable to wear. There are cheaper headlamps, but this one we have tried and proven to be durable.
Local Utah Shops
There are a few local Utah shops where we have found some great gear or great adventures. My boys love getting fun new tees or hoodies for Christmas. And I love giving date night ideas to my husband. Here are a few favorites.
Stately Type
Stately Type has a variety of shirts and bags. We love their Utah and National Park T-shirts that they create. Check their website for discounts. Everything is on sale! They are located in Provo, UT.
Made By Fell
This cute company Utah company designs awesome stickers, postcards, and more. We love that they focus on the National Parks so much. Watch for more details about their sale. Check out Made by Fell.
Utah Grubs Passport
We found this cute passport that has deals to restaurants in SLC and Utah counties. There are different deals each month and it comes with a cute passport where you collect stamps every time you visit a location. We have loved ours this year.
My Little Paintbrush
This local shop has the cutest paint kits. They will no longer be doing in person classes after Christmas, but you can still order paint kits and paint at home. We have loved all of the paintings we have ever done with My Little Paintbrush. We are watching for their Black Friday Deal.
Dowdle Puzzles
Dowdle Puzzles are some of our favorite puzzles, mostly because they are sturdy and because they have one for lots of the national parks we have visited. They have become our souvenirs. Dowdle also create lots of puzzles about Utah because they are located here in Lindon. Black Friday Deal 2021: 40% off. Use code BF21.
We hope that we have given you some different ideas to think about, and we are always looking for ideas to add. What types of adventure gifts do you give to your families? We would love to hear, so we can add to our Utah Adventure Family Holiday Gift Guide
**This post contains some affiliate links, which means we receive compensation if you make a purchase using the links.
