5 Real-World Reasons Why You Should Give A Great Virtual Gift With Giftwrap + 5 Kinds Of Awesome Virtual Gifts

When birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and other gift-giving events roll around, often our first instinct is to scour our favorite online and brick-and-mortar stores for gift ideas. Whether clothing, potted plants, kitchen gadgets or home decor, much of what we think to look for are physical items that we’d like to add to our recipient’s material possessions.

Not all gifts have to be physical, though. You can also get someone a virtual gift!

Virtual gifts can be an outstanding way to show a friend, coworker or loved one how much you care - but what the heck is a virtual gift, anyway?

Virtual gifts (sometimes called “digital gifts”) are gifts of non-physical, or “virtual,” items or experiences. Think of it as anything that could fit 2 in an e-mail instead of a box or envelope.

Rather than being a tangible object, like a car or a pair of sneakers, a virtual gift could be:

• a premium membership to a popular streaming service like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, or Disney+
• a subscription service like Xbox Live, Headspace, or AllTrails
• a gift card for an online store or physical retailer like Amazon, Best Buy, or Steam
• a gift card for a local business like a spa or brewery
• a ticket to an in-person experience like a movie or show
• a virtual experience like a live video call cooking class, wine tasting, tour, or guided meditation
• a series of deliveries from a themed subscription box service like Loot Crate, Book of the Month, or BarkBox

A virtual gift might also be:

• access to digital music, videos, e-books, or audiobook media libraries like Audible and The Criterion Channel
• enrollment in online classes and coursework like those by Masterclass, Williams-Sonoma or Rosetta Stone
• enrollment in local classes and activities through Groupon or Classpass
• an online interior design consultation with a service like Havenly or The Expert
• a online ancestry service like those provided by Ancestry.com or Embark
• personalized media made by celebrity content creators on Cameo
• a charitable donation in their name to an organization like The World Wildlife Fund or the ASPCA

Some of those sound kind of cool, huh? If you think so, someone you know probably does too!

Virtual gifts aren’t just an awesome, unconventional way to appreciate friends and loved ones - they’re also a great gift idea for anyone who has trouble giving any kind of gift. In some ways, it’s the easiest and most effective type of gifting there is, so it can be helpful for those looking to learn more about spreading joy through giving.

Virtual gifting can have several distinct advantages over physical gifting. Here are our top five reasons to buy a virtual gift whenever you want to show someone you care!

1. First, virtual gifts are perfect for last-minute gifting. Most virtual gifts can be instantly sent to the recipient’s phone or e-mail after purchasing, so there’s no need to worry about addresses, shipping speeds, or delivery delays - just place your order and it’s in their inbox!
2. That also makes virtual gifts super accessible: Because they don’t have to be physically packaged and transported to the recipient, it doesn’t matter where they are whenever you feel like giving them something. As long as they have an internet connection, they’ll know you’re thinking of them!
3. Virtual gifts are also more flexible than physical gifts, which can be helpful to both the gift giver and the recipient. Rather than running the risk of getting someone clothing that doesn’t fit their body or style, you might consider buying them a gift card and letting them make their own selection - no matter what they choose, it’ll remind them of you!
4. Because many virtual gifts are experiences, virtual gifts can be more impactful than physical gifts. If you’re gifting for a couple, two tickets to a local theater production or a three-month subscription box of date night activities may make more memories than even the most thoughtfully-chosen item.
5. Finally, virtual gifts can be less expensive than physical gifts, and are often a better value - A three-month Spotify Premium subscription gift card for a music-loving friend may cost as little as $30, but could amount to hundreds of hours of listening to their favorite tunes and discovering new artists!

Now that you know what makes virtual gifts such a great gift idea, you might be thinking about researching virtual gift ideas for that special someone in your life.

To help you get started, here are what we think are the five main categories of virtual gift ideas and some examples of each:

Subscription service memberships

Many entertainment services today are available via subscription membership, offering access to music, movies, shows, and more on a recurring payment plan. And as it turns out, buying someone a few months of membership to one of their favorite subscription services might be one of the most popular and surefire virtual gift ideas there is! Subscription services like Amazon Prime, Spotify Premium, Apple Music, Xbox Live, Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ are more popular than ever, so odds are good that whoever you’re gifting for will appreciate you picking up the tab for a bit. A virtual museum membership could be the perfect gift for someone interested in art or history!

Subscription boxes

Subscription boxes are also growing in popularity, with service providers like FabFitFun, Every Plate, and Hunt A Killer offering everything from wellness products to meal prep kits to murder mysteries using a scheduled delivery service. With a series of gift boxes for recipients to look forward to and enjoy, subscription boxes can make for great gifts that keep on giving! Consider a self-care subscription box as a thoughtful gift for friends fond of a proper pampering, or a Bean Box membership for the coffee connoisseur you know.

Gift cards

Gift cards might not be the most exciting virtual gifts, but they’re still one of the most popular and best virtual gifts that you can buy because of the variety of gift cards available for purchase. While Visa and MasterCard gift cards can be used to buy almost anything, store gift cards can offer more specific shopping experiences that still leave room for personal choice. A gift card to a clothing store could be used to update a wardrobe or restock on socks, while an Apple or Best Buy gift card might encourage them to splurge on a fancier phone or laptop next time they’re in the market for one!

Virtual experiences

Virtual experiences are perhaps the most unique kind of virtual gift. Companies like Airbnb, Kickoff, and Virgin offer a variety of virtual experiences that allow anyone to enjoy fun and exciting activities from around the world in the comfort of their own home. Send someone on a live virtual tour of a historical location or place from their past with a friendly and knowledgeable tour guide to answer all their questions, or invite an expert sommelier into their home (via video call) to treat them and their friends to a private wine tasting!

Virtual items

Virtual items include things like live event tickets, online class content, custom-made content like Cameo videos, personalized music playlists, software, bonus content for video games, and digital media like photo and music files. Whether you’re thinking of a pragmatic present like an online class for learning a new language or something more recreational like a new video game off of the Steam store, virtual items can be just as wonderful and welcome gifts as physical ones!

Did that get your gift-giving gears turning? We hope so! With annual gift-giving events coming up fast, it’s still not too late to think about giving a virtual gift this holiday season!

Need a little help picking one out?

Never fear - Giftwrap is here!

We’re happy to announce that we’ve begun adding more virtual gifts to our catalog!

Giftwrap now offers more gift-giving variety than ever before, including not only hundreds of awesome physical gifts for every kind of recipient, but a growing selection of carefully-curated virtual items and experiences that your friends, family, and coworkers are sure to love.

Check out our catalog here!

Looking for a more traditional virtual gift guide? Stay tuned for our next post on the best virtual gifts of 2022!