Anyone else out there getting overwhelmed with the number of wants and THINGS? I am a gift giver by nature and love to see someone’s face light up with a gift I’ve given, but as my kids’ age, I’ve really begun to appreciate the “experience gift” over the next new toy. What’s great about this particular experience gift is that it is the ultimate DIY– learning a new skill!

This is the seventh day of my 12 Days of Christmas DIYs for 2018. Each day for the next twelve days I share DIY projects, recipes, entertainment, and more, that you can incorporate in your holiday season. Most will be super simple! This post is in partnership with the Hoffman Academy. I received complimentary services. All images and opinions are my own.

I am a part of several moms groups on Facebook and as this holiday season arrives there are countless posts looking for ideas for experience gifts that they can suggest to grandparents or loved ones for their children to help stave off some of the over-abundance of the season. I love this idea but have never really had great options in the past. I’d love to gift my child lessons or sports items, but I also know that it can be SUCH A huge time commitment that I hesitate to do something similar for someone I know. When I discovered Hoffman Academy, an online piano lesson site, I was super excited about the opportunity to do lessons on our own time.

A bit about Hoffman Academy

Hoffman Academy is an online piano lesson “experience,” credited with turning children, from beginner to advanced levels, into extraordinary musicians.  Children develop their skill easily and quickly via the “Hoffman Method,” which focuses on learning by ear before learning by eye. Online games help with mastery of concepts and practice tracks make students feel like pros. This new way to learn the piano is engaging, entertaining and effective – and a great way to give the special gift of music, for the holidays and year round.

All of the video lessons are available for free! However, the premium package offers printables, daily practice instructions, games, and much more. Budding musicians can now receive a full year of the Hoffman Academy Premium package for $179!  For Ages 5+.

** Holiday Special Update: For a limited time (ending Monday, December 14th at 11:50 PM PST) purchase a year of Hoffman Academy Premium and receive THREE additional memberships! Learn more on the Hoffman Academy website. **

The really cool part (for me at least) is that you can create a parent/mentor account and add your children (or yourself!) as students. My account has both myself and my son as students and the system will keep track of both of our progress individually. Yep, you read that right… I’m learning the piano too! I’d love to be able to break out some sweet piano skills in the middle of a party! Again, the accounts are totally free and you have access to the video lessons right off the bat. Then if you find that you’d like the premium features it is only $18 a month with $9/month per additional student.

Twelve Days of Christmas Songs

In the upcoming weeks, the Hoffman Academy will be releasing twelve different lessons featuring a different holiday tune so that you can learn a new holiday song each day! Check out some of the videos from last year’s 12 Days of Christmas Songs on the Hoffman Academy blog.

DIY Piano Experience Gift Card

You still want to make giving an experience gift as fun as giving a toy. When it is a promo code or gift card it makes it a tad hard to make it super fun.. but, you can use the attached card as a tag added to a gifted keyboard or piano or an adorbable stuffed animal as pictured above. Or, you can slip the free printable piano card into an envelope with a message about the gift.

This gift card would work perfect for a gift subscription to the Hoffman Academy, to give with tickets to a symphony concert, or as an invitation to a holiday karaoke party!

Directions for free printable piano holiday card:

• Download the free printable piano card file.
• Print double-sided on cardstock
• On the side with the piano, cut out along the charcoal colored outer line. Fold the card down the center. Once folded you may find that you need to trim the card a bit.