If you type in ” learning gifts for kids ” you will find a million different ideas. But let’s talk about adults. Mark Twain once said, ” Anyone who stops learning is old. Whether twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing you can do is keep your mind young.”
How many of you can say you are learning new things every day? It is easy, as an adult, to get trapped in the mundane, every day tasks. Work, Eat, Clean, maybe watch a show, Go to bed, repeat.
One of the things I love to do with gifts is spark a desire or add fuel to the fire of someone’s interest. If you pay enough attention, you will hear people mention things that interest them that they wish they had time to pursue. I love to find a thoughtful way to give them an opportunity to go after those things they’d love to learn more about.
Today I wanted to start with a cool discovery I made when looking for a gift for my dad.
My dad is one of those hard-to-buy-for-guys. He has enough money to buy what he wants and needs, and gifts for his hobbies (golf and photography) have pretty much been tapped out. A few months ago I heard him mention that he wished he knew how to use some of the photo software he had purchased. Since I had no idea how to use Adobe Lightroom, I kept that comment in my gift idea file and when his birthday rolled around earlier this month I started looking for online courses that would help him.
I found one, purchased it, and he has LOVED it. There are a lot of websites that offer online courses after tons of research I chose CreativeLive for my dad’s gift because the courses are in-depth, have reviews, and you have life-long access to the videos. I also liked that there were assignments and homework to do. Almost every day my dad calls to tell me about something new he learned how to do in his software. Gifting win!
I loved this gift idea so much I became an affiliate for CreativeLive and they gifted me a course to do for myself. I’ll share more about my course as I go through it. (I’m so excited!) Even though I was given a course all of the opinions on the courses and classes are my own. The reviews on the class descriptions speak for themselves, these are great quality classes!
CreativeLive is a website that has SO many different classes in the categories of Photo & Video, Art & Design, Music & Audio, Craft & Maker, and Money & Life. I’ve combed through the available video courses and there are at least 40 I want to take. Seriously. You should be able to find a gift for someone on your list (or yourself!).
*This post contains affiliate links. This means when you click on a link and purchase an item, I receive a small marketing payment from Amazon.com or CreativeLive AT NO COST TO YOU!
Photography Basics
There are 72 (!) Courses for beginning photographers. Whether the giftee is getting a new camera and this will be an additional gift, or perhaps they have a camera already and want to improve their photography skills these courses will help them.
The Beginning Photographer’s Crash Course – 24 video lessons and 4 student projects
Newborns: Props and Posing- This would be a great gift for new parents. I would have loved to have tips on taking pictures of our babies.
Quick Start Camera Courses– There are 73 courses specific to cameras (Sony, Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Olympus, Fuji, Fujifilm). They are called Quick Start classes that help you take “advantage of your camera’s capabilities and get great shots.”
Photography Software Courses-
Photo editing is a big part of great photography and I can tell you from personal experience that this software is not exactly intuitive. These classes (including the one we bought for my dad!) will help get them up to speed.
Adobe Photoshop The Complete Guide
Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements
Adobe Lightroom CC for Beginners
iPhoneography
I love these courses all about taking better phones with your camera (goes right along with this post on mobile photography gifts!) Here are just a few of them.
How to capture Action with your iPhone
How to edit and Organize Photos in your photos app
Learning Gifts for Creatives
Hand Lettering 101- I would love to take this course (and my daughter would too!) add some Brush Lettering Pens
28 To Make: This course challenges you to create 28 creative project ideas. So fun!
Fashion Design Start to Finish
Introduction to Calligraphy You could add some calligraphy pens 
to this gift!
Illustrating Characters and the stories they tell
Learning Gifts for Crafters
Digital Scrapbooking for Beginners
Make your own Bath and Body Products
Knit Maker 101: Learn how to knit
Simple Sewing Projects for beginners
How to sew your first skirt and understand patterns
Creating Boutonnieres and Corsages
Creating Wedding Centerpieces and Bouquets
Now is the time to snag a GREAT and unique learning gift for someone on your list. This is just a small sampling of the courses available. I could’ve spent hours looking through the courses to tell you about them. Which course seems like a great gift for someone on your list? Which one would YOU want to take? (High on my list are knitting, 28 to make, Hand Lettering and Photoshop Elements.
When you are ready to purchase you can “gift this class.” You choose a date for an email delivery and you are ready! I made a little certificate for my dad and put it in an envelope for his gift. You could add some things to go with the class (knitting needles, cross stitching supplies etc).
I hope this sparked an idea for you, these classes would be great for a hard to buy for person on your list. I think they will LOVE these courses!
Happy Gifting!
Steph
