When Bradford and Jilly Berry’s daughter Harper was five, the then-Gananda residents decided that before she started school, they would travel. They sold their house, bought an RV, and set off across the country “to show her all the places materialism kept us from seeing,” Bradford says.
While their journey was extraordinary, the sentiment behind it isn’t. More families are choosing memories over “things,” and research supports it. A 2020 study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found people derive more happiness from experiential purchases than material ones. Judging by the overwhelming response when our team asked others to share their own experiences over possessions, it’s clear that more and more families are prioritizing time together over material things.
For the Berrys, the year on the road reshaped their priorities. Now living in Fairport, Bradford says RV life “slowed things down in the best way” and reminded them how little they truly needed. “Even now that we’re back in ‘house living,’ those values have stuck. We still prioritize shared experiences over possessions, and it’s brought us closer as a family,” he says.
Owner of Webster-based Gemini Travel, Flo Englerth, notes that multigenerational travel is on the rise. Fueling the growth is people longing for connection after the pandemic, a growing interest in genealogy, and trends on pop culture sites like TikTok, with its viral destination videos and family travel inspiration. “Now, trips are about more than leisure. They serve as an emotional reset—a chance to reconnect, rediscover one another, and celebrate togetherness,” she says. “Families are cherishing shared experiences more deeply than ever, recognizing that time spent together is invaluable.”
Of course, not all memory-making experiences are about travel. Sometimes the most meaningful moments happen right at home, in simple rituals, shared hobbies, or small adventures with the people you love.
A Shared Soundtrack
At 46, Emily Malone of Irondequoit and her dad started a new birthday tradition last year, with her birthday in the spring and his in the fall. Both music lovers, when he asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, she suggested a concert. “So, now he buys tickets for a summer show for my birthday, and I buy tickets for a winter concert for his. Last year we saw James Taylor and Pentatonix. Hopefully, we’ll get many more years with the new tradition. Time with my dad is the greatest gift.”
Cake, No Gifts
For Christine B., of Webster, making memories meant getting together every month for dinner with some of her closest friends. “We always celebrated birthdays but no gifts. Just the cake. We have the best memories of all 10 of us singing happy birthday all off key. We did it every birthday. [I’m] so very thankful for that memory because sadly we lost two to cancer. I’ve been best friends with these girls since the '90s. Gosh I miss them terribly. Those memories are the gift. Better than anything someone could have purchased with money.”
Wrapping Up Time
When her son left for Italy to play soccer after graduating high school, Greece resident Dawn Sevene began documenting the year—both his adventures and her life back home. She decorated a box labeled “Letters to Jacob,” filled it with notes she wrote, photos he sent, and small mementos. The tradition continues today: She draws on each envelope, tucks in spare cash from her purse, and saves everything to wrap up at Christmas.
“The first year, I wrapped the whole box as is. When he opened it, he had no idea what was inside—and I hadn’t opened it all year. There was so much in it,” she says. “We sat together going through it—it took over an hour. He read the letters, asked questions, looked at the photos and laughed. He tried to figure out what I drew on each envelope. I had numbered them; there were weeks he looked at the calendar to decode them. We didn’t leave until we had gone through everything. It was the first true quality time we spent during gift opening. It was truly an amazing bonding moment … You can give a child anything, but in the end it is the time that matters.”
Blindfolded Adventures
Growing up in the Bronx on a limited income, Una Margaret Kennedy, 69, of Fairport, was raised in a home that valued creative memory-making. So when her twin daughters were young, she created what she calls the “mafia car ride” (not as ominous as it sounds).
After discovering her husband’s travel eye masks one day, she told her girls to put them on, ask no questions, and get in the car. The surprise? Ice cream at Lickety Splits in the village.
“Soon, my two began to ask for a ‘mafia car ride’—sometimes after a good grade or cleaning their rooms without being asked. I blindfolded them and took them to the movies, the bookstore, for pizza, to the park, even the ‘cat farm,’” she says. As they got older, the adventures grew too—from manicures to, once in high school, seeing Josh Groban at the Auditorium Theatre.
The tradition expanded to include her sons-in-law and now even her two-year-old granddaughter (no blindfold just yet) with a surprise trip to her favorite diner. “Memories matter because they can be cheaply made but valuably kept,” Kennedy says. “There are no storage lockers big enough to hold them but a tiny heart can and will contain them, forever!”
A Mantra for Living
From a young age, Alana Roberts of Canandaigua, was given the gift of time with her dad, Alan Bernhardt. Since her parents divorced when she was five, time with her dad was important. From camping trips and traveling by map (not GPS), from cooking classes together, he made sure their shared experiences were memorable. “‘Experiences, not things’ became a mantra, a guide to living life to its fullest. I am so grateful for having been raised with the mindset that came from my dad.”
Growing Through Adventure
Irondequoit native and Auburn resident Lisa Bloss says her son, Liam, has always loved experience gifts—and for the past two years, he’s requested them almost exclusively. From white water rafting, to glass blowing, to staying at a cabin at a honey farm, the more unique the activity the better. Most recently, they played with river otters. “Whether I'm fully interacting in the experience or just watching, I'm always filled with so much pride for the young adult he's becoming. Our relationship is incredibly close and we genuinely enjoy spending time together on our little adventures,” she says. “Most importantly, though, every time my son completes an activity, I get to watch his self esteem grow. He always looks a little older to me at the end of those days.”
Finding Shared Moments
Full-time working mom of kids ages six and three, Megan Gardner of Palmyra, says she and her husband have become much more intentional about choosing memories over material things. “Less buying, fewer packed schedules, and more presence. The time feels fleeting,” she says. With birthdays in December and January, they end up having a lot of stuff by the end of the holiday season. “Over time, we’ve shifted toward prioritizing experience gifts and simple shared moments. Backyard tent camping, exploring the Finger Lakes, winter board games, dance parties, just being together,” she says. “When I think about the end of my life, it won’t be the things we bought that matter to me. It’ll be the memories we made and the love we shared, and I hope that’s what my kids carry with them too.”