For Father's Day you may be looking for the perfect present, but if you're willing to go beyond a tie and socks this year, some companies are now offering the gift of a life experience. From rock climbing to skydiving to paintball -- you can chose something that dear old Dad will never forget.

I have never tried rock climbing myself so we decided to meet the CEO of Sambadays.com Alex Barseghian at "Of Rock and Chalk" in Newmarket to give it a try.

Barseghian says the CEO stands for Chief Experience Officer as he likes to try many of the 500 different experiences himself.

"The great thing about our company is that rather than give one gift you can give someone a chance to choose from up to 500 different experiences. You pick the theme and the person gets to choose the activity they want," he said. 

The gift packages range from $49 to $329 and you can chose relaxing activities such as a wine tasting tour or a day at the spa to adrenaline type activities such as skydiving, hang-gliding or driving a luxury sports car.

Rock climbing was an interesting workout. If you do consider skydiving or any other high risk activity it never hurts to check with your life insurance company to make sure that your policy will cover you in the event of an accident. Mine said as long as dangerous high risk activities were not a hobby and only something done occasionally my coverage would be fine.

Also, this is not just something for Father's Day -- you could choose these activities for anyone at anytime of the year. Just another gift idea if you're stuck when you need to get someone a gift and are stumped for an idea.

Key Points:

  • Samba Days gift experiences are available for purchase online at (www.sambadays.com) or at major retailers like Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws, Metro, Hallmark and Longo's
  • Purchasers choose a gift ‘theme' such as action & adventure, gourmet, getaway, life and culture, body and soul, wine or platinum
  • Adventure gift experiences include options like skydiving, paintballing, rock climbing, ziplining, hang gliding and kite surfing
  • Life and Culture gift experiences include options like dancing lessons, segway tours and bartending classes
  • Body and Soul gift experiences include spa packages
  • Platinum experiences include driving exotic sports cars like Ferraris and Porsches for the weekend
  • Prices can range from $49 to $329 with more for platinum experiences. You can earn $10 for every friend that you refer who makes a purchase
  • The pre-paid experience card generally expires one year after the date of purchase
  • Other companies that also offer similar custom life experiences include www.lifeexperiences.ca, www.perfectday.ca and www.trythat.ca