Drew Barrymore on Why Travel Experiences Make the Best Gifts

"I always take them somewhere because I want to show them a life experience," she told T+L. "Memory building for me is so important."

Drew Barrymore is ready for a much deserved vacation this holiday season.

The actress and producer has been hosting her own daytime talk show — aptly titled "The Drew Barrymore Show" — since 2020, and launched a monthly magazine last year while raising her two daughters, Olive and Frankie Barrymore-Kopelman.

“We’re gonna go chase the sun!" she told Travel + Leisure recently of her holiday plans. "We work in a windowless studio nine months of the year [so] I just thought, ‘Oh, what's something like, with a horizon?’ We're going to go to a beach and just literally be like porpoises and dolphins and do some snorkeling. I usually try to do something really cultural, but I think the girls and I are so tired from hard work and working in school, we need to go faceplant.”

When it comes to gifts under the tree, however, the "Charlie’s Angels" star says those cultural experience is the present she prefers to give her children every holiday season.

“I am one of those mothers that sounds like a mean Scrooge because I don't buy them presents," she said. "I always take them somewhere because I want to show them a life experience. Memory building for me is so important. So I've never really done presents under the tree."

With this year being the exception for some much-needed R&R, the actress told T+L that her trips are typically very active with a planned itinerary.

“I'm the one who researches all the local cooking schools or, you know, the hotels that we need to visit or the obscure restaurants we can't miss or the little secret spot," she said.

But whether she is traveling, hosting her daytime show, or just doing her laundry at home, the actress is always practicing sustainability.

The actress, has teamed up with Grove Collaborative, an eco-friendly home and personal care company, as their first ever Global Brand and Sustainability Advocate in April. This was an easy move for Barrymore as she had been a customer of the company for years.

“What I love about them is you can have the products, you can shop for others, but it's all under that same sort of quality, the same eco-ethos, so you're never straying far," she said. "I was amazed because it was the first place I found that did have everything in one place. So when they called me, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, you guys!’

She is trying to keep sustainability in mind whenever she travels.

“I think more and more we're just trying to figure out how to have one splurge choice and then how can everything else around it come down? Or how can you get everybody on that commercial flight and then stay at a hotel that is eco-minded. And then how you pack and what you bring in the amount and what products you bring. Every little step really counts for me,” she told T+L.

Specifically, she recommends Grove’s Tree-Free Compostible Kitchen Wipes for travel and just everywhere in general (and their Peach Soap Bars.)

“I never leave home without them!” she said.

Packing less is part of this effort as well as Drew admits her organization skills are a work in progress.

“My systems are getting better by the day in the year," she said. "And when I pack it's so basic. It's like a couple pairs of giant boxing underwear [and] a couple of really cozy, cozy socks. Some ratty, old whole threadbare thin sweatpants and nice vintage t-shirt. And then if I'm going to a beach like maybe [I’ll pack] a dress — that I really never ended up wearing because I'm so much more comfortable in those sweatpants!"

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