Comments on: This will not stay in Vegas

Question: This will not stay in Vegas

po822000 — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:55:02 -0800

What are some good gift ideas that are quintessentially "Vegas" that I can bring back home to my wife?

I'm at a conference at Caesar's, so not leaving the hotel complex would be preferred.

By: Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:57:15 -0800

Dice. You can buy the dice in the gift shop.

By: Fred Wesley

Fred Wesley — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:57:44 -0800

Vegas shot glass and Vegas gamblers/card visor are pretty classic. I'm not sure if thats what those are actually called - you know, one of these

By: BlooPen

BlooPen — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:03:29 -0800

Ethel's Chocolates would be my first choice. Maybe not quintessential, but more likely to be appreciated than kitsch. I don't think they're in Caesar's, but you can get them at the airport on your way out of town. My husband wooed me with these chocolates a couple of times :)

By: COD

COD — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:04:47 -0800

I brought my wife an Elvis refrigerator magnet.

By: Night_owl

Night_owl — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:07:28 -0800

I would want a chip from the casino.

By: zoinks

zoinks — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:14:57 -0800

Seconding a casino chip or few. I always bring a few back from any casino. I think they also sell decks of cards that have been used at the tables...? They have the corners cut off...? Anything with the classic "Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas" sign graphic.

By: dfriedman

dfriedman — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:52:24 -0800

A jackpot?

An STD?

More seriously, don't they sell snow globes of the various hotels there?

By: mrsshotglass

mrsshotglass — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:57:12 -0800

I have to side with BlooPen on the Ethel M chocolate. I'd purposely schedule a layover at McCarran just to buy some.

By: AMSBoethius

AMSBoethius — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:58:32 -0800

Step out onto the Strip and get some of the calling cards that guys pass out to advertise hookers. Then again, if she'd get horribly offended by this, maybe not.

If she's a sports fan, perhaps place a small wager on her favorite team to win (next game, league title, etc).

If the towels at the Caesar's Palace are monogrammed, maybe you could swipe one or two?

Nthing the suggestions for dice or cards that were used in casino play.

By: thinkpiece

thinkpiece — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:58:55 -0800

Professional shuffler card-slider thingy. Showgirl pasties. Sigfried/Roy white tiger (stuffed). Wayne Newton CDs by the truckload. Armbands like the dealers wear.

By: little light-giver

little light-giver — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:31:55 -0800

Those cards with holes punched in them so you can't try to use them at the casino.

By: SuperSquirrel

SuperSquirrel — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:26:55 -0800

Something from the Pawn Stars pawn shop?

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:51:33 -0800

I think most casinos will sell sets of chips or decks of cards with their logo on them.

Elvis-themed things are also good, for the kitsch factor.

If there's any iconic "show", some little thing from that show may be fun (one of my favorite "vegas souvenirs" was the little square of glittery Mrs. Grossman white tiger stickers that was left at every seat in the audience when you went to see Sigfried & Roy).

By: herrdoktor

herrdoktor — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:53:26 -0800

All right. This is going to be long and I'll try to summarize it all at the end. Basically, I'm gonna give you the best advice for Vegas you will hear, ever, because if you follow my advice, you will:
- Always leave Vegas a winner
- Make many people happy
- Come into possession a gift that's worth giving
- Possibly score the biggest jackpot of your life.

Am I making myself clear? This here is GOLD. I'm giving you GOLD. I am hesitant to share it with the internet at large, because I've found that the more people I share it with, the smaller my returns have become.

I recognize that you are in Las Vegas for a conference, and that you are in search of a gift that screams "Vegas" to your wife. Firstly, let me express my condolences for being a Vegas conventioneer. I've been one, and it was painful. You've got ID tags and lanyards, and everyone in the convention congregates and gambles has a good ol' conventioneering time. It's pathetic. Business + Pleasure? This is WRONG. You must first get this out of your head if you are to attain the pinnacle of all gifts. Vegas is business. ALL THE TIME. Got it? BUSINESS.

Wake up. Find your in-room safe. Pick an easy-to-remember code, because you do not want to go through the time or humiliation of having security come up to open it for you, thus revealing its contents to them. You will understand this.

Now shower or bathe, whichever you prefer. Use ONE bar of soap. The other soap? Put in the room safe. Leave a small, simple note: "I NEED SOAP," or "SOAP, POR FAVOR," or "LOTS OF SOAP" work. Place a fiver next to it, and draw an arrow.

On your way out, you will invariably run into housekeeping staff. Ask them for soap. Give them your room number. Give them a couple of bucks.

Go conference and stuff. Let the excitement build up! What will you return to? One bar? Two bars? You'll likely only come back to your room and peek around the corner into the bathroom to discover your fiver and note gone, and a measly couple of bars of soap. This is ok. Put the soap in your in-room safe.

Make another note. Place another fiver next to it. Ask for more soap.

Do this every day. Housekeeping staff appreciate tips. They have a lot of soap. They would like you to be clean. They will think that you are strange. They will think you are a thief. It doesn't matter. Vegas is business. Business is money. And I guarantee you that by the end of your visit, you will have amassed a safe full of soap.

But why is soap so special? Well, I'm not sure about Caesers, but some of the properties have totally rad and fancy soaps. Mandalay Bay has these glycerine soaps, and they charge twelve bones for them in the gift shop! What a crock! Soap is awesome because it's soap. Soap becomes more awesome when you have a lot of soap. Because then you don't need to buy soap. And also, every time you run out of soap, instead of feeling deflated and leaving the tub or shower to find another bar, you grab a bar of soap from Vegas, and the smell will become intertwined with all memories of Vegas.

Quantity trumps quality, sometimes. If you get a lot of soap, you've obviated a Life Concern. That's one less thing you will ever have to worry about. It's like toilet paper. Buy four rolls at a time, and it's a pain in the ass. Buy four thousand rolls from CostCo, and that part of the brain that has a counter which decrements with every used roll, ultimately triggering stress and anxiety when it gets to zero, well, that part of the brain can now be used to do other things. Great things, even.

I consider myself a low-mid-high-roller. I place big bets. I've won a ton of dough betting one number in craps, because the shooter looked like Philip Seymour Hoffman. But the best jackpot I've ever come across was returning to my hotel room after a long walk, some baccarat coffee, and going to the bathroom. In place of the note and cash I had left for the housekeeping staff was more than fifty bars of soap. Fifty. I had soap crammed into every corner of my bag, and god knows what it must've looked like to airport security, under their scanners.

Fifty damn bars of soap. Add this to the dozens of soaps from the other properties from other visits, and, well. Let's put it this way: I haven't had to buy soap in a long time. And every time I reach for a new bar, I think: "Aaah, this smells like WIN!"

So focus on getting soap. Lots of soap. It's a gamble, cause you might get a few bars, or you might get a bunch. You'll make the housekeeping staff happy, and everyone comes out a winner, except for the casino. Tough shit for the casino, though. But business is business.

SHORT VERSION:
- Leave note: "MORE SOAP PLEASE" and $5 bill in bathroom
- Tip housekeeping staff, ask "MORE SOAP PLEASE, ROOM #xxxxxx"
- Store soap in in-room safe
- Be persistent
- 100 bars of Vegas soap, scored in Vegas fashion, makes for a great gift. Two bars? Meh.

NEXT LESSON: How to score casino robes and slippers for free.

By: lilac girl

lilac girl — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:20:52 -0800

Well I was going to suggest shot glasses from every casino you visit, but herrdoktor has really sold me on the soap.

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:44:47 -0800

Collect enough porn-slapper cards to play Go Fish with.

By: po822000

po822000 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:47:33 -0800

Herrdoktor: it is I don't know what time in Vegas, but I'm convinced you've increased my wolfpack of one (though I've had impure thoughts about coworkers since posting.)

You are my hero.

By: Dr. Zira

Dr. Zira — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:41:10 -0800

If you have any room left in your suitcase after packing in all the soaps, there is a Max Brenner chocolate shop in the Forum Shops.
*sniffs hands freshly washed with recently acquired Aria soaps*

By: thinkpiece

thinkpiece — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 05:17:55 -0800

Well, IANYW, but don't even bring me cheap hotel soap, let alone 50 bars of it.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 05:51:02 -0800

Depends on the hotel. Some places have cheap stinky perfumed generic soap, but I've also stayed in rooms where they stock Aveda products. And that's pretty nice stuff. An additional five bucks a night for all the soap you can carry would be cheaper than buying from a hypothetical discountavedahotelsoapsonline.com.

By: kindall

kindall — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:08:36 -0800

So wait, how is tipping $5 so housekeeping will bring you soap not buying soap?

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:51:14 -0800

A hundred bars of good soap for a total $15 or $20 outlay is a fantastic bargain, even if they're hotel giveaway size.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 09:15:01 -0800

It's buying soap, just at a huge discount based on herrdoktor's research into the gift shop.

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:39:08 -0800

Update on the soap hoarding, please!