Help me, Tarheels, buy a local experience.
March 4, 2015 11:35 AM   Subscribe

Two friends, retired but very active, curious, well-educated and well-informed, are getting married this summer. They are the classic "people who have everything" tangible - art, antiques, books, fabulous garden, vacations, urban chic, rural chic, etc.

She will be moving to Chapel Hill, where he has lived most of his life. I would like to give them a wedding present other than a "thing," yet they already know Asheville and the like. A popular answer to this type of question is an evening at a fine restaurant, but can we come up with something a little more imaginative, preferably for under $300? Would not have to be Chapel Hill, but not involving too much travel. Actually I will be grateful for any and all suggestions - maybe not a puppy, though.
posted by mmiddle to Shopping (12 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Concert tickets? Here or here.
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck at 12:00 PM on March 4, 2015


Best answer: You can hang out with lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:01 PM on March 4, 2015 [3 favorites]


Dang it Rock Steady, you beat me to the lemurs.

I would suggest purchasing a gift certificate for Painting with Lemurs--$95 per person and they'll have some kitschy lemur artwork to put in their new home.
posted by lucy.jakobs at 12:06 PM on March 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Southern Season does classes and other random foodie events. Here is an event calendar, and here is the school calendar.

I live in Chapel Hill and I'm blanking on anything beyond Southern Season, which is ridiculous. I'll come back if I think of anything else.
posted by hought20 at 12:08 PM on March 4, 2015


Best answer: Oh, here's another one: Dinner on the Porch at Elodie Farms. I know you said no fancy dinner, but this is more of a unique experience. I don't know how you'd pay in advance, though. I'd say email them about it, if you're interested.
posted by hought20 at 12:12 PM on March 4, 2015


Response by poster: These are all wonderful! - thanks a million. Almost hard to choose, even (though I'd happily take additional ideas - plenty of other gift-giving occasions coming up). Lucky, to live in such a creative place.
posted by mmiddle at 12:20 PM on March 4, 2015


Best answer: Hang gliding lessons if they're fit, tandem lessons if they're not that fit (paraplegics can do this, it's so easy). Location: outer banks for the regular lessons, and the tandem lessons are at a tiny airport about 45 minutes north of that.
posted by amtho at 12:21 PM on March 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: There's also the Playmakers Theater in Chapel Hill (which is really quite good) and the usual symphony, ballet, opera, etc. in Raleigh.

For edgier theater, maybe Manbites Dog in Durham, or Burning Coal in Raleigh.

There are also various concerts, classes, plays, and other events at the Carrboro ArtsCenter (Carrboro is basically attached to Chapel Hill). I don't think they have season tickets, but I could be wrong.

There's also a high-quality touring show series at Duke University (Duke Performances), and a series of concerts by the Ciompi Quartet (you could watch for their summer performances at Duke Gardens, which is lovely - one can walk through the huge gardens then sit down to a really good concert - but I don't think those will be posted for a while).

Oh! One more food-related idea: Afternoon tea at the Carolina Inn.
posted by amtho at 12:37 PM on March 4, 2015 [1 favorite]


Best answer: More cooking classes:

Durham Spirits Co. (not actually alcohol focused, though there is a cocktail class)
La Farm bakery (James Beard Award-nominated!)

Perhaps they would enjoy some social dance classes, either in a group or privately?
Ninth Street Dance, many group and private classes
Triangle Swing Dance Society
Private lessons for many dances in the triangle
Blues dancing in the Triangle
posted by Maecenas at 1:00 PM on March 4, 2015


Best answer: I really enjoyed going to Maple View Farm and getting a delicious cone of ice cream. It's on a beautiful little hill, and has rocking chairs to just enjoy the NC air. You could buy them a gift certificate if you call, I think.

I also enjoyed picking strawberries at any of the local strawberry patches. Most places are pick-as-many-as-fit-in-your-basket kind of places. Some of them aren unattended, with just a money box with a slit in it for payment. You could give them $10, earmarked for strawberries. Perhaps also some fixin's for strawberry pie or jam?

Neither of these would be fancy gifts, but if I were moving to Chapel Hill, I'd love that somebody took the time to seek out local, unique gifts.
posted by cmchap at 1:44 PM on March 4, 2015


Best answer: I'm surprised we've gotten this far without someone mentioning a membership to our amazing zoo (which is only about an hour away from CH) or to the planetarium. If they plan on doing any traveling ever, even just to the beahch, either membership would get them into a wide variety of zoos/etc all over the place. My zoo membership paid for itself three times over one year. :)

If they're beer geeks, Mystery Brewing is right up the road in Hillsborough. It's a comfy space, they do a lot of live music, the beer is good (so I'm told, I have to stick to cider), and there's a lot of good food in town in general; it makes a nice day/evening trip. I don't know if they do gift certificates, but I am twitter friends with the owner's wife and would be happy to find out for you, if that sounds like thing they'd enjoy. Oooh, and it looks like they've added tours of the brewery periodically - now I'm tempted. :)

The Durham Life and Science museum is solidly aimed at kids, but there are some spaces - like the butterfly house - that are totally worth the trip for adults.

(And I'm totally mining this thread once my wife moves here, because there's stuff here I didn't know about and I grew up here and have been home for over 10 years!)
posted by joycehealy at 9:32 PM on March 4, 2015


Best answer: Triangle Food Tour

I really enjoyed the Durham one, and I'd guess that the others are good as well.
posted by oakroom at 9:12 AM on March 5, 2015


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