What do you want for Christmas?

November 20, 2006 3:28 PM

What's an all-purpose gift for around $100?

At our annual holiday party, instead of exchanging gifts or secret Santa-ing, we've decided to raffle off a cool gift and donate the proceeds to charity.

I'm looking for for one or two gifts totaling around $100 to $150.

The guests will be thirty-something urban professional types. Winner might be a guy or a gal. Got any ideas? It's for charity!

posted by etc. to Shopping (21 answers total)

Amazon gift certs. The regift potential is huge.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:39 PM on November 20, 2006

I'm a thirty-something urban professional type and I really would like a wine chiller, a subscription to a beer of the month club (the link just goes to a random site I found via google, so I can't vouch for any of them), and I would LOVE a gift certificate to Elsewares or Uncommon Goods.
posted by echo0720 at 3:43 PM on November 20, 2006

Oops, Elsewares. Sorry, I don't know what happened there.
posted by echo0720 at 3:45 PM on November 20, 2006

-Gift cert's for local restaurant, coffeeshop, nice bar, best lunch place near your office, etc
-Gift cert to Zingerman's or comparable gourmet food place. Zingerman's also has cheese-of-the-month, and other of-the-month clubs, if you don't want gift cert.
-Tickets - theater, sports, dance, etc. (depending on location these might be more expensive than you're after)
-Massage
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:50 PM on November 20, 2006

Almost anything from Firebox.
posted by quasistoic at 3:50 PM on November 20, 2006

nice sheets. a gift basket might be kinda cool too because it has so much stuff in it.
posted by Sassyfras at 3:54 PM on November 20, 2006

Other services that urban professionals use and might like paid for.... although, maybe these are too boring to be a fun big-ticket gift:
-Dry cleaning
-Cellphone service
-Subway pass
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:55 PM on November 20, 2006

Aren't mp3 players the standard for this type of thing? Or do too many have them already?
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 3:57 PM on November 20, 2006

A power drill. We are the Ikea generation -- we need power drills. They're my standard gift at weddings.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:15 PM on November 20, 2006

My wife and I take the whole family to a Christmas concert every year.

We pay substantially less than $100 per person, and everyone gets to have fun together and look forward to next year.

We also arrange to have dinner at a restaurant near the concert hall before hand, and that's nice too.

The concert is usually 3-4 weeks from Christmas itself (this year it's this Saturday, one month from Christmas to the day), and when our brothers and sisters see us on Christmas day, they thank us for the tickets.

Also, if you buy more than 15 tickets or so, you can usually swing a pretty generous discount. It's worth it. That's if you deal directly with the venue...I wouldn't know the details if you have to deal with TicketMaster or some other such nonsense.

But that's our little thing. It may not be right for you.
posted by SlyBevel at 4:16 PM on November 20, 2006

A weekend at a nearby-but-out-of-town spa/resort/hotel?
posted by -harlequin- at 4:20 PM on November 20, 2006

A weekend for two at a nearby-but-out-of-town spa/resort/hotel. Oops.
posted by -harlequin- at 4:21 PM on November 20, 2006

How about an iPod Shuffle? List price $79
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:28 PM on November 20, 2006

A couple of sets of Mikasa Cheers glasses. They come in every style of glass and are very fun and stylish.
So much so, they have become a 'standard' gift that my mum gives.
posted by cholly at 4:36 PM on November 20, 2006

If you're getting wine glasses they must be Riedel.

Maybe a set pour blanc et pour rouge.

That will come to about US$80, which leaves you enough to buy two nice bottles of (Australian) Shiraz and Chardonnay.

Now that is a gift that is worth winning, no?

Austrian and Australian together at last!
posted by oxford blue at 5:11 PM on November 20, 2006

Portable Hard Drive
Crystal Marquise Desktop Globe
posted by hydrophonic at 5:15 PM on November 20, 2006

Tiffany's has several vases and bowls in the 100-dollar range, and this may be a girls-only thing, but the several times I've given someone a vase in the lovely blue box, the recipient was very, very pleased-- so that's my all-purpose gift, if it helps at all.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 6:10 PM on November 20, 2006

A good-quality saucepan or frying pan (e.g., All-Clad, Calphalon, Le Creuset) would run about that much at most places and will last a lifetime.
posted by Quietgal at 7:11 PM on November 20, 2006

At my guy's office holiday party, fancy candle holders seem oddly popular. Guys like them for their wives.

All purpose gift = massage. Is that too weird to receive (gift certificate form) in public?

Tickets to a big fancy show (e.g. musical theater).

Cashmere scarf, perhaps in gray.
posted by amtho at 8:54 PM on November 20, 2006

Apple Store or iTunes gift cards.
posted by JPowers at 12:13 AM on November 21, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks to all for the great suggestions. We ended up going with the new iPod Shuffle and it was a big hit.

Also, we raised $700 for charity (New York Food Bank).
posted by etc. at 4:13 PM on December 6, 2006