GiftGivingFilter: What's a creative way to give my boyfriend a skydiving certificate for his birthday?
March 5, 2007 3:53 PM   Subscribe

What's a creative way to give my boyfriend a skydiving certificate for his birthday? I know he's wanted to do this, so I know I won't be going into a situation of "Gee... thanks... *crying on the inside*" I want a better way of giving him a gift certificate for a tandem skydive other than handing him an envelope with a print out inside.

I'm also giving him a Jim Cramer Bobblehead so I was thinking of rigging it to the ceiling with a parachute but:

1. I have no idea how to really pull that off without having the skills of John Cusack in One Crazy Summer where he tries to re-rig the sailboat by getting a ball into the top riggy thing.
2. There is no top riggy thing in any of the rooms in his apartment for me to even see if I could do that.
3. I don't want to break/behead the bobblehead.

I'm figuring Jim Cramer doesn't need to be involved.

We are in a long distance relationship and we see each other about every 2-3 weeks so I wouldn't be adverse to mailing him something. I would prefer to see his reaction, but it isn't necessary.

Does anyone have a fun, easy to execute (though I'm willing to do pre-gift opening moment work) to present him with this... present?
posted by spec80 to Grab Bag (13 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Any novelty/party store should have those little parachute-man toys that kids play with for a day (at which point, they usually break.) That seems like a good choice.
posted by JMOZ at 4:08 PM on March 5, 2007


As a side note, if I may--I've met Jim Cramer, what a great guy! A real nice, personable man, (this was at an airport).

I just had to say it . . .
posted by 6:1 at 4:20 PM on March 5, 2007


Yeah, those parachute men! And a snake can, to shoot em out of. You can tape them together for added realism.
posted by metaculpa at 4:27 PM on March 5, 2007


Sorry, snake can.
posted by metaculpa at 4:27 PM on March 5, 2007


Also a derail, but spring for the videotape if it's an option where you're jumping. It's usually expensive, but it's priceless!!! I still get an adrenaline rush watching myself flipping out and hyperventilating on the plane.

You could also give it to him in a pair of goggles. That would be tangible and exciting!!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:30 PM on March 5, 2007


Best answer: Buy a cheap safe (or box and padlock), a magic marker, and three toy parachute jumping men. Plan a dinner out. Throughout the night arrange parachute men in places where he will see them (at dinner table when coming back from bathroom, on windshield wipers of car before ride home, some other place), having put one number from the combination on each one of them beforehand. Return home to find safe/padlock box pre-arranged (on the bed?) to open with the three numbers from earlier.

Alternatively, you could mail the first two to him with a fake return address so he has them before you get there, then find the third out at dinner, come home, find pre-arranged safe/box.
posted by ontic at 5:05 PM on March 5, 2007 [1 favorite]


If three parachute men seem too obvious, you could also use two and 1/2 the combination each time. This would be more cryptic looking. Using the mail you may even get this crazy story about these weird things he's been receiving. If he's ever liked anything like Lost, it will be even more fun.
posted by ontic at 5:08 PM on March 5, 2007


in response to Ambrosia, i recently went skydiving and they let me take my own digital camera. i got some really great shots and some video without shelling out any extra cash.
posted by andythebean at 5:10 PM on March 5, 2007


It's clearly gift-boyfriend-skydive month! I just gave mine the same thing on Saturday night - boringly though, I only handed over an envelope.

You could see if you could (this is just thinking) hire a parachure pack and stuff a gift voucher at the very bottom of the pack for him to open and find.
posted by teststrip at 5:33 PM on March 5, 2007


All-out best would be to take him to the site yourself, on the day, him not knowing what was going on until you got there. And jump out of the plane yourself, too, of course.

If the only practical way for you to do it is to give him a gift certificate, all I can think of is to get it to him at some point on his birthday when he's not expecting it. Give him Jim Cramer first, and let him wonder if that's all he's getting, and have it waiting somewhere where he will find it while going to do something else.
posted by mattpfeff at 5:57 PM on March 5, 2007


Get one of those cheapo balsa wood and rubberband airplanes. Assemble it temporarily. Write a message on it telling him what his gift is, but do it in such a way that the letters span multiple parts and can't be read when it's not assembled. Disassemble it and give it to him, so that he can reassemble it to find out what his gift is.
posted by daisyace at 6:41 PM on March 5, 2007


i gave my boyfriend a flying lesson for xmas, which i presented in the form of a hand-made construction paper collage poster of a little cessna over a mountain and the tagline, "please don't smash it."
posted by twistofrhyme at 11:41 PM on March 5, 2007


Expensive but impressive: Take him for a picnic somewhere. Hire a skydiver to parachute down to your location and deliver the envelope.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:52 AM on March 6, 2007


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