| Extravagant, offbeat gift ideas |
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Deyette says another good idea for
the wine connoisseur is a refrigerated wine cabinet.
You can buy one that holds from six bottles to 150
bottles. These can cost from $130 to $8,000 at wineenthusiast.com.
Note: Units vary in size, so consider your friend's
square footage.
White says that buying restaurant and dining experiences
is a trend now for the wealthy. To treat your loved ones to luxury,
book a private table at the nicest restaurant you can think of,
and if you're feeling even more generous, pay for their stay at
a nearby luxury hotel.
On wallbounce.com, you can book a private chef table
for six, at Alain Ducasse Restaurant at the Essex House in New York.
You begin with champagne -- Laurent Perrier Grand Siecles, of course.
An eight-course seasonal tasting menu with wine pairings follows.
Cost of a dream meal: $5,000.
Drive like a spy for a day
Know someone in the Northeast who really, really
likes cars? Give them a ride to remember in "the
only Astin Martin Vanquish available for rental
anywhere in the country," according to Wallbounce.com.
For $1,650 your giftee can run errands and tootle
around the town for 24 hours in a beautiful car
valued at $240,000. Thinking that something topless
might be more their speed? Rent a Ferrari 360 Spider
for the weekend, the cost for three days with a
free half day comes to $4,950. The daily rental
cost includes 100 miles per day with each additional
mile billed at $1.95 per mile.
Decking the halls
If no other gift seems safe, home decor offers a gift path well
beaten. If you want to strut down the path, however, the experts
advise:
If you're thinking "art prints," don't also
think, "I know your taste so well that I can easily pick something
you like." It isn't that simple, even if you know the art someone
already owns.
"Art is so subjective," Deyette says. Instead,
she suggests buying photographic artwork. "What's great about
photo artwork is that it can fit into any theme."
Photo art Web sites such as Wall
Kandy feature snapshots of destinations from Bangkok to Brazil.
Typical prices range from $50 to $105, depending on whether you
purchases frames.
If your friends have too much artwork already, buy
them a consultation with a decorator, Deyette says. If you want
to skip the part where you pay for the new furniture, you can get
a decorator who will come to your friend's home and move furniture
around and write down suggestions.
Thrilling ideas in a heartbeat
Yeehaw.
Forget dance lessons. How about flying lessons, a
hot air balloon ride or bull riding instruction? Organize a trip
for someone to ride in a race car or go skydiving via a Web site
such as Thrill
Planet, which specializes in adventurous outings. For those
who like excitement, "Anything with an adrenaline rush is good,"
Deyette says. Lessons and rides range from $139 to $500. For some
experiences, you'll have to call for pricing.
Movie manics
Of course, for loved ones who have a sparse DVD collection, Deyette
suggests starting them with a little DVD library.
For the traveler, she suggests portable
video recorders. Products, such as the line of Archos
mobile digital video recorders, download movies,
music and TV shows so you can play them right on
the video recorder screen in a plane or in a car.
It can store between 80 hours and 400 hours of video,
depending on the model. It costs $300 to $600 at
Archos
or J&R.
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