‘Tis the Season for Virtual Holiday Games & Artful Gifts
Whether you’re looking for holiday gifts or fun prizes for virtual holiday games, this list is for you. Find great gifts and support your favorite museums at the same time.
The ideal gift for anyone who likes fun, of course, is a Watson Adventures gift card. They’re good toward any of our virtual scavenger hunts and trivia games, either for the public or for private groups, as well as in-person hunts where available! For those who prefer stuff, your friendly Watson Adventures museum experts (that’s us!) search museum gift shops for gifts of all sorts.
Here is Part 1 of our 2021 museum gift guide, featuring 13 of our favorite museum gift ideas. You can find Part 2 of the gift guide here.
Balancing Act
You don’t have to be a cat lover to enjoy this Meow Balancing Game, but it helps. Do your best to stack colorful balls of yarn atop a cute wooden feline that rocks back and forth, infinitely uninterested in your ridiculous human shenanigans. It’s an exciting party game and a living-with-a-cat simulator in one adorable package. de Young & Legion of Honor, $39
Kitchen Lilies
Fans of Monet and cooking will enjoy this Water Lilies pot holder, tea towel, and apron. They’re lovely, really. Spilling wine and splattering spaghetti sauce on his masterpiece probably wasn’t what Monet had in mind, but still. Lovely. Art Institute of Chicago, $12 to $25
Sun’s Out, Bun’s Out
Designed by artist Kenny Scharf, this hot dog beach towel is the perfect gift for friends and family eager to get back out there and ketchup on travel. Whitney Museum of American Art, $34
Cretaceous Clean
No bones about it: This Tyrannosaurus rex shower head is just the thing for the dino-loving shower enthusiast in your life. Who knew getting spit on by the fossilized remains of the King of the Dinosaurs would be so hygienic? Houston Museum of Natural Science, $25
Oy Ge-ball-t
What makes the answers you get from the Jewish Wisdom Ball, a clever take on the old Magic 8 Ball, “Jewish”? “Well, there’s a good chance your question will be answered with a question, you may be made to feel guilty for having asked in the first place, and once in a while you could be told to put on a sweater.” Sounds about right! New-York Historical Society, $24
A Sharp Sense of Smell
Is this nose-shaped pencil sharpener set the classiest gift on the list? It snot. But goodness nose it’d make a scent-sational gag gift or prize for your office’s virtual holiday games. It even comes with artsy and color-changing pencils. Smells like a winner to us! City Museum of St. Louis, $12
High Twenty-Five
Speaking of body-part gag gifts, these Finger Hands are just the thing to amuse and terrify. Imagine waving to your co-workers at the end of a Zoom call with a handful of these bad boys on your fingies. Truly strange stuff. The Mütter Museum, $2
Not Throwing Away My Sock
When you wear these Alexander Hamilton socks, every room you enter is the room where it happens. Museum of the American Revolution, $15
Couch Potato
After more than a year of lockdowns and quarantines, not everyone is ready to end their couch-potato ways. And neither is Tayto Potato Mochi! This plush buddy can keep your sofa-surfing loved ones company—or keep their cushion warm while they go back out into the world and actually do things again. Museum of Modern Art, $35
Get Your, Uh, Stuff Together
That’s the message behind this clever, slightly crass Knock Knock pad. Life is hectic, but this gift will help anyone track, tackle, and tame all the S-word that needs doing. It even has a handy “Oh S***!” section for any crap that pops up unexpectedly. As if that ever happens… Queens Museum, $5.50
Beetle Bag
Ladybugs are supposed to be lucky, so why not carry one around with you everywhere? This Insects Mini Pouch features a smattering of drawings from Cavallini & Co., known for their vintage natural history art. Dung beetle art sold separately (or not, hopefully). New York Botanical Garden, $14
Hammer Time
Need a gift for a big—make that very big—Avengers fan? Want to smash your wallet like the Hulk smashing a bad guy? Then look no further than this slightly pricy oversized foam Thor hammer. This enormous foam Mjölnir won’t help you battle Thanos or introduce you to Loki, but you bet your Asgard it’ll be fun to goof around with. Museum of Pop Culture, $200
Dandy Andy Decks
We’ll see your slightly pricy hammer and raise you a $1,600 set of Andy Warhol soup can skateboards. Now the skaters in your life can scrape half their skin off, break a few bones, and do the occasional sick trick in style. At least 5% of the proceeds go to a wonderful charity! SFMoMA, and again, seriously, they’re $1,650
Join Virtual Holiday Games
Contact us to learn more about our virtual holiday games: the new Puzzled for the Holidays Virtual Mystery Game, the Joy Around the World Virtual Scavenger Hunt, and the trivia-filled ‘Tis the Season for a Fun Virtual Holiday Game.
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Image credits: Meow game via de Young & Legion of Honor website; hot dog towel via Whitney Museum website; wisdom ball via NYHS website; Hamilton socks via Museum of the American Revolution website; insect pouch via New York Botanical Garden website; Warhol skateboards via SFMoMA website