5 year validityOn all experiences and vouchers
Free exchangesOn all voucher purchases
4.6 star ratingFrom 114k+ customer reviews
To exchange your experience, select a product, add it to cart and proceed to checkout.
Once there, enter your voucher number to exchange for a different experience.
The hardest part of buying for the man who says he doesn't need anything is that he's usually right, on the object front. What he doesn't have is an excuse to jump off a bridge, fly over a glacier or golf 1,400 metres above Queenstown. That's the gap this list fills.
He's not hard to buy for; he's just already got the tools, the watch and the jacket. What he's missing is a reason to get outside and do something that scares him a little, or at least looks good in photos afterwards. This list runs from skydiving over three different landscapes to slower days that don't involve jumping off anything at all.
A tandem skydive over the Abel Tasman falls from 10,000ft over snow-peaked mountains and golden coastline. Further north, a tandem skydive above Lake Taupo climbs to 16,500ft, the same altitude as Everest Base Camp, with pickup in a stretch Hummer included. On the West Coast, a tandem skydive over Franz Josef and Fox Glacier trades the coastline for two glaciers and a 200km/h freefall.
The original: a bungy jump off the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, 43m above the river, with a t-shirt to prove it happened. In Hanmer Springs, a bungy jump above the Waiau River runs 35 metres over rushing water. For something that stays airborne, altitude golf paired with a helicopter flight over Queenstown lands golfers on a par-3 course 4,500 feet up in the Southern Alps, while a helicopter flight over Auckland city and its volcanoes or a scenic helicopter flight over Christchurch covers two more cities from above.
In the Bay of Islands, an ocean cruise out to the Hole in the Rock tracks past Cape Brett, or the same landmark can be reached by helicopter over the Bay of Islands for a view over all 144 islands. On the Waikato River, a jet boat ride squeezes through the narrowest stretches of the river at speed, and a boat tour through the Waitomo Glowworm Caves trades speed for the quiet of thousands of glowworms overhead.
In Rotorua, a private cedar hot tub soak in the forest sits hidden among native trees in the Waipa Valley, and a Rotorua and city lakes duck tour covers the lakes and hot springs from an amphibious WWII landing craft, blankets included. North of Wellington, a guided half-day tour of the Kapiti Coast stops at a cheese factory, a chocolate factory and the Southwards Car Museum. For the biggest view on this list, a scenic flight and cruise over Milford Sound crosses two national parks and Mitre Peak before returning to Wanaka by a different flight path.
The problem with picking a skydive for a man who'd rather bungy jump, or a hot tub soak for a man who wants to jump out of a plane, is that his idea of a good day out and yours don't always line up. Guess wrong, and the gift sits unbooked.
A RedBalloon gift voucher settles that. He picks the altitude, the location and the date, and you still get credit for the gift.
An experience gift works when the usual objects don't land: a skydive, a bungy jump or a helicopter flight over Queenstown gives him something to do rather than something to find room for. It also works for a man who's particular about gear, since there's nothing to get the wrong size or colour of.
Skydiving, bungy jumping and jet boating cover most of that ground on their own: a tandem skydive over Franz Josef and Fox Glacier or a bungy jump off the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown are two of the bigger ones on this page. Both come with photos and video included, so the moment doesn't just live in his memory.
It includes a scenic helicopter flight up to the course, five golf balls and use of clubs once you're there, pick-up and drop-off from central Queenstown accommodation, and bottled water for the round.
Yes, a private cedar hot tub in a Rotorua forest, a duck tour of the Rotorua lakes, or a guided half-day tour of the Kapiti Coast all sit at the opposite end of the range from a bungy jump, and they suit a man who'd rather sit down than jump off something.
This page mixes skydiving in with bungy jumps, heli flights and slower days out, while the dedicated skydiving range covers every drop zone and altitude option on its own. Come here for a wider gift shortlist, and go there once he's picked his jump.
For a milestone rather than a general gift, birthday gifts cover the same range with an age or decade in mind. Anyone set on the jump itself rather than the surrounding day can go straight to the full skydiving range and compare every drop zone on offer. For something with a story to tell afterwards rather than an object to unwrap, arts and entertainment rounds out the less physical end of the range.