Engineers Unite! Sneaky Santa Gift Idea...

[cbr shadow]

My company is doing our annual "sneaky santa" gift exchange next month and I'm trying to think about what I want to do this year.  I try to come up with "engineer-y" gift boxes just for fun.  Usually the gift is a giftcard, but the fun part of the gift is the package it comes in.
For example:
Last year I put the gift card in a wooden box that had a single opening just big enough for a hand to fit into.  In a non-accessable chamber in the box I put a crazy vibrator.  I made this from a strong electric motor with an uneven weight attached and a battery.  I controlled this with a remote that I had in my pocket.  There were instructions on the box saying that they had to reach into the box to get their gift, but that elves inside the box were very upset.  When someone reached into the box to get their gift I pushed the button and made the box vibrate.  It went over really well.

Since I know there are a lot of engineers here, I was hoping to get some ideas from you guys.  I have electronics knowledge and am fairly mechanically inclined, so lets hear some ideas!

[cbr shadow]

95 views and zero responses?  C'mon Mustachians I know you're better than this!  Lets hear some ideas!

One idea I was considering was getting a cube shaped container and spraying it with a non-stick spray, then filling it with water with the gift card hanging from a string centered in the water.  I'd freeze the container outside (or in a freezer) and then remove the container so that I have a 6"x6"x6" ice cube with a gift card in the center.  I could put that in a cooler and keep it outside until right before the gift-giving.  I would probably include an ice pick in the cooler with a note saying "get to work" or something similar.  Obviously someone could just let it melt instead of using the ice pick, but it would still be funny during the gift opening.

[KulshanGirl]

Build a tiny gingerbread village with the gift card hidden somewhere inside, and wrap a godzilla doll to open and unleash on the town?

Buy a childrens board book and surgically implant the card (through the edge?) into one of the pages?

Buy a potted plant and bury the card in the dirt under the plant, and then cut out leaves from that stores mailer/ads/whatever and stick them on the plant among the other leaves?

[Tyler]

Ha.  Fun question.  You have me thinking.

Maybe you can package the gift card in a box along with a small piezo speaker in it controlled by remote control.  Make it so that when the user presses a button on the remote, the speaker generates a short tone followed by 60 seconds of silence.  Picture the intermittent noise a smoke detector makes when the battery is low (come to think if it, perhaps you could re-purpose one for this).  Then hide the box somewhere obscure in the office and give the remote as the gift.

You'll be treated to the recipient pressing the button all afternoon trying to track down where that faint tone is coming from to find their gift card.

[lifejoy]

Haha what a cool idea! I think it would be hard to out-do what you've already done...

Any way to mildly zap people? HAHA

or incorporate this little gizmo? http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/b278/

[mm1970]

I'm an engineer but not really creative in a funny way like that.

I could design you a heck of a quilt though.