When it comes to finding a gift that’s truly worth the investment, museum stores offer something no ordinary retailer can: objects with meaning and purpose. From fine jewelry and intricate game sets to designer home decor and one-of-a-kind kitchenware, these stores are stocked with splurge-worthy gifts that truly give back.
This year, Museum Store Sunday celebrates ten years of shopping with purpose. Every splurge-worthy gift you find in a museum store does more than delight the person who receives it. It also supports working artisans, funds community programs, and helps keep the cultural institutions we love open and thriving. When you spend a little more at a museum store, you get a lot more back.
From a Frank Gehry kettle at LACMA to a handcrafted olive wood board grown on Filoli’s historic estate, the gifts on this list were made with care, inspired by art, and chosen to last.
Here are some of our favorite splurge-worthy picks from museum stores around the country.
1. Pito Kettle by Frank Gehry
The LACMA Store
Los Angeles, California
Leave it to Frank Gehry to turn a kitchen kettle into a splurge-worthy work of art. The Pito is crafted from mirror-polished 18/10 stainless steel, its mahogany handle and cap shaped into the stylized forms of two darting fish. Even the whistle is extraordinary, producing a low, resonant tone reminiscent of a whale’s song rather than the sharp shriek of an ordinary kettle. At nearly 61 fluid ounces, it holds enough for a full gathering, and looks extraordinary doing it.
2. Man Ray Chess Set
The Museum Store at the San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego, California
Originally designed in 1920, Man Ray’s chess set is one of the most celebrated intersections of art and game ever conceived. Each piece is a bold geometric sculpture in its own right: the king a sleek pyramid, the queen a perfect sphere, the rook a minimalist skyscraper. Together they transform a game of strategy into an experience of the avant-garde, equally at home mid-match or anchoring a coffee table as a decorative object. For the chess enthusiast, the design lover, or the dedicated collector, this is the kind of gift that feels like a piece of history.
3. Ovo Matte Silver Desk Lamp
de Young Museum Store
San Francisco, California
Equal parts sculpture and utility, the Ovo lamp is the kind of splurge-worthy object that earns its place on any desk or nightstand immediately. Crafted from hi-grade anodized aluminum and balanced like a seesaw, it rotates 360 degrees with a gentle nudge, shifting between focused task lighting at one end and warm ambient glow at the other. With a built-in USB-C port and up to eight hours of charge at 50% brightness, it is as practical as it is beautiful.
4. Olive Wood Board
Filoli Historic House & Garden Store
Woodside, California
This is the rare gift that comes with a story rooted in the land itself. Since 2020, Filoli has been transforming wood from its historic estate olive trees into handcrafted serving boards in collaboration with Firewood Farms in Half Moon Bay, turning an act of careful stewardship into something genuinely beautiful. Each board is entirely unique, its warm tones and organic grain patterns a direct expression of the tree it came from. Equally at home laden with a charcuterie spread or displayed on its own as a piece of California agricultural heritage, it’s the kind of object that only gets more meaningful with time.
5. Large Sakura Pendant by Yuko Ebina
Japanese American National Museum Store
Los Angeles, California
Inspired by the memory of her mother and the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossom, Japanese American artist Yuko Ebina has translated one of nature’s most beloved symbols into a splurge-worthy piece of wearable art. Each delicate 3/4” sakura charm is individually handcrafted in sterling silver and plated in 14K gold, then strung on an 18” gold-filled chain. It’s the kind of gift that carries both beauty and meaning long after the season has passed.
6. Hellebore Velvet Jacket
The Cummer Museum Shop
Jacksonville, Florida
For those who believe getting dressed is its own art form, this is the piece worth reaching for this season. Crafted from sumptuous 100% cotton velvet and adorned with an ornate hellebore print inspired by the timeless tradition of botanical art, the jacket features feminine pleated cuffs, coordinating printed buttons, and a richly patterned 1970s-inspired lining that makes even the inside a pleasure to look at. One size, endlessly versatile, and the kind of thing that turns any outfit into a statement.
7. FLW Winter Garden Prairie Tie – Wheat
CAC Design Store
Chicago, Illinois
For the design-minded person on your list, this is a splurge-worthy accessory with serious architectural credentials. Handwoven from 100% silk and inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway Gardens, the tie translates the Prairie geometry and landscape vision of one of America’s most celebrated architects into a refined, wearable object. Its warm wheat tones and garden-inspired pattern are subtle enough for the office and distinctive enough to spark a conversation. An added bonus: each purchase from Chicago Architecture Center’s store supports their educational mission.
8. Milwaukee Art Museum’s Quadracci Pavilion Building Brick Set
Milwaukee Art Museum Store
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
For architecture lovers of any age, this is the gift that delivers long after the wrapping comes off. The ATOM Brick building set recreates the Milwaukee Art Museum’s iconic Quadracci Pavilion, Santiago Calatrava’s soaring, wing-like masterpiece on the shores of Lake Michigan, in meticulous brick-by-brick detail. A creative challenge as much as a collector’s piece, it arrives in time for the winter gifting season and makes for a stunning display once complete. Building an icon has never felt so satisfying.
9. Red Lion Inn Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas Collection
Norman Rockwell Museum Store
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Few images capture the magic of a New England Holiday quite like Norman Rockwell’s Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas, and now collectors can bring that magic home. This splurge-worthy centerpiece from Lemax, a worldwide leader in collectible Christmas village miniatures, recreates Rockwell’s beloved 1967 scene in stunning detail. Crafted from polyresin rather than porcelain for exceptional architectural precision, the illuminated Red Lion Inn measures over a foot wide and glows from within, making it the kind of heirloom piece that earns a permanent place in any holiday display year after year.
10. Giant Eurypterid Body Pillow
Paleontological Research Institution Gift Shop
Ithaca, New York
For the collector who has everything, this is the gift that will stop them cold. Eurypterus remipes, New York’s official state fossil, is an extinct aquatic arthropod from the Silurian Period, more closely related to the horseshoe crab than the scorpion despite its fearsome nickname of “sea scorpion.” This remarkable five-foot plush specimen is available in extremely limited quantities, making it as rare as it is extraordinary. A conversation piece of geological proportions for any home, office, or dedicated natural history enthusiast.
Looking for More Splurge-Worthy Gifts?
This holiday season, give something that means more.
Use our store locator to discover more unique gift ideas from museum stores near you, and don’t forget that many museum stores offer their goods online, too.
We also hope to see you on November 29, 2026, for the tenth annual Museum Store Sunday! Join our mailing list for exclusive updates leading up to our biggest shopping event of the year.