Plenty of Americans — some estimates say as many as one in seven — will get a Starbucks gift card for the holidays. If you are giving someone said card, you need to find a way to say “I care” while also giving what is truthfully a relatively impersonal gift. You know Starbs has you covered: This “dazzling” limited-edition card “adorned with deep-blue Swarovski crystals and luxe accents.” Part of the coffee chain’s “very limited” Brilliant collection (the company went all-out on Swarovski this year), the card costs $200 and comes preloaded with … $50 on it. So, as the giftee, you get about six drinks, give or take, and $150 worth of crystals that will not help you feel any more alert or awake than you already do. (Sure, crystals aren’t cheap, but note that this reasonably large Mother and Baby Penguin figurine — approximately 3.4 cubic inches of crystal — goes for $140 on the Swarovski site.)
Obviously if this is the way you’re approaching this limited-time-only offer, the Deep Blue Starbucks Card is not for you: This is, as the official site says, “more than a gift card,” and in reality it seems more tasteful than 2013’s infamous $450 rose-gold card and the $5,000 10-karat gold Ultimate Starbucks Card. But, really, for a piece as truly exquisite as this, can you even put a price tag on it?
