A birthday present still being talked about a year later

A birthday present competes with everything else on the table. The one that wins is the one still being discussed at the next cake, and that is rarely an object. It is usually a day that happened.

Here the day is a tandem jump from 4,000 metres: around a minute of freefall and several minutes under the canopy, with an instructor responsible for everything from the exit to the landing. The voucher costs what the jump costs, from 1,150 zł. It is valid for 12 months from purchase and made out to the bearer.

At any age

There is no minimum age for a tandem passenger, and no maximum either. Anyone under 18 needs written consent from a legal guardian, brought on the day of the jump. With a young child it also depends on whether the harness can be fitted, so in that case write to us before buying. An eighteenth has a page of its own.

For a sixtieth or a seventieth, the date of birth settles nothing; health does. Heart conditions, high blood pressure, or serious trouble with the spine, shoulders or joints need talking through with a doctor first, because the canopy opening puts real forces through the body and the landing is dynamic. We do not ask for a medical certificate; before the jump you sign a declaration that there are no contraindications.

The standard weight limit is 100 kg at any age. Above it a jump can sometimes be arranged individually, but it has to be agreed with us before buying, not on the day.

Surprise, or ask first?

A jump can be given blind, but three things are worth knowing before you buy: whether they are within the weight limit, whether anything in their health rules it out, and whether they would want to jump at all. You do not need their weight to place the order. The field is optional, and if it is left empty we ask when the date is arranged.

The surprise is the present, not the date. They choose the day themselves, so nobody is presented with a fixed Saturday they never agreed to. If the idea itself frightens them, the guide to fear of skydiving makes a good companion to the voucher.

A refusal is easy to work around: the voucher is made out to the bearer and someone else can use it. Nobody is pushed out of an aircraft, either. Any hesitation is best talked through with the instructor on the ground, before take-off, rather than in the doorway.

If you want to see their face when they open it, hand it over yourself, on paper or on a phone. E-mail delivery gives the present away in the subject line, which reads something like “Anna Nowak has a skydive for you”, with the buyer's full name. Neither the voucher, nor that e-mail, nor the gift page shows the price.

Birthdays have dates, jumping has a season

You hand the voucher over on the birthday, and the jump happens within the following 12 months, in the season.

Season and jumping days

We jump from April to October, at weekends and on selected weekdays.

A November birthday therefore means a spring jump. What stops jumping on a given day, and what moving a date involves, is in the guide to the season.

So the voucher gets used

Twelve months is a long time, which is exactly why it is easy to let it slip. A few things make the difference:

• Validity runs from purchase, not from the handover. A voucher bought in March with delivery set for a November birthday arrives with four months left, and all four fall outside the season. For a birthday outside the season, buy close to the date.
• The voucher's page has a “Remind me” button. It downloads a calendar event for one month before expiry, with the code and a link.
• Book early in the season rather than on the last weekend of validity. There should still be room for one weather postponement.
• It helps when someone says straight away that they will come along. People who come to watch book nothing and pay nothing.
• If it is clear that 12 months will not be enough, the voucher can go to someone else, or you can write to us before it expires.

What stays after the jump

The jump itself lasts a few minutes. Footage stays, but only with a filmed option, because nothing is carried in the hands on a tandem: no phone and no camera of your own.

The hand-cam is in the instructor's hand, right by the face, so it catches reactions: the moment in the door, the first seconds of freefall, the canopy opening. The camera flyer is a separate skydiver who exits with the tandem and films it from the side, against the landscape. The footage is handed over after landing.

It helps to ask who will be watching the film. For the family, a face up close says more than a figure against the sky. For the person who jumped, the outside view shows what they could not see themselves. When the date is arranged, say that the voucher includes filming.

How to hand it over

The voucher arrives as a PDF with their name, who it is from and a one-line dedication. Above the name of the jump it prints “For your birthday”, with gold confetti. You can build the whole thing in the voucher studio and see it in a live preview before you pay anything.

• Three sizes: A4 like a certificate, A5 for an envelope, and a cheque, a strip a third of a page tall that slips inside a birthday card.
• Four papers: print, gift, night and photo. The last two use a lot of ink.
• E-mail on the birthday. Give their address and a date, up to 11 months ahead, and the voucher goes out on the morning of that day. Your own copy arrives as soon as the payment is booked.

The QR code on the voucher opens its own page: the status, the expiry date, and the PDF to download again in another paper or size.

When several people jump

A birthday is sometimes an excuse for a bigger group. Vouchers bought in one order count together towards the quantity discount, which applies itself. The current thresholds are on the pricing page, and jumping as a pair is covered on the gift for couples page.

Read next