Merry Yule Eve! Finding yourself in a present pinch? Secret Santa scheduled for, um, tonight? We have a brilliant solution: an affordable membership to one of our wonderful South Fork cultural institutions, available right this minute, without even subjecting yourself to the mayhem of a December 24th parking lot. A membership lasts all year and builds that thing we all really want for Christmas, a sense of belonging.
For the cinephile in your life, nothing’s better than a Sag Harbor Cinema membership. You can give an individual one that provides $10 tickets all year, starting at $75 for a senior single and scaling up to $250 for a family. (If you happen to have a volunteer first responder on the Nice List, you could also sneakily borrow their identification card and go to the box office to sign them up for a free membership. The cinema is wonderfully generous in this way, but you can take all the credit.)
On the arts front, a membership to the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill begins at $120 for an individual and $200 for “dual,” and includes free entry; the Family Pass comes with a discount on summer programs for kids, too. Guild Hall has several tiers, starting at $100 for a single membership or $150 for a family of four; that one brings discounted admission and invitations to select theater programming. Membership at The Church in Sag Harbor offers free access to a rich bevy of monthly programs, from Wellness Wednesday (which might be a movement or meditation class, yoga or a “sound bath”) to Knowledge Friday (intriguing talks, ranging from a walk down memory lane with a local shopkeeper to style insights with a fashion designer); standard memberships there start at a thrifty $33 for a student, $110 for a senior couple, and $275 for the family.
Who wouldn’t want to be a card-carrying member of one of our South Fork historical societies? It definitely has social “clout,” as the kids say, and the East Hampton Historical Society membership is a wonderful deal: $50 for one, including admission to all sites and programs all year. Ditto the Montauk Historical Society’s, beginning at $40, including invitations to member parties, which we’ve heard are good fun.
Finally, we truly love the idea of giving someone we care about the keys to a gorgeous garden (not literally, of course). Both LongHouse Reserve (starting at $95) and the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack ($150) offer memberships that will allow the cardholder to come and go without charge — from daffodil season in March to winter illuminations in December.
All you need to do now is pay online. Feel good about supporting a local institution. Print out a note to tuck into a bright holiday card for the recipient, and pat yourself on the back.