Intended for: People who enjoy classical music ... and might enjoy it more with an educated ear. Or who want to try out for "Jeopardy!"

The package: A book, a CD, a ticket -- the magic comes in the combination.

Start with a book. "The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music" by Ted Libbey or "The NPR Classical Music Companion: An Essential Guide for Enlightened Listening" by Miles Hoffman make good, all-purpose choices. With the encyclopedia-style references, you could buy tickets to most any classical concert and include a CD based on the program, giving the recipient a point of comparison for what he hears live.

For a more adventurous option, try "The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 640 pages). The new volume by The New Yorker's Alex Ross explores the modern era -- the musical century of Strauss and Mahler, Reich and Glass. Add tickets for the N.C. Symphony's performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's 1964 film score to "Hamlet" plus a copy of the soundtrack or the DVD. The performances are in February in Raleigh and Chapel Hill. 733-2750, www.ncsymphony.org.

You could go one better in April with the performance of Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" in Duke Chapel, a joint concert of the Choral Society of Durham, the Duke Chapel Choir and Raleigh Boychoir. Just invite the recipient to hear Philip Rupprecht of the Duke music faculty lecture on "Public Memory and Private Anguish in Britten's 'War Requiem.'" 684-4444, tickets.duke.edu.

A trip to book

Intended for: Readers who thrill to a sense of place. Or who find a road map helpful when they get lost in a book.

The package: Start with the word or the Web and this title: "Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains: A Guidebook." Georgann Eubanks' book connects the dots on a map to 170 writers, visiting and native, with footprints in 25 mountain counties.

Where you go from there is up to you. Add John Ehle's "Move Over Mountain" or Robert Morgan's "Boone: A Biography." Or choose one of the guide's half-day or one-day itineraries, though a person could stay much longer in Asheville and still have plenty to explore between O. Henry, Gail Godwin, Wilma Dykeman, Thomas Wolfe and Charles Frazier. Your gift might include companionship or reservations at Grove Park Inn, where F. Scott Fitzgerald stayed.

The guide is available at local bookstores, or you can download it from www.ncliterarytrails.org, And if you're partial to the Piedmont or the coast, just wait. Eubanks and the N.C. Arts Council are marking trails there, too.

Learning for life

Intended for: People who like to see and do. And who don't mind getting their hands dirty, working up a sweat and practicing.

The package: Start with the notion of time. No one has any to spare, so helping the recipient schedule creative moments can be invaluable.

After the holidays, classes will be starting at the Durham Arts Council, the ArtsCenter, and local parks and recreation departments. Most offer a range from painting, crafts, dance and music. Arts Together in Raleigh also offers drama classes, as do many of the area's theater companies. If the recipient has a favorite artist in the area, it's worth asking whether a private session might be available.

Less extravagant in terms of time and money, craft stores such as Panopolie in Raleigh and the Original Ornament in Carrboro offer classes. Sometimes sessions are free and a modest gift of supplies can turn into something spectacular.

Enough with the stuff

Intended for: The person who has everything and money isn't much of an object. For you, that is.

The package: Start with a favorite arts organization. Write a check. If it's of a certain size, the person's name will appear on the Web site or in the program. Write a $4,000 check to Carolina Ballet and get the person's name under a ballerina's photo as her pointe shoes sponsor.

For something more concrete, buy a chair -- and not for the living room. Naming rights to a chair in Burning Coal Theatre Company's new space in the Murphey School go for $500. At N.C. State University, $2,500 buys naming rights to a chair in Thompson Theatre, which is being renovated with the rest of the building.

And a cool $1.5 million covers an N.C. Symphony chair, which is more than the musician's perch. It's also an endowment to cover his salary.