Ooh this is a classy idea! I just use a Nalgene water bottle right now to keep my cat out of it.

That Pidgeon Toe carafe has been on my radar for months now... but my budget doesn't allow me to splurge on a bedside carafe when I can get up and walk to the bathroom. It's on my "things I want really bad" list though.

I would love to have a carafe with a glass which doubles as a cover, but knowing me I'd break the glass! So I just have an old bottle with a glass stopper, and whichever glass I fancy as the verre du jour (nuit?).

I re use the Lorena Lemonaid bottles. Just take off the labels to have a clear glass along with a pretty vintage drinking glass. I re use these bottles for bathsoap and to keep homemade lemonaid in the fridge.
http://www.bevmo.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?productid=10193

Here's possibly the world's cheapest carafe - a wine bottle. If you find a wine you like that happens to come in a nicely shaped bottle, just rinse out the empty bottle really well with hot water, let the smell leave the bottle and then you can use it for water. If it came with a cork top, you can replace it with a decorative topper.

Any of the glasses that doubled as lids would have to be empty before closing the carafe anyway, so a wine bottle and empty glass isn't really that different.

I use an old milk bottle. I've never found a carafe I like because using the upside down glass as a cover doesn't work for me. I don't know why but I can't seem to get around having to empty and dry the glass each time to recover the carafe. I like the one shown here from uncommon goods as the glass sits in the carafe right side up! I might pick one of these up!

I had to resort to a bottle (after an interim sippy cup stage) because my son kept pouring glasses of water on my back in the early early morning. Ok, it happened twice, but I will not let that happen again! So... things with lids are great if you have a small child.

This couldn't be more timely. I just caught my cat with his head in my bedside water glass last night (even though he has his own clean water just a few feet away!!). Carafe is the perfect solution. Great suggestion I wouldn't have thought of, even though it seems so obvious.

unfortunately, my cat is just as likely to knock over the carafe, which will still spill water onto my laptop and whatever else is on my nightstand. i go with a naglene or a mason jar of water. lids are a must around that furry monster.

I also used to use a glass--till I caught my cat drinking out of it--I yelled, she leaped, glass broke. Now I use a stainless steel water bottle; proof against cats' tongues, & happy dogs' tails. I do prefer hairfree water.

I love these things.

I don't have a cat. But if I had a dollar for every time I've put my hand out and knocked over a full water glass in the night...

My cat purposely knocks over full glasses of water to watch it spill! Aaaargh. A carafe is the perfect answer.