Help me take care of my friend.

January 20, 2010 8:20 PM

I want to give my friend who's having a really hard time lately something to do to take care of herself on Valentine's Day in LA.

A breakup triggered a ton of underlying issues for my friend, and she's been in full crisis mode for the past week. She took off work for Valentine's Day to spend with this guy, and it now has the potential to trigger things for her. I'd like to get her a something self-care oriented, like a massage, to do on Valentine's. I'm on a very tight budget, though, so I'm hoping people will help me maximize the gift to her while minimizing the cost. I'm also on the other side of the country and know next to nothing about what's good in the area.

She lives in LA, around USC, south of the 10. She works in Los Feliz. Close to her is a plus.

I've seen this question but I'm hoping for more ideas.

posted by emilyd22222 to shopping (5 answers total)

Can you tell us a bit more about the type of things she likes to do?

I was going to suggest that a lot of spas will have Valentine's Day specials, but it sounds like you're concerned about cost, so can you send a gift certificate for dinner and a movie or a museum visit or a pottery class or something?

Do you know/can you contact any of her local friends and work with them for some sort of surprise outing (shopping/museum etc?)

This is really thoughtful of you, she's lucky to have such a good friend.
posted by cestmoi15 at 4:39 AM on January 21, 2010

Perhaps -- instead of sending her to a spa, send her a book of "make your own spa at home" type of recipes/ideas. Or a whole fancy-pants spa-at-home set. Hell, make some of the foofy spa-treatment kind of things yourself -- some stuff that feels like it's all fancy-pants can be made for just pennies (you can make a face scrub by just throwing a handful of rolled oats and a handful of almonds into a food processor and pulverizing them both together -- pour that into a jar, and presto, it's a face scrub!).

A nice "care package" of either some of these things made up, or some of the ingredients TO make them, plus a CD of pretty music and a nice cushy pair of slippers could give her the "spa" experience at home, so since she's already home at least she can still do something luxurious for herself. (If you send her the ingredients, this could also help kill some time for her -- in the morning she could be mixing up all the goop, and then spend all afternoon using it.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:50 AM on January 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh, forgot to add -- if you want to go the "make up some potions and send them to her" route, memail me and I can give you some recipes (some that would be good for "send her the ingredients and let her make them" and some for "Make them up so she just opens the box and there they all are").
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:33 AM on January 21, 2010

I like your idea, but I worry that going to a place with a lot of couples' specials that day might be tough for her. Something either home-based or in a more private setting (like a solo practitioner's office, if you can find a good one) is probably better.
posted by Madamina at 7:38 AM on January 21, 2010

Can you tell us a bit more about the type of things she likes to do?

She likes to paint and read, and is interested in sociology and journalism. She's very stylish and is great at vintage/thrift shopping. Other than that, she's pretty busy between school and work. She's told me she doesn't have friends in LA (part of the problem).

Great ideas so far!
posted by emilyd22222 at 7:42 AM on January 21, 2010