What to do for a rad girl on her bday from far away?
February 13, 2012 6:55 AM   Subscribe

It's my close friend's 30th birthday on Friday. She's in Asheville, NC. I'm in Brooklyn, NY. What should I get/do/order as a gift?

One of my closest friends is having her 30th birthday on Friday and I want to get her something special but I'm out of ideas. We both grew up in Asheville and she lives there now. But she also recently lived in NYC for four years and still visits frequently, so anything New York-specific is probably not going to be all that interesting or unique to her. I'm happy to ship from here or order something to be delivered there. I'd like to keep things under $100.

About her: She's a very straight-forward no-bullshit attorney. She's not by any means a girly girl but she does like to look nice and dresses well and has good hair/makeup/etc. She's a runner and likes to do 5ks and 10ks and the like, though she's not particularly outdoorsy. She's a big beer girl and digs trying new brews, especially Asheville-local, of which there are many. She's a 'locavore' meaning she's mostly vegetarian but will occasionally eat local, grass-fed, hormone free, etc meats. She's single with no kids.

So, whatcha think? She's been in Asheville for a while, so all the go-to touristy ideas (spa package at Grove Park, Beer Tour, boutique gift certificates, etc) are old hat for her. Standard NY stuff is out too because I've done a lot of it (Mast Brothers Chocolate, fancy hard-to-get in Asheville beauty products, etc), and she already has a really nice lawyer-ly briefcase and a nicely appointed apartment downtown.

I'm open to 'experience' type gifts as well as material gifts. I have lots of free time in the next few days, so I'm happy to shop around some.

I will also be in Asheville March 22-25, so if there's anything specifically we could do together during that time, I'm open to ideas.

Ok....go!

And thanks.
posted by greta simone to Grab Bag (9 answers total)
 
French Broad Chocolates.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:47 AM on February 13, 2012


Navitat ziplining
posted by ijoyner at 8:37 AM on February 13, 2012


I read there's a new salt spa that just opened in Asheville :)

http://www.saltasiawellbeing.com/
posted by gbentz at 9:17 AM on February 13, 2012


FitBit
posted by sweetkid at 9:24 AM on February 13, 2012


Dinner at the Admiral. Or AIRA coupons which are sort of the same thing - dinner - but with multiple choices. You know we don't have Sephora here either and so that's one thing I always beg NYC friends for - just Sephora samples and makeuppy stuff (I ask people to bring me Utz crab chips from Baltimore, too, but that's me. How about bialys? We don't have bialys here.) Or maybe, to get off the food train, a gift certificate from JusRunning?
posted by mygothlaundry at 10:27 AM on February 13, 2012 [1 favorite]


Best answer: gift subscription to birchbox.

personalized gift cards from you: if you make it down to asheville, give her a slip that says, "i owe you: one awesome beer tasting!" and then take her. or, "i owe you: 4 5k registrations, and a cheering section when i'm in town!" or something to that effect.

you could also send some awesome local cupcakes and balloons.
posted by koroshiya at 1:59 PM on February 13, 2012


s/b "if you make it down to asheville often". oops.
posted by koroshiya at 2:01 PM on February 13, 2012


Seconding dinner at the Admiral. I got a friend a GC for that and it was a big hit.
posted by Ollie at 5:37 PM on February 14, 2012


Response by poster: Cupcakes it is. For reference I ordered them from Short Street Bakery.
posted by greta simone at 3:49 PM on February 18, 2012


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