Looking for a pastime paradise

April 29, 2007 9:10 AM

What can I give my sister in law to keep her busy while recovering from surgery?

My 38 year old sister in law had surgery on Friday, nothing too serious, but she is laid up at home for the next three to four weeks. She is a hyper-girl by nature, and I expect her to be going batty by about day three of her enforced recovery period. My husband and I would like to send her a "get well soon" care package, but what do we put in it? What are some good games/activities/pastimes that will keep my poor sister in law occupied?

posted by msali to health & fitness (23 comments total)

I vote for a good set of tv on dvd and a book of sudoku or crossword puzzles. Once you've gotten sucked into tv on dvd, it can occupy you foreeeeeeeever. I've had a few inadvertant 6-8 hour marathons with friends before.

Not knowing more about her, its hard to recommend a show, but the first season of Veronica Mars would be good if she likes mysteries, or Battlestar Gallactica if she likes sci-fi. There are tons of show recommending threads on here if you need more ideas.
posted by wuzandfuzz at 9:16 AM on April 29, 2007

Does she have a game console or hand-held you could buy a game for? That would kill lots of time. You could always get her a second-hand hand-held for cheap.

Beyond audio books and music and puzzles and games and dvds and the like, calming scents in the form of incense and candles might be nice aromatherapy. Nail polish and files so she can do her nails might be fun if she's into it. If she likes to draw - papers and pencils.
posted by iconomy at 9:25 AM on April 29, 2007

Oh and a blank journal. And toys.
posted by iconomy at 9:38 AM on April 29, 2007

Stitch n Bitch, a set of knitting needles, and yarn.
The Essential Guide to Bollywood and a Netflix subscription.
posted by Methylviolet at 9:41 AM on April 29, 2007

She does have a PS2, and as far as I know she loved Grand Turismo and Jak and Daxter.
posted by msali at 9:47 AM on April 29, 2007

maybe send her a DAILY PAGESLAP EMAIL containing a few good links to cool stuff you've hand-picked for her off various places on the net? (i like gladwell.com, rocketboom, kottke, boingboing, new yorker archives- especially david sedaris' new yorker columns, flickr's most interesting, youtube, thesuperficial, best of craigslist, and of course metafilter.)

seconding TV DVDs. i like arrested development and the american version of the office.

if your brother will be around a lot, how about some two-player BOARD GAMES like scrabble (plus a scrabble dictionary), chess, checkers, or boggle?

could she become a short-term foster mother to a KITTEN? kittens are pretty entertaining.
check for a local cat-rescue organization.

a bigass JIGSAW PUZZLE?
KNITTING?
a SKETCHBOOK and some crayola markers?
a GUITAR and a how-to book?
some kickass NOVELS (nick hornby is a good author for people with short attention spans, or maybe some classic stephen king short stories, or some good ol' david sedaris)?
learning a new LANGUAGE on cd?

oooh oooh, how about learning to speak english with a foreign accent? there are cds designed for actors, they're hilarious and easy to learn from. years ago, i bought the DAVID ALLEN STERN tape of ACTING WITH AN ACCENT for a non-actor friend, who within days could speak with a perfect, very credible russian accent. he loved it, it made him a hit at parties.

or just tell her about my new boyfriend, aka ONLINE SCRABBLE (played with real people, shockingly addictive)
i use scrabulous.com.
posted by twistofrhyme at 9:47 AM on April 29, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

Variety is gonna be key - various media, lots of art supplies and letter-writing, friends playing games with her, etc. Books are made for just this sort of moment, of course, so maybe help her pick something long she wouldn't have time for ordinarily?. If you go for movies, maybe help her organize some kind of planned movie watching; this book has been great for helping me get around to watching really great movies in a way that doesn't feel like just aimlessly passing time. Books on CD may be good for a change, too; she may even find she enjoys them more than movies.
posted by mediareport at 9:49 AM on April 29, 2007

a related previous question with lots of ideas
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:51 AM on April 29, 2007

Audiobooks, to entertain her through the "haven't got the energy for anything" hours.
posted by Idcoytco at 10:03 AM on April 29, 2007

When I was laid up after an accident someone brought me the complete films of Hitchcock. I'd seen the basics, Vertigo, Rear Window, etc, but it was cool to see everything.

Maybe something like that? If she likes Dan Brown, get her some Steve Berry, if she liked recent Bond get her some classic bond DVDs. That sort of thing.

Oooh, or building on the stitch and bitch, if knitting isn't her thing, why not embroidery? There's some seriously awesome stuff at Subversive Stitching, and they sell kits that have everything you need to get started. It's super-easy to pick up, even without someone sitting next to you explaining everything. If she can sew on a button she can do it.

I hate to knock someone else's idea, but if she's not able to get around, tearing after a kitten may not work out too well. My cat's pretty active, and tends to get into everything, and she's over 2. Plants, drapes, and CD/DVD towers are never safe.
posted by Kellydamnit at 10:06 AM on April 29, 2007

I was just freecycled four large boxes of old New Yorker magazines. A godsend for downtime.

And, years ago, I'd never seen an episode of 'Star Trek' until I got my wisdom teeth out; then, during the unusually unpleasant recovery, I watched every single epsiode. So, Nthing tapes/DVDs of series. Come to think of it, an awful lot of people's home-taped teevee gets freecycled, too. Perhaps worth seeing if you can't pick up a bunch of entertainment for free.

Probably good to assume she's on high-test painkillers, too, in which case stupid is good. I also went through a lot of old comedy videos -- corny classics -- post-wisdom-teeth.
posted by kmennie at 10:11 AM on April 29, 2007

I'm seconding video games. For a hyper person, sitting and watching videos may not be enough. Something a little more immersive and stimulating would be good. Video games might fit the bill. You can get a used Game Boy Advance for pretty cheap. You can also get a used GameCube for very cheap. And there are plenty of good, cheap used games for both. If you're willing to spend a bit more, the Nintendo DS or PS2 are good choices available for pretty reasonable prices.

Of course the best thing to give her is your time. Using that time to play good party games like taboo, pictionary, and the like (but ones that won't require her to jump around like mad) should help her get some energy out.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 10:13 AM on April 29, 2007

For when she's on bed rest: Rush Hour, a Rubik's Cube, series on dvd, a book with card tricks, books from an author she loves but hasn't read yet, magazines and comic books.

Depending on how mobile she is and what her interests are you can also send a cookbook, so she can try out new recipes. Or maybe she can start knitting or sewing? Or other crafy things? For example, making a purse, a ripple blanket, handmade cosmetics, marble magnets, party crackers, "tiny pinata gift container thingies" etc. If any of these things would appeal to her (and chances are she will be glad to do something different, after the first few days of mainly reading, watching tv and playing games), you could include the necessary materials in the package, along with instructions.
posted by lioness at 10:26 AM on April 29, 2007

Me & My Katamari + LocoRoco for the PSP = hours of entertainment, possible lifetime addictions.

Book on learning crochet, skein of yarn, set of crochet hooks, small kit of scissors + accesories.

Have Amazon send them right to her! You are very nice to think of a care package.
posted by theredpen at 10:29 AM on April 29, 2007

I hear World of Warcraft is good for encouraging and accomodating vegetative convalescence.
posted by thirteenkiller at 10:49 AM on April 29, 2007

Oops. Just re-read your question and noticed you say you'd like to "send her a care package". Which I would assume means you're unfortunately too far away to go physically visit her. So I suppose you can ignore the second part of my answer. But sending her such games is probably a good idea. Someone else ought to be able to play them with her.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 10:54 AM on April 29, 2007

My standard recommendation is always a back scratcher. Bed rest makes you itchy in places that can be hard to reach.
posted by jrossi4r at 11:16 AM on April 29, 2007

If she has a PS2, there's a really wonderful adventure game called "Okami". It's sort of... hmm... the PS2 Zelda, in a way.

It's a very long adventure game, in which you play the Japanese sun goddess Okami Ameratasu, in wolf form. The entire world is rendered as if painted, which is a little odd when you first start, but quickly gets comfortable. Being a goddess and all, you have divine powers, which are activated by painting with a brush directly on the screen. You start with only a couple: the ability to make the sun rise, and the ability to make plants bloom. You have to recover the rest. Typical adventure game fare, but well done.

I have three complaints about the game. It starts a little slow, so you don't really see how great it is for awhile, and the "dialog" sequences can't be interrupted. That design decision is annoying as hell, and it's a constant source of low-level irritation, but the rest of the game is just so damn great that it's worth suffering through. And there's a spot where the difficulty ramp goes vertical. You fight demons a lot, and they're mostly very easy, and then suddenly you have an enormously difficult fight you weren't ever really trained for.

Emphasize strongly that the first fight with "Wakka" is very hard, and to burn healing items like crazy... if she doesn't understand that the first 'boss fight' is about 10 times harder than the easy stuff before, she may get frustrated and drop the game. If you're very clear about this before she starts the game, she should have a great time. It IS beatable, and at no other time in the game will they jack up the difficulty so massively.

Overall, it's funny, a little sad in spots, and has sort of a wistful sweetness to it. It's very Japanese. When I call it 'wonderful', I mean that literally... full of wonder. It's one of the best games I've played in years.

It'd be perfect for a long convalescence.
posted by Malor at 11:25 AM on April 29, 2007

Good time to work on learning a language?
posted by amtho at 11:54 AM on April 29, 2007

I see a lot of passive items here--TV shows, movies, etc. Even books and puzzles are other-directed, if you follow me. How about something more self-directed, like the knitting examples if she's crafty or some Lego sets if she's more mechanical. That's pretty expensive, but maybe some other kind of building game, like Magnetix or something.
posted by DU at 1:57 PM on April 29, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

When I was stuck at home recovering from surgery for two weeks, I enjoyed passing time with Myst (when I was high on codeine) and researching my family tree (when I was just groggy).

Does she have a laptop, or will she be able to sit at a computer? If the family tree might be of any interest, you could get her a good program -- I like Reunion.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:20 PM on April 29, 2007

I am also Hyper Active Girl and after a surgery that put me stuck in bed for almost a month the best gift I received was Pokemon Fire Red for my GBA (I guess you'd also need to get a GB then, but they aren't that pricey). Its too boring for me when I am healthy style, but after surgery it was great because its super time consuming, but doesn't take for much attention or fast moving fingers. Plus, its really good for just playing for ten minutes, falling asleep for four hours, waking up, playing for ten minutes....
Something about it was just totally absorbing to me for a few weeks, weeks during which distraction was very much welcomed.
posted by honeyx at 3:21 PM on April 29, 2007

Half a dozen detective/mystery novels each from a different author. If any of them "take", then give her more from the same author.
posted by Kevin S at 4:11 PM on April 29, 2007