1 // Pop round with a bottle of wine/dvd/tub of ice cream. Make sure they’re free first, especially if they’ve been feeling stressed or upset.
2 // Snail mail! If you can’t visit easily or your schedules don’t match up, why not send your friend a sweet gift? You can get some low priced, special gifts from Etsy or you could get some flowers delivered to their office.. even just pop some of their favourite sweeties in the post with a handwritten letter from their bestie.
3 // Give them some space. If your friend has been very busy at work, stressed with family problems or perhaps suffering from depression the best thing for them might actually be some time alone to relax and get their bits together. Sometimes letting a friend ‘off the hook’ for social gatherings can really help to relieve the guilt, relax them and get them back on track again. It’s not that they don’t love you, so let them know you understand that.
4 // Social network love! Send them some silly links on Facebook or give them a shout out on Twitter. If they fancy a certain actor or love a certain song, email them a picture or video. This works great for those silly ‘private jokes’ that no-one else understands. A quick “I saw this and thought of you” posted to my Facebook wall always brightens up my day.
5 // Gift handmade! Bake them a cake or invite them round for a home cooked meal. If you’re super crafty you could even make them some jewellery or a fun flower crown.
6 // Ask them how they’re doing. Arrange to spend time together on a day out, night in or even on the phone and make it all about them. Ask them what’s going on and really listen instead of wittering away about what you’ve been up to. A friend did this for me recently and it felt so therapeutic to really pour it all out.
7 // Lend them that dress of yours they love or your gorgeous TV box set. The latter could even fuel your friendship and give you even more things in common.. like you need any more, of course ;)
Go forth and cheer up a friend, if you’ve got any other ideas or a cute story of something nice you did feel free to share them in the comments or tweet me and I’ll retweet the best!
Loves x xx
