When someone is sick, they may spend a lot of time feeling awful, and you can make it just a little bit better with any of these helpful gifts for a sick friend.
Being sick isn’t a pleasant experience for anyone, even if the illness is relatively mild. When someone is sick, they will need their loved ones more than ever. Whatever a person is sick with, they will likely be spending a lot of time at home in bed since the side effects of most illnesses include fatigue. This might be an illness that will last a long or a short time, but however long they will be going through it, they could use some help from the people who care about them.
When someone close to you is sick, you can manage to help them with a few useful gifts that will make their time in bed a lot easier. In this situation, it is ideal to focus on getting them things that will accommodate all the rest they will need to get. We’ve got you covered on what some of those things are. Keep reading for a list of what you should get someone who is sick!
What to get someone who is sick
Someone who is sick needs a lot of rest to get better, so you should keep that in mind when shopping for them. Some things they will need involve entertainment so that they aren’t just bored in bed all day, and other things they can use are items made for relaxation. That will be their primary purpose in bed while they work on getting better, so it’s what you should focus on.
Entertainment
This is going to lead to an afternoon full of entertainment and relaxation.
Books
When someone is sick and in bed all day, books will help them stay entertained. A good book can have a person enthralled in the story and less focused on what is happening in their own life for the moment. When a sick person has nothing to do, it can be easy for them to hyper-focus on how bad they feel, but a book they love reading can almost make the discomfort go away for a while.
When it comes to books, options are abundant, so you can easily find something that your sick friend will have a good time reading. There are tons of genres and topics to choose from to keep their mind occupied. Any bookstore you go to will be filled to the brim with entertaining reads, so picking out one or two will be an easy job.
Streaming Service Subscription
Some form of entertainment is necessary for your friend right now and one good way to provide that to them is to get them a subscription to a great streaming service. You can get them one for at least a month, and depending on what they are going through, that might be all they need to get through it.
There also happen to be tons of streaming services you can look through and choose from. Make sure the service you choose is filled with great options to keep them entertained all day.
When your friend has access to a new streaming service, their day will end up being filled with a new schedule of shows to watch. They will have access to different cool shows, movies, and documentaries that will keep them from being bored all day. If they like cooking or travel, pay for a subscription service that offers access to programs about those topics. They are likely to be really thankful for the month of new content.
Food and Drink
A good start to the day will make the rest of it go by quite well.
Tea
Tea always makes a good gift for someone who is sick. Tea can really make a person feel better, and each type of tea has different overall effects that can contribute to someone’s well being. You can go for calming tea or energizing tea so they can choose based on what they are in the mood for. They might want some calming tea to help them relax throughout the day and night, and want some energizing tea to help them feel awake in the morning. Tea can have a wonderful calming effect as you are drinking it, the same way a caffeinated tea will help you feel more awake right away.
A calming tea can help someone sleep or help them relax after a long day of work or just a long day of sitting at home. And when it comes to tea, you can get any number of flavors. Make sure to find out the flavors your loved one likes and go with a tea box that fits their preferences. Your loved one can then enjoy a nice hot or cold cup of tea in the morning, afternoon, or night. Herbal teas for relaxation are some of the best for someone who is sick. You can also go with green tea or black tea that they can enjoy in the morning.
Squeeze Bottle
When someone is sick, a primary focus for them will be staying hydrated. Being sick can lead to some issues with dehydration, so getting them a water bottle they can fill up and have right by their bedside will help them out with that. They could be losing lots of fluids throughout the day and will need all the help they can get in that area. A squeeze bottle specifically will also make drinking in bed easy and keep it from being messy.
You could even drink while lying down with a squeeze bottle. Nothing is worse than trying to drink from a regular cup from a bad angle and having the liquid spill all over you. It also makes it easy to carry whatever you want to drink around with you without having a chance of it spilling. There are many types of squeeze bottles to choose from, from different colors, to sizes and designs. And they can be filled with anything you choose to drink.
Create a Meal Train
Anytime someone is sick, it may keep them from nourishing themselves as much as they should. And since they won’t have the strength to take care of themselves the way they normally would, you can step in to help with a meal train. A meal train will get a sick person in your life the type of healthy food and support they need to get through each day.
All you need to set up a meal train is friends and family who are willing to help you and Give InKind. Give InKind if a free online platform on which you can create a support page to power your meal train. You can list the recipient’s needs and preferences, and also create requests for specific days and times for volunteers to send meals. Supporters can sign up to provide scheduled meal support, send gifts and gift cards directly through the Wishlist, donate funds through any connected GoFundMe campaigns, or Venmo, CashApp, and PayPal accounts.
Give InKind will assist you through the whole process. Make sure to write down your friend’s favorite meals on the InKind Page you set up, and then get started sharing the page with your community.. Anyone who wants to help will have to pick out a meal and choose how they will have it delivered. They can always make and deliver meals on their own or have a meal delivered by a restaurant on DoorDash or simply pay for a gift card so your loved one can pick up food on their own.
Soup
Soup always makes the perfect meal for someone who is sick. Soup provides hydration as well as a mix of nutrients from all the healthy ingredients. Chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, and minestrone soup will all make some great options for someone who is sick in bed. Chicken Bone Broth is a great option for a savory, nutritious and light meal.
Comfort
Lying around all day can be fun, relaxing, or even tiring after some time.
Bathrobe/Silk Robe
When someone is sick and spending all their time at home, they could use a bathrobe or even a silk robe to wear. With a robe to lounge around in, a sick person won’t even need to bother with getting dressed. They can just slip on the robe whenever they need to get out of bed for any reason. The robe should be one that is comfortable for them to wear. Whether you go with silk or cotton, you should go with a robe that is long and cozy for a sick person to wear.
Wearing a robe around the house all the time will also ease the burden of laundry for someone who is sick. Instead of having to go through several outfits in a week, a robe can replace all those clothing items and make everything easier. And whenever they have to get the door for a delivery or their mail, a robe will make it easy for them to slip out and right back in after.
Blanket
A warm and cozy blanket will help a sick person be comfortable while spending all their time in bed. When you’re looking for a good blanket, you will be bombarded with lots of good options. You will find lots of heavy thick blankets along with weighted blankets and heated blankets. You should go with whatever your friend is likely to prefer using. A weighted blanket is designed to provide stress relief by putting pressure on the body, a heated blanket can be plugged in to provide warmth, and many regular thick blankets can do an awesome job keeping someone warm on their own.
Get a thick blanket that won’t be too large to carry around the house if needed. Your friend should be able to use the blanket in bed, on the couch, and on the porch if they want to. You can even try getting them a few small blankets. With multiple blankets, they can always have one covering different parts of their body at the same time. And since you can find great blankets in different sizes, styles, and colors, you can also manage to get something your friend will be really happy to use.
Pillow
A soft pillow can work wonders for a sick person’s comfort levels, especially because they will be spending a lot of their time in bed. And since they will be spending so much time lying down, it’s necessary for them to have the best bedroom accommodations. Even if they already have a good number of pillows, having more pillows never hurts. They can be even more comfortable getting to sink into a pile of pillows each day.
Make sure you get them the softest pillows you can find so lying in bed all day won’t feel as bad as it would if they had to lie on less comfortable pillows. It should be a pillow they can carry around the house with them if they want to as well. Anywhere they feel the need to lay their head down, this pillow should make it more comfortable for them. And if you get them more than one, they can have a different pillow anywhere they want it, under their legs, their back, and their head.
When someone you know is sick and you want to help them out a bit, buying them just one of the things on this list will have a huge effect. Anything from drinks, to food, to entertainment will be a huge help to any sick person, no matter what it is they are going through.
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