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International Friendship Day - A Great Excuse to Spoil Your Friends!


July 30th is International Friendship Day! If you haven’t heard of it, or have never celebrated it before, perhaps 2021 is the year to start! In case you needed any more excuses to spoil your friends, this day offers you a great opportunity to surprise them with some extra gifts and pampering. You could start with some luxurious lavender gift products from Sonoma Lavender.

Unlike your family, your friends may be the family that you never had. And, you have the pleasure of picking this “family” for yourself. It is always great to know that you can always turn to them for support, for a shoulder to lean on and to also help you celebrate the memorable milestones in life.

“The Japanese have a term, ‘kenzoku’, which translated literally means ‘family’. The connotation suggests a bond between people who've made a similar commitment and who possibly therefore share a similar destiny. It implies the presence of the deepest connection of friendship, of lives lived as comrades from the distant past,” writes Alex Lickerman M.D.

The background and origin of International Friendship Day

The idea of celebrating Friendship Day was first proposed in the United States in 1930 by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark Greeting Cards. It was intended to take place on August 2nd and to act as a special day when people could show appreciation for their closest friends. The idea wasn’t initially all that popular among consumers, who mostly saw it as a way to sell greeting cards. By the 1940s, it had largely died out. In 1958, however, a group of friends meeting for dinner near Asuncion, Paraguay, came up with the idea of an international holiday to commemorate friendships. While it began as an idea dreamed up by a small gathering of friends, it soon grew to have larger cultural significance. The friends who gathered at this historic dinner party proposed that the day should be, not just an occasion to trade greetings cards, but a global celebration and promotion of friendship and fellowship. From that first discussion, the World Friendship Crusade was founded. The organization has continued to promote the ideals associated with the day, advocating universal friendship between people of all races and religions.

The World Friendship Crusade lobbied the United Nations for many years to gain official recognition of July 30th as International Friendship Day. The UN General Assembly finally granted this recognition in April 2011. However, some countries continue to celebrate on different days. Here in the US, for example, people often observe it on the first Sunday in August. Whenever you choose to celebrate it, it is an excellent reason to pay tribute to new and longstanding friendships - and just the concept of friendship itself.

How can you celebrate Friendship Day?

Friendship Day is both a celebration of your friends and of the very idea of friendship. It is a great occasion, not only to give gifts to your friends - which you can do on several other occasions in the year - but to stop and think about the relationships you have with them and what they mean to you. Take the day to show your gratitude for those relationships in your life that have continually offered love, understanding and support. The way you choose to celebrate the occasion might depend on special memories, objects, and ideas that you share with one particular person, or a group of people. Here are a few ideas you could try:

Start a memorable tradition

You probably have one or two special traditions that you share with your friends already, but you could use International Friendship Day to start another one. It could be a special trip - a weekend away to a location that has special significance. It could be even simpler, like having a meal together, especially if you can’t usually carve any time out of your busy schedules to see one another. If you have a group of friends that have all scattered to various locations, this day is a perfect opportunity to schedule an annual reunion. The point is never to buy expensive gifts or outdo each other by staging ever more intricate events (although that would be fun too!). It is about taking the opportunity that this day offers to catch up and show your appreciation to each other.

Create a photo collage

You can put all those pics you have stored in your photo albums - the old-fashioned ones on your shelves or the virtual ones on your hard drives or in the Cloud - to good use. Create a photo collage to celebrate the many years of your friendship, either with one person or with your group of friends. This could be a fun way to reminisce and recall all the reasons you have remained friends for so long.

Spoil your friend with lavender gift products

Pamper your friends with Sonoma Lavender’s luxurious range of lavender beauty products and spa products. From heatable spa pillows to stuffed animals, candles, bath and body products, and luxury spa robes to dried botanical products, our lavender products are designed to provide relaxation and a touch of luxury. Our heatable spa products - eye masks, booties, pillows, wraps, mittens, and blankets - offer the ideal way to relieve tired and stressed muscles at the end of a long day. The products in our bath and body collection - including bubble bath, massage oil, foot balm, and hand cream - help soak and soothe away tension, while delivering all the health benefits of lavender. For stress relieve, lavender is ideal as it calms and soothes. Browse our products to find the ideal gift for your best friends. Take a look at our gift suggestions. Let us help you make this International Friendship Day a particularly memorable one.

A few of our favourite gifts to look out for:

Bedtime Ritual Spa Kit:
Offer your BFF a gift of a spa at home, Sonoma Lavender’s Bedtime Ritual. Spritz your bed linen with some Lavender Linen water for a soothing and relaxing feeling at bedtime. Light your votive candle to soothe, calm the psyche. Use some lavender essential oil to encourage sleep, elevate your mood and relieve tension, and you are off to peaceful Lalaland!

Bedtime Ritual Spa Kit

Bath Butler Kit
Nothing says spa at home treatment than Sonoma Lavender’s Bath Butler kit. Indulge in a refreshing luxurious bath time ritual, a stunning, elegantly presented gift basket that includes a lavender-filled heatable Spa Mask, Lavender Shower Gel, Bath Puff, Lavender Body Lotion and Lavender scented votive candle all contribute to a magnificent spa-at-home treatment that any friend will appreciate!

Bath Butler Kit

Lavender Take-Out Box
A fabulously fun small gift. Our Chinese-style take-out box is filled with lavender goodies to give to that amazing friend because they mean so much! Packed with a lavender-scented votive candle, a lavender sachet, lavender bath salts and soap, this an incredible value that any friend would love.

Lavender Take-Out Box

Lavender Comforting Heart Pillow
It has been difficult for all of us to be away from some of our loved one’s during the pandemic. How wonderful to know that you can always send a reassuring comfort and hug to a dear friend with this Lavender Comforting Heart pillow to warm the heart. Filled with premium, highest quality lavender and flaxseed to give a calming, soothing and comforting lavender scent. Warm it in the microwave for a warm hug. A magnificent gift to say, “I am thinking of you my friend”!

Lavender Comforting Heart Pillow

Kaylee the Koala, our lavender stuffed animal

An adorable, fragrant Kaylee can be warmed in the microwave for a soothing and calming lavender scent, providing a warm hug. As will all our lavender-stuffed plush animals, the covers may be removed for washing.

Kaylee the Koala

Based in Northern California’s wine country, Sonoma Lavender uses authentic ingredients to create lovingly handcrafted spa and pampering products that stimulate the senses while providing pure relaxation and wellness. We can help you bring the spa into your home. Shop our complete range of Eucalyptus, Timber Lake, Ocean Aire, or Lavender gift products, or contact us for more information www.sonomalavender.com