4 Thoughtful Subscriptions to Gift a Grieving Friend This Holiday Season
The holiday season can be especially painful for those grieving a loss. While the world around them sparkles with celebrations and get-togethers, they may feel overwhelmed and isolated by grief.
If you’re looking for a meaningful way to support a grieving friend during the holidays, consider gifting them a subscription—a gesture of care that keeps giving long after the holiday decorations come down.
Here are four heartfelt subscription ideas designed to bring comfort, connection, and a little light all year round.
1. Help Texts: Gentle Text Message Support Tailored to Their Loss
Grief keeps going well beyond the first months after a loss, and finding support that offers help in the long-term is invaluable.
Help Texts offers compassionate, practical text support from grief professionals like Megan Devine, Julia Samuel, Tara Brach, the Dougy Center, and yours truly, ensuring your grieving friend has tips and guidance to lean on throughout the year.
Why It’s Perfect: Texts are customizable by type of loss, relationship to the deceased, and how long it’s been since the loss, making each message extra-personal for your grieving friend.
How It Works:
Subscribers receive supportive texts tailored their unique loss, including texts on important dates like birthdays, death days, and holidays.
Support includes two “Supporter” subscriptions so subscribers’ family and friends can get text tips for being there for their grieving friend.
2. Flower Subscriptions: Blooming Beauty Year-Round
Grief anniversaries, such as a loved one’s birthday or death day, can be especially emotional. Gifting a flower subscription on these dates—or on the same date each month—provides your grieving friend with the reassurance of “I’m here,” throughout the year.
And flowers don’t have to be expensive! Most subscriptions start at just $50/month. You might be able to arrange a special deal with the florist if your friend already has a vase (glassware is expensive!) or if you offer to pay the full year’s subscription amount up front.
Why It’s Perfect: Flowers are symbols of comfort, beauty, and hope. Sending them once-a-month or on special dates lets your friend know that you haven’t forgotten about their loss, and that you’re still there for them. Consider requesting flower’s in your grieving friend’s favorite color for an extra-special touch.
Recommended Services:
Saville Flowers - my local Chicago favorite!
The Bouqs Co. - U.S. only
Urban Stems - U.S. only
Bloomsy Box - U.S. only
When looking for a florist, local is always best. Check out Yelp or Google Reviews to get an idea of the most popular florists in your area and look at their website for subscription options. If you don’t see any listed, call or email the shop to arrange one. Most florists are delighted to set up a recurring delivery for you!
3. Meal Delivery Boxes: Nourishing Comfort Delivered to Their Door
Grief consumes emotional energy and makes everyday tasks like cooking feel overwhelming. Meal delivery boxes and kits make life with grief easier by delivering groceries, recipes, or heat-and-eat meals straight to their door.
Why It’s Perfect:
Most meal delivery services cater to dietary needs and preferences, so your grieving friend won’t have to worry about finding meals that suit them.
Meal kits save time, reduce decision fatigue, and ensure they’re eating nourishing food when they might otherwise forget.
Most meal delivery services allow your grieving friend to skip deliveries when they’ll be out of town or when they know their fridge will be jammed with leftovers—like Thanksgiving time!
This practical gift offers more than just food—it’s a way to lighten their load and help them focus on taking care of themselves in other ways.
My favorite meal kit service is Hungryroot, which offers lots of allergen-friendly easy-to-prep recipes and ready-to-eat groceries.
4. Libro.fm: Audiobooks for Comfort, Entertainment, and Sleep
Books have a way of meeting us where we are and offering comfort, escape, or inspiration. With a Libro.fm audiobook subscription, your friend can access stories and wisdom, all while supporting independent bookstores!
Why It’s Perfect:
Audiobooks can be soothing companions during sleepless nights or difficult grief seasons.
Libro.fm offers a subscription option, letting you gift monthly audiobook credits, so your grieving friend can pick what they’d like to listen to.
How It Works:
Your friend can select from thousands of titles, including memoirs about grief, meditations, or uplifting fiction.
Each book purchased supports a local bookstore of their choice.
Check out Libro.fm’s subscription service here. (And consider gifting one of my books, like Your Grief, Your Way!)
How to Make Your Gift Extra Meaningful
Consider adding a personal touch to your subscription gift:
Write a heartfelt note: Share why you chose the subscription and express your continued support. A simple “I’m here for you. Love, [Your Name]” works just fine.
Add a comforting add-on: Pair your subscription gift with cozy socks, a candle, or a comforting tea blend to complete the package. Bonus points if your add-on relates to the gift, for instance a new phone case, a pretty vase, a new kitchen pan, or a nice set of headphones.
These small details show your friend that you acknowledge their grief and care about being there for them as time continues to march forward.
Closing Thoughts
Grief doesn’t follow a timeline, and the support of a thoughtful gift can make all the difference. By choosing a subscription that meets your friend’s needs—whether it’s gentle support through texts, flowers for remembrance, practical meal kits, or an all-you-can-listen bookstore experience—you’re offering more than just a gift: You’re showing them that they’re not alone in their grief.
This post contains affiliate links for products and services I personally love and use. If you click one of the links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me and my work!
