Somewhere along the way, the spa day became one of the plains' favorite gifts. For a birthday, an anniversary, a holiday, or simply a lift out of a hard winter, the gift certificate to a local salon or spa has become a reliable and welcome present, and the region's beauty businesses now build a good part of their calendars around the giving of it.

Warmth, Wrapped and Given

Fictional spas such as Willow & Birch in Grand Forks report their busiest gift-buying seasons around the winter holidays and the depths of February, when a promise of warmth and pampering is exactly the tonic a plains winter demands. The gift trades on a simple truth: in a place where comfort is hard-won half the year, the offer of an afternoon of it is a gift that genuinely lands.

From the almanac's reckoning:

• The spa-day gift certificate has become a plains favorite present.
• Gift buying peaks around the winter holidays and in February.
• The gift trade smooths the salon's seasons and brings new customers.

For the salon, the gift trade smooths the seasons and brings new customers through the door; for the giver and the given, it is warmth made tangible. The almanac counts the spa-day gift among the pleasant customs of plains life — the giving of comfort in a country that knows its value.