A Solution for That Really Special-Gift Problem

December 16, 2009 | Uncategorized

If you’re stymied once again as what to get that special someone for Christmas, I’ve solved your problem.

Time magazine has come out with its Best & Worst Lists, including its Top 10 Odd Spa Treatments. Believe me, these treatments are the perfect gift for any traveler.

If you’re headed for the Czech Republic there’s a beer bath right outside Prague at the Chodovar Family Brewery. $35 will get you a 20-minutes soak in the tub, the contents of which I presume you can’t drink or, for that matter, would want to.

At the Hotel Heubad Spa in the Italian Alps give your loved one a roll in the hay — moist, fermenting hay heated to 104 degrees — for about 20 minutes.  According to the hotel it will soothe their aches and pains and stimulate their metabolism.

If you’re heading for Israel, who would want to miss the opportunity to enjoy a snake massage at the Ada Barak Northern Israel spa? So soothing…great big slithering corn and king snakes and smaller milk snakes kneading muscles all over your body. There’s no word yet whether you can walk out with a new set of pumps or a bag once the $70 session is over.

At the Sampuoton Spa in Malaysia get a fish massage as tiny garra rufa — little silvery-black creatures nicknamed “doctor fish” — nibble away at tough skin flakes on your feet. Customers emerge post-treatment with smoother, softer skin and a wallet $50 lighter.

If you’re patriotic and only want to buy American, you may want to opt for the Caviar Pedicure ($100) at Boston’s Spa Newbury, or the 24-Carat Gold Facial at the Nidah Spa ($500) at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe. Or, since all fun things happen in California, head for Lancer Dermatology in Beverly Hills for a “Placenta Facial” (with another whopping price tag of $500) or a Snake Venom Facial ($385) at the Sonya Dakar Skin Clinic in Los Angeles. Clients there include Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and Demi Moore.

The best, though, is left for last — a Bird Poo Facial at the Hotel Wailea Spa on Maui in Hawaii. Yes folks, for only $225 you can enjoy 80-minutes worth of fun having pulverized nightingale poop smeared all over your face.

According to Time, nightingale poop is a well-kept Japanese beauty secret — geishas and Kabuki actors used it to repair skin damage caused by heavy makeup use — and it “bleaches the skin [and] helps to exfoliate, which then prevents blemishes,” says one of the therapists. But you had better have a well-feathered nest for this — it’s recommended that you get the $225 treatment every week.

On the other hand, if you’ve been hard hit by the recession you could just go to your local pet store and buy a canary for in-home weekly treatments for your loved one.

Jim Ferri