On your journey towards perfection in Stardew Valley, you’ll soon encounter the tricky subject that is friendship, and indeed the maximising of said relationships with every applicable resident. We call this tricky, because it relies more upon knowledge than it does time, though admittedly achieving perfection in this regard is still going to be very time consuming. Some methods for increasing your friendship are more obvious than others, like giving gifts for example, but for those aiming for perfection, and indeed requiring the recipes that residents provide, you may want to consider a few of the following to help you on your way.

Giving Gifts
There are a grand total of 32 possible characters with which to raise friendship, so we’re going to start off with the simplest of tasks to achieve this: Giving gifts. This will likely seem rather basic, especially when a simple hop over to the Wiki will show you exactly which ones are preferred, however there are a few additional bits of information that you should be aware of:
- Only 2 gifts can be given per week, which resets on a Sunday.
- Gifts given on a Birthday will net you more friendship than usual. The calendar outside Pierre’s will detail the dates of these.
- The Quality rating of an item will increase the friendship gain as it rises.
- The ‘Help Wanted’ board, also located outside of Pierre’s, will often allow you to complete a task for a resident, rewarding a chunk of friendship with the resident.
- It’s also worth noting that simply talking to the residents will give you a very small amount of friendship with them, so be sure to interact with them regardless.
- You can check on the gifts that villages enjoy through their character sheet, though only after they’ve been given. All the more reason to use the wiki…
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Movies Theatre
One of the lesser known methods for increasing friendship, is to take a chosen person to the Theatre to watch a movie together. This feature is unlocked on both routes, becoming available at the end of the community centre or joja arc, and acts as a great way to boost friendship, especially with residents that may lag behind in this regard. Not only will certain residents have favourite movies, but you can also ensure that you procure them their favourite snack via concessions. Only certain foods are presented each time, so there is a certain amount of luck behind getting the perfect combination, however even choosing the incorrect snack will not incur a drop in friendship, just no gain. This can only take place once every seven days, so we thoroughly recommend prioritising villages with a low level of current friendship.

Flower Dance
Our next method for increasing friendship is one that comes with a caveat: It can only be completed with the possible marriage candidates available in Stardew Valley. Further to this, you must also have at least 4 hearts of friendship active with the person that you wish to bring along. However, it should be noted that undertaking this will grant you a whole heart of friendship, making it a great little option for quickly increasing with one villager, albeit from a specific bunch. Furthermore, the Flower Dance is only available on 24th of every Spring, so it is a singular event but certainly one that is worthwhile from a friendship perspective.

Friendship Tips
Whilst the above are considered the main routes for increasing friendship, with Gifts specifically being by far the best way, there’s quite a bit more information that you should pay attention to when it comes to dealing with the task efficiently.
- Whilst you can head to Pierre’s to check on birthdays, it’s possible to purchase a calendar for your home from Robin’s shop, which will help you to keep track of these key, friendship building days.
- Pay attention to the quality of a gift. Some villages may like certain meals, but waiting for a high quality version of these to become available might be pointless, especially if they like other items that you can make into iridium quality. Robin, for example, can be given Iridium quality Goat’s Cheese, rather than waiting for a high quality Spaghetti to be unlocked.
- Given that you’re going for full perfection and completion, it’s a good idea to prioritise lower friendship levels. This is especially pertinent when new characters join and you need to focus on them, like Krobus or Leo.
- Friday is a great day for gift giving, because more people will be around the town. Loading your bag up with gifts every Friday and heading to the Saloon is a great idea, and something we’d recommend that you do each and every week to maximise gains.

Categories: Stardew Valley