In the age of lazy friendship, it's moments like this that are awesome.

By NAT HAWK

It was so simple.

A shiny yellow gift bag, sitting on my front porch, with a big orange card attached to the front.

“Natalia,” the card read. “I’m so sorry that I can’t make it to your dinner tonight. These chocolates are to compensate for my absence – they most certainly will be more delicious than I could ever hope to be.”

Inside the yellow gift bag was a packet of my favourite chocolates. Chocolates that would perfectly complement the champagne I was planning to drink at dinner.

The gift was from one of my closest friends, who had to – at the very last minute – pull out of the dinner party that I was hosting that evening.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Lindt Hello. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.

Her reasons were completely understandable. There was sickness in her family, and she had to leave the city almost right away. I would have been more than happy with just a quick text from her, explaining that she wouldn’t be able to make it.

But my friend decided to take the time to put together an entire gift for me. She made the effort to get a card. She made the effort to write in a card. She made the effort to drive over to my house and leave it all on my doorstep.

It was such a small gift, and yet so significant to me. It was the perfect example of a friend going above and beyond to deliver so much, in a situation where I expected so little.

I’ve grown to expect texts instead of phone calls, or emails instead of gifts on my doorsteps. After all, it’s 2014 – the age of the lazy friendship.  We’re all so busy these days, and technology has made it so easy for us to communicate with just about zero effort.

Hands up if you’ve cancelled plans with a friend, claiming sickness or misfortune when you really just can’t be bothered getting out of bed?

Yeah. Me too.

Hands up if you’ve ever planned a spectacular birthday present idea for your friend, complete with card, and then forgotten about it entirely until the night before her birthday, and ended up buying a really boring candle and a bunch of flowers?

Yeah. Me too.

Deduct further Friendship Points if you’ve recently wished a really good friend happy birthday via text, without bothering to call them or see them in person.

I’m afraid you also lose points if you can’t remember the last time you asked your best friends how they were doing. And I don’t mean a casual, “hey, how are you” when you first see each other – a proper, heartfelt, serious question that shows you genuinely care about the true wellbeing of your best friend.

I think I’m down to about three points. Out of one hundred.

But we’re all guilty of all of the above. We are. We consider scrolling through our Facebook newsfeed to be akin to catching up with what our friends are really up to. We send quick texts instead of having long, meaningful phone calls. We speed through life with convenience in mind, without taking the time to really do something that would mean a lot to someone.

That’s why the box of chocolates on my doorstep really struck a chord with me. I can’t remember the last time I did something like that for one of my friends. Something so kind, so thoughtful.

So I set myself a goal. If I wanted to keep my friends around, I needed to do something to show them how much I cherished and appreciated them. How much I love spending time with them and enjoy having them in my life.

I stocked up on a bunch of Lindt chocolates from the new Hello range – who doesn’t love Lindt – and threw them in my handbag. Every time I met up with a friend, I pulled out a chocolate block or a little love-heart-shaped tin and handed it over.

Chocolate largely speaks for itself, so I didn’t need to say much. But I did say this as I handed over my chocolatey prize:

“Thanks for being one of my favourite humans. Here’s a little token of my appreciation. You’re entirely welcome to share it with me if you don’t think you can eat all that chocolate by yourself.”

And you know what? Their surprised smiles made everything entirely worth it.

When was the last time you did something to make your loved ones feel special? And what did you do?

Flick through to see some of our favourite celebrities with their best friend…

The new Lindt Hello range is available in supermarkets in both 100g blocks or 39g bars with Strawberry Cheesecake, Caramel Brownie, Cookies & Cream and Crunchy Nougat flavours.  Plus there is a 45g Heart Tin for somebody special.