Stardew Valley Leah: Favorite Gifts, Heart Events, & How to Romance Her

Stardew Valley has a plethora of romanceable characters to choose from, and if your heart is set on the local artistic girl outside of the town, then buckle up. In this guide, we will go through everything you need to know about Leah, from where to find her to her heart events, favorite gifts, and how to romance her in Stardew Valley.

Where Can You Find Leah in Stardew Valley?

Leah lives in the cabin just outside of Pelican town in Cindersap Forest, south of the Marnie’s ranch. Generally, you can find Leah in several locations. She is usually in her cottage by 11 AM or 12 PM. She then returns to her cottage later in the day. She would then come out and stay in the Cindersap Forest, either south of her cabin or west near the pond.

Her next destination is Pierre’s general store, where she would stay until 5 PM on Mondays. During summer, she would stay on the beach to draw. On rainy days, Fridays, Saturdays, and during winter, Leah will go to the Stardrop Saloon at about 4 PM.

During fall, Leah will often be north of the blacksmith. Just like all other villagers in Stardew Valley, she has a clinic visit, which is on Spring 16.

What Gifts Should You Give to Leah?

Leah loves plenty of items in Stardew Valley, so you shouldn’t have issues getting along with her. We cover what her loved, liked, disliked and hated gifts are, as well as what gifts she’s neutral with.

Furthermore, we include a table describing how to obtain these items — only for the loved and liked gifts, so you can have an easier time choosing one to give to her. Leah’s birthday is on Winter 23, so if you give her a loved gift on this merry occasion, you’ll get a lot more friendship points than you would otherwise.

Loved Gifts

• Goat cheese
• Poppyseed muffin
• Salad
• Stir fry
• Truffle
• Vegetable medley
• Wine
• Golden Pumpkin
• Magic Rock Candy
• Pearl
• Prismatic Shard
• Rabbit’s Foot

Like Sam in Stardew Valley, Leah loves universally loved gifts like prismatic shard and magic rock candy, as well as other items like goat cheese, poppyseed muffin, salad, stir fry, truffle, vegetable medley, and wine. Out of these, the easiest by far to get is the salad. This cooking item can made with simple ingredients or bought from Gus for 220g. The other good options are goat cheese and wine.

Once you give her one of these gifts on a regular day, she’ll say: “Oh! This is exactly what I wanted! Thank you!” and you’ll receive 80 friendship points.

If you give Leah her favorite gift on her birthday, Winter 23, you will receive 640 points, which is about 2.5 hearts. You’ll also receive a multiplier if you give Leah one of these items as a gift for the Feast of the Winter Star festival, which will yield 400 points or 1.6 hearts.

Item	Description
Goat cheese	You can easily obtain goat cheese by placing goat milk in the cheese press
Poppyseed muffin	To get poppyseed muffin, you’ll need to make it in the kitchen or with the cookout kit with one poppy, wheat flour, and sugar
Salad	You can make a salad with leek, dandelion, and vinegar or simply buy it from Gus for 220g
Stir fry	To cook the stir fry, you’ll need a cave carrot, common mushroom, kale, and oil
Truffle	Truffle is a forage item you can reveal with pigs
Vegetable medley	This is a cooking item that requires one tomato and beet to make
Wine	Place a fruit of your choice in the keg and after some time it’ll produce wine
Golden Pumpkin	You can obtain the golden pumpkin by completing the maze at the Spirit’s Eve festival and in artifact troves
Magic Rock Candy	This unique item is a drop from haunted skulls, can be purchased from the desert trader for prismatic shards, and is a reward for donating 90 items to the museum
Pearl	Some of the ways you can obtain a pearl are by fishing in the night market submarine, from a fish pond that contains blobfish, and from artifact troves
Prismatic Shard	You can get this precious mineral by mining mystic stones and iridium nodes, as well as opening omni geodes, fishing treasure chests, and treasure chests in special rooms inside Skull Cavern
Rabbit’s Foot	You can obtain the rabbit’s foot from rabbits and the traveling cart for 1695-2825g

Liked Gifts

• Most artisan goods (except oil and void mayonnaise)
• Most cooking items (except fired egg, bread, strange bun, seafoam pudding, Carp Surprise, Cookie, Hashbrowns, Ice Cream, Pancakes, Pink Cake, Pizza, Rice Pudding, Survival Burger, & Tortilla))
• Most flowers (except poppy)
• Most vegetables (except Hops, Tea Leaves, Wheat, and Unmilled Rice)
• Life Elixir
• Maple Syrup
• Piña Colada
• Earth crystal
• Diamond
• Most eggs (except void and dinosaur egg)
• All fruit
• All milk items
• Chanterelle
• Common Mushroom
• Daffodil
• Dandelion
• Driftwood
• Ginger
• Hazelnut
• Holly
• Leek
• Magma Cap
• Morel
• Purple Mushroom
• Snow Yam
• Spring Onion
• Wild Horseradish
• Winter Root

One of the reasons why Leah is so easy to level up is because she likes various foraging items. Yes, that’s right, you can just pick up a dandelion off the ground and give it to her and you’ll receive 45 friendship points. She’ll say: “This is a really nice gift! Thank you!”

Though not all foraging items are her favorite, so make sure to check out the list. Leah also likes universally liked gifts, apart from most foraged minerals, most gems, and several cooking items.

Item	Description
Most artisan goods	You can make these items by placing specific items in specific machines, like wool in a loom to get cloth
Many cooking items	You can make these items in the kitchen or by using the cookout kit
Most flowers	To obtain the flowers, you can plant and grow their seeds or forage in the world
Most vegetables	You can obtain vegetables by planting their seeds and harvesting the crops
Life Elixir	Life elixir is a craftable item that requires several types of mushrooms
Maple Syrup	Maple syrup can be obtained from a tapper placed on a maple tree
Piña Colada	This is a drink you can get by purchasing it from Gus at the beach resort bar for 600g
Earth crystal	This is a foraging item in mines
Diamond	You can get a diamond by mining certain rocks in mines and Scull Cavern, as well as from some monsters and fishing treasure chests
Most eggs	You can acquire these items from various animals
All fruit	Fruit is obtainable after you plant seeds and harvest certain crops, as well as from fruit trees
All milk items	Milk is an item you can get by milking cows and goats
Spring foraging items	Items like Daffodil, Dandelion, Morel, Leek, Spring Onion, and Wild Horseradish can all be obtained during spring around the world
Fall foraging items	Chanterelle, Common Mushroom, and Hazelnut are obtainable during fall
Winter foraging items	Holly, Snow Yam, and Winter Root spawn around the world during winter
Other items	Driftwood is a trash item, magma cap is a foraging item in the volcano mines, ginger is a foraging item on Ginger island and purple mushroom is a foraging item in the regular mines

Neutral Gifts

• Clam
• Coral
• Duck Feather
• Hops
• Nautilus Shell
• Rainbow Shell
• Roe
• Squid Ink
• Sweet Gem Berry
• Tea Leaves
• Wheat
• Wool

Leah is neutral towards most universal neutral items but does have some exceptions. If you give her any of these, she’ll say: “Thank you,” and you’ll receive 20 points with her.

Disliked Gifts

• Building Material
• Artifacts
• Bombs
• Crafted floors
• Fences
• Fertilizer
• Most fish
• Geodes and their minerals
• Seeds
• Sprinklers
• Tackles
• Oil
• Rice
• Vinegar
• Cave carrot
• Wheat flour
• Most foraged minerals
• Most gems
• Carp Surprise
• Cookie
• Fried Egg
• Ice Cream
• Pink Cake
• Rice Pudding
• Seaweed
• Survival Burger
• Tortilla
• And more

Leah doesn’t like most universally disliked items with some exceptions like driftwood, spring onion, and void egg. Apart from those, she also doesn’t appreciate foraged minerals, most gems, seaweed, and several cooking items.

If you give one of those items to Leah, she’ll say: “Hmm… I guess everyone has different tastes,” and you’ll lose 20 friendship points with her.

Hated Gifts

• Bait
• Fossils
• Monster loot
• Trash
• Warp totems
• Hay
• Carp
• Crab pot
• Grass starter
• Green algae
• Poppy
• Red mushroom
• Snail
• Torch
• Bread
• Hashbrowns
• Pancakes
• Pizza
• Void Egg
• And more

Leah’s hated gifts include most universally hated gifts, the void egg, and a select few cooking items. After giving her one of these, you’ll lose 40 friendship points and she’ll say: “This is a pretty terrible gift, isn’t it?”.

Leah’s Heart Events in Stardew Valley

Now, we will take a look at all of Leah’s heart events, how you can trigger them, and what they are about.

Two-Heart Event

The first heart event will occur when you reach two hearts with Leah. Also, you’ll need to enter her cottage when she’s there. She’ll be working on her sculpture and she’ll say: “Once you get past the outer layers, the true nature starts to show…”. You’ll then get the following options:

• “It’s the same with people.”
• “I actually prefer the look of raw, unadulterated wood.”
• “(creepy) May I have a kiss?”

The first and second choices don’t affect the friendship at any level, but the third option decreases your friendship points by 100. She will kick you out and you won’t be able to see Leah’s eight-heart event.

If you didn’t choose the third choice, she’ll continue saying: “Although, I have to admit… It’s not easy to pay the bills as an artist.” You’ll then have two options:

• “Why don’t you have an art show in town?”
• “Why don’t you sell your art on the internet?”

Neither of the options affects the friendship points, but they determine what Leah’s eight-heart event will be about.

Four-Heart Event

The four-heart event has similar requirements as the previous one, enter Leah’s cottage when she’s there and when you have reached four hearts with her. The cutscene will show her arguing with her ex on the phone. She’ll then ask you if it was selfish to leave the city to become an artist. You’ll have the following choices:

• “No, it had to be done.” 
• “No, and your ex sounds like an idiot.” 
• “No, but you would’ve been better off staying in the city.” 
• “Yeah, a little.”
• “Yeah, but it’s natural to care about yourself first.”

Only the first two options are safe, as they don’t affect the friendship points in any way. However, the other three options all lead to you losing 20 points with Leah.

Six-Heart Event

The six-heart event is split into two parts the first one requires you to exit your farmhouse on any day except the rainy day from 6 AM to 11:30 AM. You’ll also need to have six hearts unlocked with her. Leah will be at your doorstep and she’ll give you her sculpture as a gift.

The second part of this heart event requires you to enter the Cindersap Forest when Leah’s there during any season except winter. She’ll be trying to reach a fruit and you’ll help her out.

Eight-Heart Event

The eight-heart event will depend on the choice you made in Leah’s first heart event. If you chose to be creepy, however, you cannot see this heart event.

Art Show

If you suggested an art show in the first heart event, then you’ll be able to trigger this cutscene by exiting your farmhouse from 6 AM to 8 AM in any season except winter. She’ll invite you to her art show and then you’ll need to enter the Pelican town between 3 PM and 5 PM. This doesn’t have to happen on the same day.

Leah will tell everyone a little story about her and then she will present her art. In the end, she will thank you and everyone will praise her and her work. There will also be Kel (Leah’s ex) to the side, but that’s not too important.

Art Website

If you suggested an art website in the first heart event, then you’ll need to enter Leah’s cottage when she’s there. She’ll show you her laptop and then say that she started the online art shop. She will be very proud and confident that she’ll be able to work on her art full-time. Also, she’ll mention Mr. K who keeps buying all her art.

Note: This is the last heart event you’ll have with Leah as just friends. To unlock the next one, you’ll need to start dating her. Check out the section below explaining this process.

Ten-Heart Event

This heart event will start when you enter Cindersap Forest between 11 AM and 4 PM, in any season except winter. Leah will prepare a picnic for you and you’ll then share a little kiss. Then, all of a sudden Kel, Leah’s ex will come out of the bushes and Leah will be pretty annoyed.

If Leah set up the art website, Kel will say that they found the art shop and will hint at them being ‘Mr. K’ who kept buying all the art. Leah will be disappointed, but Kel will say that they want to get back together. Leah refuses and says that Kel was never interested in her art until she became successful.

If Leah held the art show, Kel would say that they came from Zuzu City and want Leah back. Leah refuses, saying Kel was never interested in her art until she became successful. Afterward, you will have two options:

• “Punch Kel in the face”
• “Try reasoning with Kel”

If you choose to reason with Kel, Leah will punch them instead. But if you do punch them, Leah will say that it was pretty violent. The cutscene soon ends.

Note: This is the last heart event you’ll see before marrying Leah. The last heart event requires you to do this first, so check out the section below where we explain how to marry Leah.

Fourteen-Heart Event

The last heart event has two parts. The first one will trigger once you exit the farmhouse between 6 AM and 8:20 AM on a sunny day. This mustn’t be in winter or on a Sunday. Leah will tell you that she wants to teach you how to paint.

The second part will trigger once you enter the Cindersap Forest between 11:30 AM and 2 PM on any sunny day afterward. Leah and you will be painting a portrait of Marnie. She’ll also ask you what style of portrait she should paint and you’ll have the following options:

• Classic country portrait
• Colorful, retro pop-art 
• Minimalist modern

None of these options affect the friendship points, but determine what her portrait will look like. Leah will ask you how’s your portrait coming along. You’ll have the following options:

• It’s a masterpiece of fine art! 
• I’m trying my best…
• It looks like chicken scratch

These choices also don’t affect the friendship points. Leah will tell Marnie then she can keep both paintings, but Marnie takes only Leah’s and says that you can keep your painting. After the cutscene, the player will have their “My First Painting” item in their inventory. Not only that, but Leah’s painting will be in Marnie’s bedroom.

How to Date Leah

Once you reach eight hearts with Leah, you can start thinking about dating her. If you’re sure she’s the NPC you want to date, then you’ll need to go to Pierre’s general store, where you find a bouquet item at the bottom of the list. You can purchase it for 200g. Then, all that’s left to do is to give this item to Leah as a gift and you’ll start dating. Now, the last two hearts will be unlocked, so you can reach all 10 hearts.

How to Marry Leah in Stardew Valley

When you reach ten hearts with Leah, you’ll be able to marry her. But first, you’re going to need to fulfill the following requirements:

• You’ll need to upgrade the farmhouse at least once to unlock the kitchen.
• Ten friendship hearts are necessary.
• You’ll need to repair the wooden bridge to get access to the tide pool area of the beach, which is located on the far right side.
• You mustn’t be married already.

Once you complete these steps, you will receive a letter from Lewis telling you about a special item called mermaid’s pendant. It is only obtainable from the old mariner NPC who spawns on rainy days by the tidal pools. It will cost you 5000g, so make sure to save up some money. You’ll need to give this item to Leah in order to get engaged and marry her.

When you give it to Leah, the calendar will display a mermaid’s pendant icon on the wedding day, which is always in three days. After the cute wedding ceremony, you’ll both end up in front of your house.

The new part of your house will get added too, which is Leah’s room with some paintings, paints, and a plant. Moreover, she will also bring her sculpture which she will be working on behind the farmhouse. Once you get settled together, Leah’s maximum hearts will change to 14.

Also, you’re no longer limited to gifting Leah gifts twice per week, as you’ll be able to do this every single day but only once per day. If you keep giving her gifts regularly, you’ll level up your relationship further and she’ll even do some chores on the farm, like make breakfast and dinner, feed animals, repair fences, and water crops. After you reach 12.5 hearts with Leah, she’ll give you a stardrop item, which will increase your maximum energy.

Finally, when you reach 14 hearts with Leah, you’ll be able to play through the final heart event cutscene. You can then decide to have kids with her, which will require you to have the nursery in the house, or if plans don’t work out, you can get a divorce by purchasing it in the Lewis’ house for 50,000g.

And that’s about all you need to know about Leah in Stardew Valley. She’s one of the most popular marriage candidates in the game, so if you adore her, don’t waste any time and go marry her right away.