Long distance relationship gift ideas: 30+ ways to shrink the miles

Long distance is mostly waiting. Waiting for the call to connect, waiting for their morning to line up with your evening, waiting on a platform for the train that brings them back. The best long distance relationship gift ideas don’t pretend the distance isn’t there. They make the waiting shorter, give you something to do together, and remind your person you’re thinking about them on a dull Tuesday when nothing in particular is happening.

Below are more than 30 ideas, grouped by how they travel: things to post, things to send digitally, things to do together on a call, countdowns, visit-planning gifts and a handful that only make sense across time zones. Then a budget table, and a section on timing, because the day after a visit deserves its own plan.

What long-distance couples actually need from a gift

Before the list, a quick filter. Couples apart usually have plenty of things. What they are short of is these:

• A shared ritual. Something you both do at the same time, so the relationship has a rhythm and isn’t just a series of “how was your day” calls.
• Something to look forward to. A date in the diary, a countdown, a plan. Missing someone is much easier when it has an end point.
• Presence. Anything that makes you feel physically around: your handwriting, your voice, your smell on a jumper, your cartoon face in a game.
• Something to hold. Screens do a lot of heavy lifting in long distance. A real object in their hands is a nice change.

Ask of every idea: does this help with the waiting, the doing or the being there? If it does none of those, it’s just a nice thing in a box, and they could probably have bought it themselves.

Things to post: gifts they can hold

1. Open-when letters. A bundle of sealed envelopes, each labelled: open when you can’t sleep, open when you’ve had a rubbish day, open when you miss me, open when you’ve got good news. Eight is plenty. Write them over a week so they don’t all sound the same.
2. A hoodie you’ve actually worn. Not a new one. The one you wear on calls. It’s the oldest trick in the book because it works.
3. A taste of your place. Your local bakery’s best thing, the crisps they always nick from your cupboard, the tea you drink together on visits. Pack it with a note about where you bought it.
4. A matching pair. Two mugs, two candles in the same scent, two of the same daft socks. One for each of you, used on the same call.
5. Prints from the last visit. Get the photos off your phone and onto paper. Write the date and one line on the back of each.
6. A card with something hidden inside. A paper card is lovely on its own, but slip in a QR code that opens a game, a playlist or a video, and it becomes a card they can come back to. Our guide to sharing your game covers how to print one.

Things to send digitally (that don’t feel like an afterthought)

7. Morning voice notes. Send a short one before they wake up so it’s the first thing they hear. Two minutes of your ordinary day is weirdly comforting.
8. A playlist with liner notes. Twelve songs, and a sentence for each about why it’s there. The notes are the gift; the songs are the wrapping.
9. Dinner, delivered. Order their favourite takeaway to their door at a time you’ve agreed, and eat yours on a call. Cheaper than a train and nearly as good.
10. A game starring the two of you. We draw you both as cartoon characters and put them in a little browser game they can play on their phone. More on this below.
11. A postcard from where it started. If you met in a particular city, send a postcard from Manchester (or wherever it was) that remembers the night. The what to write on a postcard guide has plenty of starter lines.
12. A one-minute video of your week. Ten tiny clips: your commute, your lunch, the cat ignoring you. It lets them see the rooms you’re living in.
13. A shared photo album. Start one, add to it every week, and let them add theirs. After a year it becomes the story of the long-distance bit.

Things to do together on a call

The call itself can be the gift if you put some thought into it.

14. Cook the same recipe. Send the ingredients list a few days early. Prop the phones up in the kitchen and compare results. Someone’s will be worse; that’s half the fun.
15. Synced film night. Pick a film, press play on three, and keep the call on in the background. Snacks from item three are encouraged.
16. Leaderboard rivalry. Every game we make has its own leaderboard. Send a flappy flyer game starring you both, then spend a week trying to beat each other’s score.
17. Read aloud. One chapter a night of a book you both chose. Very good for winding down if your bedtimes line up.
18. Walk and talk. Each go for a walk in your own city on a call, and describe what you can see. It’s the closest thing to going for a walk together.
19. Dress-up date night. Proper outfits, a candle each (see the matching pair), the same dessert. It sounds silly and is genuinely lovely.
20. The planning hour. No chores, no admin. Just plan the next holiday, the next visit or the flat you’ll eventually share.

Countdown and visit-planning gifts

Countdown ideas

21. Countdown envelopes. One for every week until you see each other, each with a tiny thing inside: a photo, a sweet, a ticket stub, a terrible joke.
22. A paper chain. Very primary school. Very effective. Write a line on each link and post it flat.
23. A countdown game. In a flappy flyer game you can set the win level anywhere from 5 to 200, so set it to the number of days until the visit. Editing is free and instant and the link stays the same, so you can lower it as the days go by.
24. A shared countdown on both phones. Set it up together on a call so you both see the same number every morning.

Visit-planning gifts

25. The ticket itself. Book their train, coach or flight to you. Nothing says “I want to see you” quite like it.
26. The itinerary. Plan the whole visit, from the first meal to the last walk, and send it as a little printed programme.
27. The landing kit. Leave their favourite snack, a towel and a note on the bed for when they arrive.
28. Their own drawer. A toothbrush, a spare charger, a bit of wardrobe space. A small, slightly terrifying, very sweet gesture.

Pro tip: Make one gift in every bundle about the next visit, even if it’s just a date circled on a printout. A present with a future attached lands much better than one that only looks back.

Gifts that work across time zones

If your evening is their lunch break, some ideas need adjusting.

29. A clock set to their time. A small one on your desk, so you always know whether they’re asleep, at work or eating cereal.
30. Messages that land in their morning. Many messaging and email apps let you schedule a send. Write it in your evening, have it arrive with their breakfast.
31. The overlap ritual. Find the one slot each week when you’re both awake and not working, and protect it like a dentist appointment.
32. A “while you were asleep” note. A quick roundup of your day, waiting for them when they wake up.
33. Things they can enjoy without you. A letter, a playlist or a game works at any hour. They don’t need you online to play it.

A game where you’re waiting at the top

Our story climber is the most sentimental of our game styles, and it was more or less made for long distance. Your partner jumps upwards through the story of your relationship. As they climb, milestones appear with a year and a caption, and you’re waiting at the top.

How to make one:

1. Pick the story climber and a look. Valentine’s is the obvious one, but winter is lovely for a December visit.
2. Write your milestones. You can have up to 12. Each is a year and a caption, like “2022: met at a barbecue, you burnt the halloumi” or “2024: missed the last train, caught the first one”.
3. Choose the ending. A slow dance, a group hug, fireworks that spell out your message, or the proposal ring if you’re feeling brave.
4. Turn you both into characters. Upload a photo and we draw you as cartoons. The original photo is deleted once the characters are made.
5. Share the link. Send it by WhatsApp or text, or hide a QR code in a card.

You can build and preview it free with demo characters first, then pick a plan on the pricing page when you want your own faces in it. The full walk-through is on how it works.

To be honest about what it does today: the milestones are text. Optional cartoon memory scenes made from your photos are coming soon, but for now it’s the year, the caption and the two of you. Because editing is free and the link stays the same, you can add a milestone after each visit, so the game grows with you. If it’s for a particular date, there are ready-made ideas for an anniversary game for your girlfriend and a Valentine’s game for your boyfriend.

Or make it a race to reach you

If the climber feels a bit soppy for a Tuesday, try the endless runner as a “race to reach me” game. Their character runs on their own; they tap to jump, slide under the low stuff and squash the odd baddie, and the run ends with them reaching whoever is waiting at the finish. Make that you. You can set the finish anywhere from 200 to 10,000 metres, which won’t cover the real miles between you, but it’s a start. After the finish it keeps going, faster, so you can both chase each other’s distance on the leaderboard.

Pro tip: Set the win level to the number of years you’ve been together. Three years, three milestones to reach you. It makes the ending feel earned.

Long distance gift ideas by budget and effort

Idea	Budget	Effort	Best for
Morning voice notes	Free	Low	Any day at all
Shared photo album	Free	Low, ongoing	Couples who like small, steady things
Open-when letters	Under £10	High	Early in the long-distance bit
Paper chain countdown	Under £5	Medium	A long gap between visits
Taste of your place parcel	£10 to £25	Low	Homesick partners
Worn hoodie	Postage only	Very low	Everyone, frankly
Dinner delivered on a call	£15 to £30	Low	Anniversaries and rough weeks
Story climber game	Plan price	Medium	Anniversaries and big milestones
Planned visit itinerary	Free to write	Medium	Before a long-awaited trip
Booking their ticket	Whatever the fare is	Low	When money isn’t the main problem

When to send it: timing matters more than price

• Anniversaries. Obvious, but plan the post a week early. For ideas by year, see anniversary gift ideas by year.
• Birthdays apart. Spread it out: a parcel before the day, a link first thing in their morning, a call date in the evening.
• The day after a visit. This is the hardest day in long distance, and almost nobody plans for it. Hide a note in their bag before they leave, or schedule a voice note for the evening they get home. Better still, have the next visit’s date ready to share.
• Before something big. An exam, a first day, an interview. A short “you’ve got this” lands well.
• When a visit gets cancelled. This is when the countdown envelopes earn their keep. Send something that points at the new date.
• A completely random Tuesday. Unprompted gifts say “I was thinking about you” more clearly than any calendar date.

For gentler, everyday ideas that work for friends and family too, see our miss you gift ideas.

Making the next goodbye a bit easier

You don’t need to send something every week, and you definitely don’t need to spend much. Pick one ritual you’ll keep (the overlap call, the morning voice note), one thing to look forward to (a countdown or the next ticket), and one thing they can hold. Then plan a small surprise for the day after the next goodbye, before you get to the station. Distance is hard, but it’s a lot easier when there’s always something on the way.