Long-Distance Christmas Gift Ideas for Your Partner

Christmas apart is hard. Everyone around you is curled up with someone, and you're doing the math on time zones. The good news is that a long-distance Christmas gift can do something a regular gift can't: it can make the distance feel smaller for a night.

The best long-distance gifts do one of three things. They give you something to do together over video, they remind your partner of you, or they give you both something to look forward to. Here are ideas for each, plus a simple plan for a Christmas video date.

Gifts you use together over video

1. A card game for video dates

Video calls drift into "so what did you do today" pretty fast. A deck of questions gives the call a shape. Better Together has 150 questions across five categories, each marked light, medium or deep. One of you holds the deck and reads, and you take turns answering. Want to each hold your own deck? The bundle page makes it easy to send one and keep one, so you can each draw from your own stack.

2. An open-together box

Wrap five or six small things and number them. Ship the box early with strict instructions not to open anything until your call. Then open them one at a time on camera. The gifts can be tiny, like a favorite snack, a candle, a printed photo. The fun is watching each other open them, so keep your camera on their face, not the box.

3. The same dinner, delivered to both of you

Order the same meal from restaurants in each of your cities, set the laptop on the table, and eat together. It's the closest thing to a real dinner date when you're miles apart. A gift card for their favorite delivery spot works if your schedules don't line up on the night.

4. A movie night in sync

Pick a holiday movie you both love, press play at the same time, and keep a call open in the background. Send them the snacks you'd normally share on the couch.

Gifts that remind them of you

5. A sweatshirt you've worn

Not a new one. One of yours. It's the gift long-distance couples mention more than any other, and it costs nothing to send. Spray it with your perfume or cologne before you pack it.

6. Letters for the last week

Write seven short letters, one for each day of the week before you see each other next. Label them by day. It turns the hardest stretch of waiting into something to open every morning.

7. A photo book of your year

Gather screenshots from video calls, pictures from visits and the dumb memes you sent each other. Long-distance couples have more photos of each other than they realize, and seeing them in print feels different from scrolling.

Gifts that give you something to look forward to

8. A printed plan for the next visit

Book a restaurant, pick a trail, find a show, and print the plan like a ticket. Distance is easier when the next time is real and on the calendar.

9. A countdown they can hold

A small jar with one folded note for every day until you're together again. Each note can be a memory, a compliment or a question to answer on your next call.

Photos: Les Anderson and Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

How to plan a Christmas video date

1. Pick a time that works for both time zones. Christmas Eve night for one of you can be Christmas morning for the other, and that can be part of the fun.
2. Match the setting. Same drink, same snack, same holiday movie queued up for later.
3. Open gifts first, while you're both excited.
4. Then play a few rounds of questions. Try these to start:
   • What's your favorite memory of us from this year?
   • Which holiday tradition do you want us to share when we're in the same place?
   • What's the first thing you want to do together next time?
   • What's something you've been wanting to tell me that's easier to say on Christmas?
   • Where should we spend Christmas together one day?
5. End with the next date on the calendar, so the call doesn't end on a goodbye.

Ship early

Holiday mail gets slow in December. Send physical gifts as early as you can and add tracking, so you're not refreshing the carrier's site on Christmas Eve.

Questions long-distance couples ask

What do you get a long-distance partner for Christmas?

Pick something that does one of three jobs: gives you something to do together over video (a question deck, an open-together box, the same dinner delivered to both of you), reminds them of you (a worn sweatshirt, letters), or gives you something to look forward to (a printed plan for the next visit).

Can you play a couples card game over FaceTime?

Yes. One person holds the deck and reads each question out loud, and you both answer. Some couples each keep a deck so either of you can draw.

What is Better Together?

Better Together is a couples conversation card game. The Couples Edition has 150 questions across five categories (Reflections, Pillow Talk, Deep Dive, Future Us and Wildcard), each marked light, medium or deep, plus three action cards: Pass, Switch and Reverse. It's made for two players ages 17 and up, and a full game takes 30 to 90 minutes, in person or over video.

For more, see our page for long-distance couples and these long-distance relationship questions.