Get the app
Gift Ideas Wishlists Surprises Secret Santa Get the app
Collection Updated September 23, 2026

Long Distance Relationship Gifts: 12 Ideas

Twelve gifts for a partner or best friend who lives far away: touch lamps and bracelets, a photo frame you fill from your phone and cards for video dates.

Top picks

  1. LuvLink Friendship Lamps, Set of 2$189
  2. Aura Carver 10" Digital Photo Frame$149
  3. Open When Letter Envelopes, Set of 13$13
  4. Perytong Sleep Headphones Headband$16
  5. Let's Get Deep: Question Cards for Couples$13
Long Distance Relationship Gifts: 12 Ideas

Long distance relationship gifts bring back the small things distance takes away: LuvLink touch lamps that glow when they tap theirs, Bond Touch bracelets, an Aura photo frame you fill from your phone and a set of Open When letters.

The list has four parts. The first is the well-known connected gifts, from about $150 to $200. The second is for video dates and for falling asleep on the phone. The third is paper and photos, the things you can mail and they can hold. The last is for the next visit. Almost everything works for a best friend too; the two exceptions are the couples cards and the couple's journal.

Feel each other from far away: lamps, bracelets, a frame

LuvLink Friendship Lamps, Set of 2

LuvLink Friendship Lamps, Set of 2

$189

at Amazon

Two Wi-Fi touch lamps: tap yours and theirs lights up in your color, anywhere in the world. The free app adds secret color codes for things like goodnight or miss you, plus a sleep schedule. No subscription.

Best for: couples and best friends in different time zones

Why it fits: A tap takes a second and needs no words, so it gets used on the busy days when a call is impossible and a text feels like too little. They see it from across the room, phone down.

View in store
Bond Touch 4 Bracelets, Set of 2

Bond Touch 4 Bracelets, Set of 2

$160

at Amazon

A pair of bracelets that pass touches back and forth: tap yours and theirs lights up and vibrates in the same pattern. They connect through each person's phone, last up to four days on a charge and are splash-proof.

Best for: couples who want to feel each other through the day

Why it fits: It goes wherever they go: to work, to class, onto the plane. You can agree on your own tap codes, so three taps can mean landed or call me.

View in store
Aura Carver 10" Digital Photo Frame

Aura Carver 10" Digital Photo Frame

$149

at Amazon

A 10-inch Wi-Fi photo frame with free unlimited storage. Photos and videos you add in the Aura app on your phone show up on their shelf, and you can invite friends and family to add theirs.

Best for: a partner who likes photos more than texts

Why it fits: You keep it filled from wherever you are, so every morning starts with a new photo from your day. It suits a partner who is not on their phone all the time.

View in store

For video dates and falling asleep on the phone

Let's Get Deep: Question Cards for Couples

Let's Get Deep: Question Cards for Couples

$13

at Amazon

A deck of question cards for couples in four piles: Ice Breaker, Deep, Deeper and Activity. Made for date night, for ages 17 and up.

Best for: couples who talk every night

Why it fits: Nightly calls tend to shrink to how was your day. One of you keeps the deck by the laptop and reads out a card, and the call turns back into a date.

View in store
We're Not Really Strangers Card Game

We're Not Really Strangers Card Game

$25

at Amazon

150 conversation cards in three levels, from first impressions to what you have learned about each other, plus a notepad and two pencils. For 2–6 players, ages 15 and up.

Best for: best friends and couples on video calls

Why it fits: The questions work just as well through a screen, with a best friend or with a partner. The final card asks each of you to write a note to read after you part, and it makes a good letter to mail.

View in store
Perytong Sleep Headphones Headband

Perytong Sleep Headphones Headband

$16

at Amazon

A soft Bluetooth headband with two flat speakers inside, comfortable for side sleepers. It has a built-in microphone for calls and plays for about 12 hours on a charge; the fabric goes in the washing machine once the control pod is out.

Best for: couples who fall asleep on the phone

Why it fits: Falling asleep on a call is a long distance ritual, and this makes it comfortable: flat speakers under soft fabric are easy on the ears all night, and the band covers the eyes like a sleep mask.

View in store

Letters and photos they can hold

Open When Letter Envelopes, Set of 13

Open When Letter Envelopes, Set of 13

$13

at Amazon

Thirteen printed envelopes: open when you can't sleep, when you need a hug, when you miss home, when you have a bad day and nine more, one of them blank for your own label. Each is 4.5 × 6.4 inches, big enough for a letter, a photo or a gift card.

Best for: anyone, on any budget

Why it fits: It takes one evening to write, and they get a piece of you on exactly the night they need it. Tuck a delivery gift card into the hungry one and a tea bag into the can't-sleep one.

View in store
Clever Fox Couple's Journal

Clever Fox Couple's Journal

$23

at Amazon

A hardcover A5 journal for two with prompts about your story, values and plans, a list of 100 date ideas and pages to plan each date and write down how it went. Eco-leather cover, lay-flat binding, pen loop and stickers.

Best for: couples planning their next visits

Why it fits: Mail it back and forth: each of you fills in a few pages and posts it on. Between visits it fills up with plans, and on visits you tick them off.

View in store
Our Adventure Book Scrapbook, 12 × 12"

Our Adventure Book Scrapbook, 12 × 12"

$27

at Amazon

A 12-inch square scrapbook with 60 kraft pages and an embossed Our Adventure Book cover styled after the one from the movie Up.

Best for: couples and friends who keep ticket stubs

Why it fits: Every visit gets a page: tickets, printed photos, the receipt from the first dinner. Pass it back and forth, and by the time you live in one city it tells the story of how you got there.

View in store
Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 Instant Camera Bundle

Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 Instant Camera Bundle

$89

at Amazon

An instant camera that prints credit-card-size photos you can hold about 90 seconds later. Twist the lens to switch it on; the built-in selfie mirror and the close-up mode with parallax correction help with photos of the two of you. The holiday bundle adds a 10-sheet film pack, a stand for three photos, a photo storage box and a hand strap.

Best for: couples who visit each other

Why it fits: Visits go by fast. Printed photos from the weekend end up in a wallet, on the fridge or in the next envelope you mail, and they outlast the phone album.

View in store

Counting down to the next visit

Luckies Scratch Map, Travel Edition

Luckies Scratch Map, Travel Edition

$22

at Amazon

The original scratch-off world map: scratch the copper foil off a country to reveal the color underneath. This travel edition is 16.5 × 11.6 inches, marks US states and Canadian provinces and comes in a gift tube.

Best for: couples who meet halfway

Why it fits: Scratch off every place you have met up and circle the next one. It turns when will I see you into a plan on the wall.

View in store
TIBES Weekender Bag with Shoe Compartment

TIBES Weekender Bag with Shoe Compartment

$36

at Amazon

A 20-inch carry-on duffel with a separate shoe compartment, a waterproof pocket and a sleeve that slides over a suitcase handle, plus a matching packing cube and toiletry bag. Sized for two or three days.

Best for: whoever does the traveling

Why it fits: Long distance runs on long weekends. A bag that stays half-packed makes the Friday night flight or train an easy yes.

View in store

How to choose a long distance gift

  • Start from your routine. If you text all day, a lamp or the bracelets add a second, quieter channel. If you talk every night, the question cards and the sleep headphones get used the most.
  • Connected gifts come in pairs: one lamp or bracelet stays with you, the other travels to them. Order early if they live abroad, because the second half still has to be shipped.
  • Mind the time zones. The LuvLink lamps and Bond Touch both have sleep hours in their apps, so a tap at 3 am their time waits until morning.
  • Mix a screen with paper. Open When letters and printed photos take one evening to prepare and get kept for years.
  • For a best friend, skip the couples-only picks (Let's Get Deep and the couple's journal) and go for the lamps, We're Not Really Strangers or the scrapbook.

Frequently asked questions

Something they use every day that makes them think of you: a pair of touch lamps, Bond Touch bracelets, or a digital frame you fill with photos from your phone. On a small budget, a set of Open When letters is the classic.

Each lamp connects to its own Wi-Fi. When one person taps their lamp, the other one lights up in the chosen color wherever it is in the world. The LuvLink set works with a free app and has no subscription.

No. Each bracelet connects to its owner's phone over Bluetooth, and the phone passes the touch on over Wi-Fi or mobile data. A charge lasts up to four days, and the app is free.

One main gift plus something on paper: the Aura frame or the lamps, together with an Open When set with a few letters written in advance. On a smaller budget, the sleep headphones and a question card game for your next video date.

Friendship lamps were made for this, and We're Not Really Strangers works over a video call. The scratch map for the trips you are planning and the Our Adventure Book scrapbook for the ones you have taken are good cheaper options.

Related gift guides

Gifts for People Who Travel a Lot: 13 Ideas
13 gifts

Gifts for People Who Travel a Lot: 13 Ideas

Thirteen gifts for someone who lives out of a carry-on: flight comforts, gear that keeps…
Cozy Gifts for Homebodies: 18 Hygge Ideas
18 gifts

Cozy Gifts for Homebodies: 18 Hygge Ideas

Eighteen gifts for the person whose ideal Friday is a blanket, a candle and nowhere to…
Gifts for Book Lovers: 10 Ideas Readers Actually Keep (2026)
10 gifts

Gifts for Book Lovers: 10 Ideas Readers Actually Keep (2026)

The best gift for a reader is rarely a book. Ten things that make reading better, from a…
Christmas Gifts for Couples Who Have Everything: 17 Ideas They’ll Share
17 gifts

Christmas Gifts for Couples Who Have Everything: 17 Ideas They’ll Share

Christmas gifts for couples who have everything, all made for two: game nights, dates at…

Some links are affiliate links. This does not affect the price you pay.

Nothing quite right for them?

GIFTbase picks gifts for one specific person: tell the app who they are, what they love and your budget, and get 10 ideas with real store links. Free to start.

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store

How we pick these gifts

Every guide is put together by the GIFTbase editorial team by hand. We check that each item is in stock, that the link leads to a real store and that the price is current on the update date. Nothing here is a paid placement: a product gets in only if we would give it ourselves. Some links are affiliate links, which means the store pays us a small commission at no extra cost to you.

GIFTbase editorial team · Updated September 23, 2026 · About GIFTbase