You want to give your partner a special gift, especially because you’re long-distance. You’ve heard the best long distance relationship gifts are homemade, but you have no clue where to start.
This list of 15 long distance relationship gifts DIY will give you the confidence to create a gift your partner will love. Whether you want an easy DIY gift or you’re ready to go all in with handmade gifts, we’ve got you and we believe in you.
It all comes down to knowing your partner and having the motivation to show them that. So, read through the options and pick the one that will make your partner feel special and loved while staying authentic to you and your relationship.
This post is all about long distance relationship gifts DIY.
LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP GIFTS DIY:
1. Create a handprint love card
When you create a handprint card from scratch, you have a lot of ways to dress up or down. You can opt to trace your hand with a pen or sharpie or you can go full-on with a stamp or paint.
There are even options for an “inkless” handprint, if you don’t like the mess of traditional handprinting. Regardless, you can put your handprint on a card and explain to your partner how much you love them.
When you can’t physically touch your hands together, this makes for a thoughtful gift that gives them the next best thing. As you create your gift, just imagine them putting their hand up against the handprint you’re creating.
2. Order a customized mug
You can go a lot of different ways with a customized mug. This meaningful gift gives you the opportunity to create a mug that is authentic to you and your relationship.
You can choose a bunch of pictures to go on your mug to remind your partner of your good memories every time they use it. Or you can choose to add your names to it with a quote or the date you got together.
Regardless of how you go about it, you’ll create the perfect gift to put a smile on your partner’s face whenever they use their mug.
That way, whenever they’re feeling sad, they can use your gift to remember how strong your long-distance love is and all of the beautiful memories you two have created together.
3. Plan a good, old-fashioned date night
So maybe a date night doesn’t fit under the category of “DIY gifts” entirely, but we think it’s important to mention. Never underestimate the power of planning a date night entirely on your own to surprise your partner.
Not only is it thoughtful, but it takes the mental load off of them and lets them spend time with you on top of all of that. Make sure that you let them know you want to plan a date and let them know when so they’ll be available.
You can ask them for anything they’d like to do. However, you should be careful not to make them feel like they need to give you ideas to “contribute” to this date in some way.
The sentimentality of this gift comes from you planning it on your own with or without suggestions from them.
4. Consider getting virtual gifts
A virtual gift is always going to help you out. Whether you’re in a tight spot and need a quick gift or you’re running out of ideas, there’s no shortage of great ideas on the internet.
You can get a gift card to an online gaming site, gift your partner a subscription, or give them an online experience. Bonus points if your virtual gift also allows you to do a virtual date together.
Think of things activities like an escape room, online museum walkthroughs, streaming service subscriptions, and more.
While it may seem like virtual gifts require less work and are, therefore, inferior to tangible gifts, a virtual gift can actually be a great way to spend more time with your long-distance partner.
5. Create a memory box
A memory box is an interesting gift to give to someone, especially when you’re thinking of long-distance relationship gifts. Typically, you put stuff into a memory box that means something to you and you would prefer to keep.
So, it takes a different set of “muscles” to figure out what you’d want to put into a memory box that you’re giving to your long distance boyfriend or girlfriend. In a way, that’s what makes this a great gift. It’s incredibly personalized and it requires a lot of planning and consideration.
If you’re interested in giving this to your partner and you’re panicking because you currently have nothing to put inside of it, remember that you can always find things at various places to gift them.
For example, you can go to the fair and purchase a small stuffed animal for them to eventually find in their memory box once you gift it to them. This communicates that you thought about them at that moment and gives them the feeling that they were there with you at the fair.
6. Order a countdown clock
When you’re in a long-distance relationship, the one thing you want to know more than anything else is when you’re going to see your partner again. You and your partner have already proven how strong you both are by agreeing to a long-distance relationship in the first place.
But, you still can change the fact that everything you do between the last time you saw each other and the next one is work through the sadness of not being able to see each other all the time. There’s more to your relationship than being long-distance.
Yet, you don’t want to ignore that piece of it because that will cause you more pain in the long run. So, get your partner a countdown clock to remind them how long it will be until they see you next.
7. Consider buying friendship lamps
Your relationship is not a friendship. Yes, friendship is part of your romantic relationship, but, clearly, it’s more than that. However, the idea behind friendship lamps can definitely apply to your situation.
Since you don’t live in the same area and you can’t see each other all the time, friendship lamps provide the perfect way to connect. The idea is that they reflect each other and one of you can touch a lamp and the other one changes in reflection to how you touch the lamp.
So you know when your partner has interacted with the lamp because yours changes in relation to it. Your lamp is connected to their lamp the same way you two are connected to each other.
8. Collect your favorite photos
Photos capture a unique mode in time and really can bring back emotions that few other things can. You can get reminded of an emotion more easily from a picture than you can from just about anything else.
So, give your significant other the sentimental gift of your memories together immortalized. You can do this by sending them the pictures printed for them to frame, putting together a photo album, which we’ll discuss later on, or putting together a sweet video for them to watch.
Bonus points if you explain why each picture is your favorite and the context behind each picture, in case your partner either forgot or will enjoy hearing it from your perspective.
9. Purchase gift card
Never underestimate gift cards as one of the best long-distance relationship gift ideas. Gift cards get a bad rap for being impersonal and low-effort.
However, they can be the exact opposite and function as a personalized gift if you put enough effort into finding something specific that shows how well you know your partner. Think of their favorite activities.
Maybe they enjoy shopping at a certain store, going mini-golfing, watching movies, or something like that. Get them a specific gift card for a specific activity and set them up with what they need to accomplish that.
Maybe you get them a movie theatre gift card and send them their favorite snacks for the movies in the same package. A meaningful card can also be the perfect addition based on your partner’s taste.
10. Order your partner a digital picture frame
Digital frames can be really cool for long-distance relationships because you can typically add to them whenever you want. So, once it’s set up, you can add new pictures to the ones that rotate in the frame based on your latest adventures and the pictures you have of each other on your phone. The benefit of a digital picture frame is that you don’t have to manually switch out the pictures and you can put them on display. This is a good gift for the moments when your partner is missing you extra hard and needs to remember you. A digital photo frame solves that problem in the best way possible. Plus, it gives the chance to walk down memory lane with their favorite person.
11. Gift them a collection of love notes
If you lived with your partner or lived near them at the very least, you might leave sticky notes and small pieces of paper around for them to find. These notes would remind them about the true love you share, how much they mean to you, and include all kinds of other sweet messages.
This little bit of effort is what makes a relationship strong and beautiful in the long run. When you’re doing the long-distance thing, you may wish you could do this for them in some form other than text messages. Here’s your sign to go for it.
Write out a bunch of sweet notes to them—you could even do it on a deck of cards for fun—and send it to them.
To add a layer of fun and intrigue, you could make a rule that they can only open one of the notes a day. This type of gift is perfect for Valentine’s Day because handwritten notes can make for the most romantic gifts.
12. Create a playlist of your favorite songs
Throw it back to the days of mixtapes and create a playlist for your long-distance boyfriend or girlfriend. You can do this on an app like Spotify, and send them the completed playlist. Or you could do it a bit more old-fashioned and send them something in the mail.
Either way, they’re sure to love listening to your handpicked songs. To make this one of the best long distance gifts ever, you could take it up a notch and include a typed-out or handwritten letter with an explanation behind each song you chose.
Maybe you choose songs from special moments in your relationship or you create a new one by showing them a song that you love.
13. Put together a photo album for them
Handpick pictures for them. Choose them from a special occasion, otherwise special days, or just days that you spent together. Remember that you can include other pictures too as well as keep it open-ended to add future pictures.
The thing that truly makes a photo album a sentimental present is the writing that goes into it. You don’t have to say a lot or include long, drawn-out romantic messages (unless you want to!).
Instead, you can write a note here and there about the pictures, what made them worthy of the photo album, and anything you want to add. It’s one of the more fun DIY projects because you get to cut pictures, add stickers, and go in with a Sharpie or two.
This is definitely the DIY LDR gift for you if you’re a crafty person ready to put time into one of the more time-consuming homemade long distance relationship gifts.
14. Write them a love letter
Give your partner a heartfelt letter. Yes, it’s one of the more simple gifts you can give your partner and it doesn’t necessarily have monetary value. However, your long distance partner will love reading it.
Remember, as much as people say it, it’s still true that it’s the little things that matter the most. It matters that you take the time to write them a letter, especially if it fits with their love language.
The best gift you could give your partner isn’t necessarily the one that is the most creative DIY gift idea or the one that is the most complex.
Instead, it’s the one that feels right to you and authentic to your relationship. Do what brings you joy because that joy will come through in the letter you write, the photo album you create, or the gift card you purchase.
15. Assemble a personalized care package
Break it down to a care package. Give them the snacks they love, the cute DIY things you have created (like a random picture frame), and any other little gifts they’ll enjoy. Remember that your partner is also your best friend and you know them well.
You know what they’ll love and what they won’t buy for themselves. you know what they’ll appreciate above other things. So, trust yourself and have fun.
