Valentine’s Day is meant to be spent in the arms of your partner, but for the long-distance duos, that isn’t always possible. You’ve probably already used up all your vacation days during the holiday season, and so now you need some innovative ideas for celebrating Valentine’s Day long-distance style. If you have been dating for any period of time, you’re likely a master with Facetime, Skype, or Zoom, but having the same old daily conversation over video chat does not make for a romantic Valentine’s Day. Let’s see if we can come up with something that has a little more razzle-dazzle. Let’s explore the absolute best Valentine’s date ideas for long-distance couples.
We Got the Dates!
If you’re looking for a bunch of romantic dates for every weekend of the year, then look no further! Adventures From Scratch: Date Edition has everything you need to put some adventure into celebrating Valentine’s Day long-distance this year. With over 50 expertly curated dates, we have something for both the nights you don’t want to get out of the house and the dates where you’re feeling most adventurous. Just buy the book. Consult the key. Scratch off a date idea, and watch the magic happen!
The Best Long-Distance Valentine’s Day Ideas
Yeah, sure it’s a totally invented holiday to boost the flower and candy business, but it is also an excuse to celebrate your romance and spoil your partner. You should be doing that every day, but maybe turn up the volume a little bit on February 14th.
Just because you aren’t together this year doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate big. The key to keeping the romance on Valentine’s Day for long-distance partners is to treat it like you would if you were in person, and then adapt. Almost all the swoony gestures you would treat your partner to in person can be tweaked for your situation. So, get creative and make this year the best Valentine’s Day yet!
1. Start a V-Day countdown.
If you’re feeling a little bummed about not being with your sweetie on Valentine’s Day, a little extra anticipation can help. Valentine’s Day falls on February 14th, but we suggest starting your celebrations on the 1st. This will give you two full weeks of romance leading up to the big date. Every day, at the same time of day, send your partner a personal message telling them something you love about them.
You could choose to write a letter and have them delivered by standard mail each day, or send an entire pack of love notes with an open date on each envelope. You could also just do a text message. If you want to do gifts, you could have 14 small gifts delivered to your partner’s home or workplace. You even have the option of creating a social media post celebrating your love each day for 14 days!
2. Compete in a virtual game night from Let’s Roam.
Spend this special day in a little healthy competition with your partner. Our innovative game nights can be done from anywhere. We have challenging trivia, emoji decoders, Pictionary, pop culture games, and much more. There’s no software to download and no fussy signup process. You can even get a free seven-day trial to see if you like it. If you don’t, we’ll give you a $5 free coupon. You can play with up to 16 players from all over the world on our video chat platform, so if you wanna make it a double, triple, or quadruple date night, it’s as easy as sending the URL invite. If you and your partner love a little challenge, then our Virtual Game Night Packs are the perfect solution for your Valentine’s Day conundrum.
3. Create a custom date package scavenger hunt from Let’s Roam.
At Let’s Roam, we spend a lot of time thinking about couples and how to help people cultivate the healthiest and most rewarding relationships possible. Our “Date Night Packages” are loaded with fun and are specially crafted to nurture your relationship. You’ll have to alter this one a little bit, as it is meant to be done together, in person. Here’s our suggestion.
Sign your partner up for a scavenger hunt in their home city. You will join them via a video chat or phone call. You will explore all your favorite restaurants and stops in the city. At the last stop, surprise your love with a night in your favorite hotel, a gift waiting with the concierge, or a massage at their favorite spa. Whatever Valentine’s Day gift your partner would love, have it waiting at the end of the hunt. This will take some coordination with a local business or delivery service, but it’s usually easily accomplished.
Our date night packages are completely customized for special occasions. If you are looking to propose, celebrate a big anniversary, or go all out for a birthday, we can build a date night hunt with personalized trivia and photo challenges, and we’ll include all of your most treasured locales. You can even work with our event coordinators to create a date night your partner will never forget!
4. Challenge your boo to an indoor couples scavenger hunt.
If number three is a bit too much planning, no worries, we also excel in date nights that are easy to create and take relatively no pre-planning (for those who forgot the Valentine’s Day thing was coming). We see you!
Download the Let’s Roam Scavenger Hunt App and sign yourself and your loved one up for an in-home hunt. Hop on a video chat and complete it together, just in your separate homes. You’ll walk through a series of challenges and funny photo ops all while in your own home.
5. Craft an old-fashioned love letter.
In a world full of screens and virtual communication, a concrete love note that you can hold in your hand invokes a sentiment that is truly special. Grab a piece of nice stationery from your local office supply store, and write a handwritten letter to your love. Tell them what you treasure about them, reminisce on your favorite memories together, or include a poem that expresses your feelings. The letter should be genuine and in your own style, so do it your own way. Letters like these become keepsakes that partners hold onto for decades, so make it good!
6. Send a romantic care package.
Show your significant other that you care and that you pay attention to their likes by curating a care package with all their favorite things. You can include their go-to perfume or cologne, lingerie, their favorite candy or sweet treat, or a gift card to their favorite coffee shop or clothing store.
You can put together a DIY version and have it shipped to their home or office, or use a designated company like Happy Box Store to create a custom care package. You pick the stuff and pay, and they will gather, arrange it beautifully, and deliver it to your boo.
7. Create a sexy playlist.
If you are going to be doing a video call or chat for your Valentine’s Day date, or even if you aren’t, create a playlist full of your favorite love songs. You can either play it in the background of your date, or you can both listen to it all day, setting the mood for the evening. Just hop on your favorite music streaming service, create a playlist, and share it with your long-distance love. Give them editing ability so they can add their picks to the list.
8. Join a virtual cooking class.
If a romantic dinner date together in your favorite establishment is not in the cards this year, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some seriously good eats and a good time with each other. Cozy Meals offers private cooking classes for couples. They feature master chefs, a fully-interact interface where you can ask questions and correspond with the host, and flexible recipes that can easily be altered to any diet specifications. You just sign up and the ingredients will be delivered to your doors, allowing you to create and consume that same meal, even if you are in different time zones.
9. Sip wine online.
There are several accredited virtual wine-tasting platforms out there, but none offer the customized experience of Priority Wine Pass. With their lush package, every aspect of the experience is adapted to your situation by your own host and sommelier. Their wines come from a handful of small-production wineries and are hand-selected to ensure excellent quality. The hosts are pre-vetted and will meet with you in a private format for both the planning process and the event.
They make the process fun, too! With options for food pairings, wine bingo and trivia, and blind testing challenges, it’s a virtual event that is just as stimulating as the face-to-face.
10. Create a virtual scrapbook together.
It’s time to do something with all those couples’ selfies filling up your gallery. Hop onto Canva and start a scrapbook design. You and your partner can both log into the same account from different devices and add your photos. You can choose a theme, pick cute elements, upload your photos, and insert text to create a beautiful album celebrating your past together. You’ll just need to refresh the page after you make changes so that your partner can see them on their end. Once you are finished, you can leave it open-ended for future add-ins, or have it printed and sent to your love.
11. Put some time into the perfect gift.
Say “I love you” this year with the perfect gift. Too many of us wait until the last minute and then just throw some perfume in a bag, but with a long-distance relationship, you are already feeling down that you can’t be with your significant other, and so are they. A truly heartfelt gift can really lift the spirits.
Sit down and make a list of your partner’s favorite things and what you love about them. Then begin to look for Valentine’s Day gift ideas that they would love or that make a statement about your feelings for them. Pay attention in the months leading up to Valentine’s Day. Your partner will likely mention something they have been eyeing just in general conversation, and you can surprise them with it. Even better, consider crafting or making something for your love, if they are the sappy kind who would like that. Whichever route you take, make it something heartfelt, something that takes time and effort to put together. The point is to show your partner that you have been thinking of them and that they are worth the extra effort.
12. Surprise your partner at work.
Depending on your significant other’s personality, this might be a big hit or a total bust. There is your warning. Some people relish flaunting their love to friends and coworkers. Others would be mortified by gushing romance stuff at work. You make that call, but if your partner would go for a little showing off, then send them an old-fashioned valentine.
Arrange to have flowers, candies, or a singing quartet delivered to them at work. It might seem obvious or cliche, but if your partner isn’t expecting it, then the surprise factor makes this gift awesome. You can also send a personalized video message to the delivery service and have them present it to your partner when they deliver the gift. Send a message to one of their coworkers if you know any of them and have them record the delivery for you so you can relive the joy!
13. Deepen your conversation.
Change up the daily routine and make your Valentine’s Day conversation a memorable one! Turn off Netflix, and forget binging movies together. Instead, set up a virtual chat and bust out some intriguing and thought-provoking conversation starters. These little prompts are questions or statements that would not likely come up in everyday conversation, but they can really give you deep insight into the way your partner thinks and feels. They might even give you new insight into yourself. While these conversations can sometimes get sticky, you will definitely come out on the other side knowing and understanding your partner better!
Check out our list of recommendations in “Conversation Starters for Couples: Help Deepen Your Bond.” Whether it is your first date or you have been together for 50 years, this ultimate list has a section for you!
14. Read a romance novel.
If you or your partner love a good, steamy romance novel, then spend the week of Valentine’s Day reading to each other. Whether you love this type of storyline or think it is utterly ridiculous, you and your boo will have a blast reading them together. For some couples, it could lead to a romantic phone call. For others, you might spend your nights laughing hysterically together. Either way, be prepared for a good time!
15. Play an erotic game over video chat.
The great thing about those annoying online gaming forums is that you can easily use them to challenge your long-distance love to a night of competition. You can also easily up the anty by starting a video chat and adding a stripping element to whatever game you are playing. Competing in a rousing game of chess? Well, for every pawn she steals, you lose an article of clothing.
Whether it’s Black Jack or Scrabble, most games can be easily adapted to include stripping or a sexy “Truth or Dare” challenge for the loser. Get creative with it! You never know where it might lead.
16. Have your partner’s favorite food delivered.
The way to the heart is through the belly! Before you start your zoom call, kick the night off right with a delivery of your partner’s absolute favorite food to their home. It’s a simple gesture that doesn’t take much effort but will be highly appreciated.
17. Plan your next in-person meetup.
Perhaps the only good aspect of a long-distance relationship is the anticipation leading up to your next in-person meeting and the fun of planning that meetup. Spend your Valentine’s Day evening touring resorts virtually or searching for flight deals to the next romantic destination. Planning gets you excited about your next face-to-face, and it can help alleviate some of the sadness of spending Valentine’s Day apart.
Set a date on the calendar. Pick a romantic destination, and then throw on a Spotify playlist with music from that destination to get you into the vibe. Start researching and booking attractions. It’s an easy and effective way to connect, and it’s a super productive date as well!
18. Take a museum tour.
If you and your boo are total history, science, or art nerds, then you are in luck. The rise of COVID-19 forced almost all major museums in the world to go virtual. You can now tour the Smithsonian museums, the Louvre, and the Guggenheim Museum all from the comfort of your couch. You can craft your own DIY adventure just by hopping on your target museum’s website or enjoy the added benefit of an expert museum guide or art historian by joining a guided virtual museum tour with Let’s Roam. Either way, this option adds a little class and culture to your Valentine’s evening while still allowing you to wear your comfy pants!
19. Make a virtual couples journal.
Couples journaling apps like Twig allow you and your partner to keep a continuously running daily journal documenting your romance from start to finish. Each partner can hop on daily, answer a prompt, upload a photo, and include a sweet note. At the end of the year, you can have your journal downloaded or printed for posterity. Spend your Valentine’s night setting up your love journal just the way you want it and upload your first entry! Next year, you can sit down together and reminisce on an amazing year together.
Are you feeling the love?
Valentine’s Day is a special day because it is so personal. It holds no value other than to celebrate your most important relationship, and there is no right or wrong way to do that. If you are having to endure a long-distance relationship this Valentine’s Day, don’t give up on having a romantic evening. It will just take a little creativity, but almost any date you would do in person can be adapted for a killer virtual experience!
Just remember to focus on heartfelt gestures, quality time and conversation opportunities, and the element of surprise. With a little planning and a genuine aim to celebrate your partner, you really can’t go wrong!
Do you have any long-distance Valentine’s Day date ideas that have worked for you in the past? We are all ears! Drop them in the comments so we can all learn from your success.
For more tips on getting the best out of your long-distance relationship, take a look at “Making Your Love Last-Long Distance Relationship Tips.”
To ensure this year is your best one yet, check out “18 Relationship-Building New Year’s Resolutions for Couples.” We’ll help get your next year off to a good start with achievable and realistic goals to deepen your bond and improve your communication.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are spending Valentine’s Day apart, send your love on a fun-filled scavenger hunt, ending at your favorite romantic spot where their gift awaits them!
With a little creativity, almost all traditional dates can be adapted to virtual ones. Consider a private online cooking class, a virtual wine tasting, or creating a virtual scrapbook together.
Long-distance Valentine’s gift ideas include a romantic care package with your sweetie’s favorite treats, a customized romance playlist, or a day at the spa!