Long distance date ideas that aren't just another video call
After a few months apart, most calls turn into “how was your day” and “okay, goodnight”. Nothing wrong with that, but it's nice to do something together sometimes. These are things my girlfriend and I have actually tried, plus a few other couples told me about. Most of them cost nothing.
Nights in, from two cities
- Cook the same thing, together. Pick one recipe, buy the same stuff, and cook it on call at the same time. Maggi counts. It's less about the food and more about burning it at the same moment and laughing about it.
- Take photos together in one frame. Open a photobooth room, stand side by side (or get cut out into the same scene), and make a strip of three. Download it. You'll want these later.
- Watch a film in sync. Same film, press play on a count of three, keep the call on mute and unmute for the good bits. Pick something one of you has seen and the other hasn't, so one of you gets to watch the other's face.
- Draw each other badly. Sixty seconds, no peeking at photos, on one shared page. Then swap and explain your drawing like it's in a museum.
- Get locked in somewhere together. A small escape room where each of you sees different clues is a weirdly good test of how you two talk. Take turns being the one who reads things out.
- Plan the flat you'll live in. Furnish an imaginary home room by room. You will find out a lot about each other's opinions on sofas.
Slower things
- Write real letters. Paper, a stamp, a week of waiting. It feels slow and that's the point. Put something small inside: a pressed flower, a ticket stub, a terrible drawing.
- Read the same book. A chapter a night, and talk about it before sleeping. Short books first, so you actually finish one.
- Go on the same walk. Both go out at the same time, earphones in, and describe what you can see. Your city's chaiwala versus theirs.
- Make each other a playlist. Ten songs, no explanations allowed until the other person has listened to all of them.
- Keep one scrapbook. A shared page where you both stick photos and little notes over months. Looking back at it after a year is the nice part.
Silly ones
- Guess each other's answers. “What would they wear to our first dinner back?” Answer for yourself, guess for them, then argue. There's a game for exactly this.
- Have a brain duel. Puzzles and riddles against each other, quickest right answer wins. Whoever loses will demand a rematch. It's always a rematch.
- Dress up for nothing. Pick a theme (ethnic, all black, full anime character) and both dress up for a call where you do absolutely nothing else.
- Order food to each other's door. Each of you orders dinner for the other without saying what it is. Unwrap it together on call.
- Count down to the next visit. Put the date somewhere you both see it every day. Plan one small thing for each week left.
One last thing
The date matters less than both of you being there for it. Put the phone on a stand, close the other tabs, and actually show up. That's most of it.
If you've got an idea that worked for you two, tell me and I'll add it here.