Long-term relationships require attention and communication. Date nights in any relationship are essential to maintaining trust and connection between you and your partner. So, how do you build or maintain a thriving relationship when you’re in a long-distance relationship?
Well, it all starts with spending quality time together. In long-distance relationships, you may end up having consistent text exchanges or phone calls, but date nights are essential to break up the routine and have some fun with your partner.
There are plenty of long distance relationship date ideas to help you and your partner connect. Whether living in different cities, states, or countries, we’re going to give you ample options for fun and romantic ways to connect with your long-distance partner.
Why are distance dates important?
In a relationship, spending quality time together is critical to maintaining trust and connection between you and your partner. Even though you and your partner aren’t able to be together in real life, technology has gifted long-distance partners with many fun options to make distance dating fun and easy.
So, how will distance dates benefit your long-distance relationship?
Maintain bond and connection
If you aren’t spending quality time with your partner, it’s difficult to feel secure and confident in your relationship. You may question your partner’s loyalty and support if you aren’t able to connect regularly.
Date nights help keep you and your partner connected. It may be easy to fall into a routine together, but breaking up the monotony of your daily lives will keep your relationship thriving longer.
Keep things fun
It’s easy to fall into a routine in any type of long-term relationship. That’s why dates are important—to not only connect and talk about important things in your relationship but also to let loose and have some fun together.
You can use date nights as a time to try something new together, whether it’s romantic and sexy or fun and goofy.
Rekindle a flame
Speaking of routine and monotony, when you’re with someone for so long, it’s only normal that the passion and spark that you might have once shared can fade or be forgotten. But don’t worry, that spark can be reignited with weekly date nights.
While you can set specific dates to reconnect sexually, you’ll also find that just playing, laughing, and having a good time with your partner will help to bring back that passion that you had at the beginning of your relationship.
20 Long Distance Relationship Date Ideas
Ok, so now that we know dates are essential to any healthy relationship, including a long-distance relationship, let’s get into some date ideas to get you having fun and connecting with your partner in no time.
Video call
While this shouldn’t be your only kind of date time, as it could get a bit monotonous as well, a video call date will do if you and your partner are in a bind.
Phone calls and texts are great ways to communicate the little happenings of your days, but video calls are a wonderful way to connect face-to-face with your partner (albeit through a screen).
Cook
Whether you’re fancy amateur chefs or just do quick stovetop meals, taking the time to cook together with your partner can be a fun bonding experience. After all, food is its language of love.
Have a video call and try a new recipe together. Crack open a bottle of wine or make yourself a cocktail while you cook and talk together. Alternatively, you could each make different meals and then swap the following week. Or maybe you’d prefer to make one of your favorite meals or have a pizza night. It doesn’t matter what you make; it’s the time you share making it (and then eating it) together.
Play a game
This one is quite open-ended. You could hop onto an online game site where you stick to something standard like Monopoly, or you could do something like 20 questions. It will get you talking and learning more about each other differently.
You could even make up your own game if you’re feeling creative. You could make it sexy, goofy, or intellectual. Whatever you and your partner feel like. Who knows, it could become a household classic.
Send pictures
Maybe you and your partner often send each other photos, or maybe not. If not, you could designate one day a week (or every two weeks, month, etc.) to be “picture day.” Take the day to send photos of what you have going on. Did you go for a run in the morning? Shoot a pic of the scenery or a sweaty “after” shot.
To take this to the next level, you could send a photo with no text and have your partner add the caption. It could be a fun way to have some cute banter about what you have going on in your daily lives.
Book club
Do you and your partner love to read? Or perhaps you’re both attempting to break your bad habit of mindlessly scrolling through social media in favor of reading more actual books. Why not have a fun and chatty date while nourishing your intellectual curiosity?
You can choose a book to read with your partner and make time to talk about it. Read the whole thing or dedicate chapters to be read before each book club session. If you and your partner have different reading tastes, take turns choosing the book. Who knows, their eclectic selections might introduce you to a new genre.
Plan a trip
Even though you can’t be together now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t start thinking about the next time you’ll see each other. Rather than doing a standard visit, plan a trip to somewhere new together.
Alternatively, you could just plan a day trip to somewhere close to each of your towns. It will be a fun way to explore and learn about the travel style of your partner if you haven’t already. And if you already know that you travel well together, you can get even more adventurous with your options.
Romantic date night
Dim the lights and stock up on candles for a romantic date night with your partner. Dress up as though you two are going out on the town so that it feels like a real date night. And prepare the sexy lingerie, assuming that things will go well.
The date itself could be anything. Maybe you just have some late-night cocktails and chat. Or maybe it’s a romantic dinner where you each order your favorite meal and have it delivered to your home. Either way, lean into the romance of this date. Do what you have to do to get into sexy, romantic date-night mode and enjoy your partner.
Exercise
Are you and your partner avid runners? Maybe you want to share your runs after you’ve completed them. You could even train for a marathon or an event together.
Or maybe you’re both just trying to get a little more physically fit. Set a time each day that you both exercise separately. This is a great way to bond and have some accountability. To connect, even more, do the same workouts and share your experiences the next time you speak.
Deep conversations
It may seem strange to plan a deep conversation; however, you can set a time to have more intense conversations. Whether you have a topic at hand that you both want to delve into or you look up some conversation starters to get the ball rolling, setting aside a specific time to converse deeply with your partner is a great way to make sure you talk about the important things.
You could alternate turns in choosing the topic or just see what comes up organically. You could also have a “deep conversations” jar. Sounds crazy, I know. But it can be a fun way to talk about things that may not come up naturally. When you’re together, you can both add things to the jar and then pull them out on your “deep conversation date nights.”
Relationship Check-ins
It is easy to become obsessed with minor details in any relationship. These feelings often get amplified in long-distance relationships since you aren’t able to have those in-person connections very often. Rather than making yourself crazy by obsessively talking about your relationship, set a time to specifically check in about the relationship.
Do you feel like your needs are being met? Is something of importance bothering you that needs to be discussed? This is the time to talk about how you’re both feeling in the relationship and adjust from there if need be.
Start a garden
This is a great challenge for you and your partner to take on separately, but together. You could start a vegetable garden and even use some of your freshly grown veggies on your next dinner date.
Do some research on how to get started and compare notes. Even though you’re not physically in the same place, that doesn’t mean you can’t start a new project together.
Send letters
The art of letter writing is not dead—well, it doesn’t have to be. Letters are an excellent way to express yourself without feeling rushed. Oftentimes, it can be hard to share what we feel with someone in conversation. Letters are a great way to show your partner how much you eloquently appreciate them.
While you can certainly send your letters via snail mail, you could also just read them to your partner on a video call. If you feel too on the spot, then send it the old-fashioned way. The point of the letters is that you share something with your partner, no matter the way.
Keep it sexy
Maintaining a physical connection in a long-distance relationship may feel impossible sometimes. Don’t worry, it’s not. You just have to get a little more creative and adventurous when it comes to finding ways to enjoy each other. However, having to do this will likely make you even more physically and sexually comfortable with your partner.
Make time to have sexy texting time or a video call designated for getting frisky together. Wear some sexy lingerie, do some pushups before, whatever makes you feel your sexiest, and try to have fun with your partner even though they’re not there with you.
Learn something new
Just because you aren’t together physically doesn’t mean that you can’t try something new together. Try to take on a new skill that you’re both interested in learning. Maybe you decide to take up pottery or learn a language. Whatever it is, make a plan to progress on it together.
Take time to talk specifically about how the new skill is coming along and encourage each other along the way. Maybe you both want to learn Portuguese for your upcoming trip to Brazil. Having some sort of end goal will help to keep you both motivated—and remember to cheer each other on along the way.
City tour challenge
So, you’re both living in different places. What a wonderful opportunity to get to learn about and see a new city! There are several ways you can both get to know your cities even better. Even if you aren’t new to your city, this challenge will help you discover what’s new in town.
Go on a virtual date to a new place in your city. You could also dedicate a day to exploring your city and then go on a date that night to find out what you both discovered. You could even agree to focus on something specific for the day. For example, you may both want to find the best bakery. Do your research and head off to your top spots, respectfully. Then report back on which location won.
Work lunch date
This is a great opportunity to squeeze an extra date into a busy week. If you and your partner both have demanding professional lives, then help each other out by connecting over a work lunch.
You can stay in your office or head to your favorite cafe. You may need to unload on your partner about work things, but you could also use it as an opportunity to forget about your professional obligations. Focus on being in the present moment and connecting with your partner over a quick lunch.
Send a care package
If you have some items that you know your partner has been wanting, then send them a care package. It is a great way to show your partner that you care. You can even open them together on a video call.
Did you see something that reminded you of them? Then buy it and send it over. It always feels good to receive a surprise package from someone you love just because they thought of you.
Have a dance party
Dancing tends to bring joy. Why not have a virtual dance party with your partner? Crank up the tunes and start moving around to the beats. Feel free to get wild and crazy with your steps.
After all, when is a better time to experiment and have fun than when jamming at home with your loving partner? If you and your partner are particularly skilled dancers, have a little dance-off via the video call for fun.
Do some crafts
Art and crafts are a fun way to de-stress. If you and your partner are looking for something light and fun to do together, then try some crafts.
You could also get into seasonal or themed crafts. There are different crafts for every time of the year. Whether you decide to make your own Halloween decorations together or make some table settings, there are plenty of options for any time. Don’t make it all about the actual craft, but the time spent together being creative.
Fall asleep together
Ok, I know. Maybe it sounds a bit too cheesy. But falling asleep with someone you love does create a deeper bond. So, have a late-night phone or video call. Catch up for a little while, and then decide to wind down together.
Often, our partner is the one we think about before going to bed. So, why not send them a little virtual goodnight kiss and snuggle in for a night spent “together”?
Distance dates
Date nights are beneficial to every kind of relationship. However, they’re vital in long-distance relationships to keep the bond between you and your partner strong.
Remember that date nights shouldn’t be a chore. Have fun planning and “going on” dates with your long-distance mate. Use our list of ideas to get you started and expand your date-night repertoire as you go. Happy distance dating!
