Blog6 min read
Long distance anniversary ideas for the day itself
A long distance anniversary works best as one planned day rather than one big gesture: something arrives when the date starts where they are, something waits to be opened, you spend an hour together on a call, and before you hang up you book the next time you'll see each other. Below is how to plan each part, what to send and when, and what to say.
First, decide when your anniversary starts
When you live in different time zones, your anniversary begins at two different moments. Six hours apart, it starts for one of you while the other is still making dinner the night before. Decide early how you'll handle it, because it shapes everything else:
- Their midnight. Whatever you send arrives as the date begins for them. Good if they're the one who cares about the exact day.
- One shared moment. Pick an hour that's reasonable for both, say 8pm for one and 2pm for the other, and treat that as the start.
- Both. A small message at each midnight, so the anniversary lasts thirty-odd hours. With a big gap, this is the nicest option and costs nothing.
If you're in the same time zone, skip this: send it at midnight and move on.
Long distance anniversary gifts to send ahead
Being apart means you can't hand anything over, so whatever you send has to arrive early and wait. Send it at least two weeks ahead if it crosses a border, and write "not until the 14th" (or whatever your date is) on the outside. Good things to put inside:
- A letter on paper. Even if you text all day, a handwritten page is the thing that gets kept. If you've never written one, our guide on how to write a love letter has a way in.
- One of something, and you keep the other. Two identical candles, two mugs, two copies of the same book. You light, use or open yours on the call at the same time.
- Something from your city. The snack they liked when they visited, the local paper from that weekend, a postcard of the street where you live.
- A print of the year. One photo from each visit you've had, with the dates on the back.
- Envelopes for later. If the next visit is months away, a set of open when letters turns one delivery into something they'll keep opening.
Left it too late to send anything? Order something to their door on the day from a shop in their city: flowers in the morning, or dinner from the place you went together, timed to arrive just before the call.
An anniversary date on a video call
The call is the part you're actually together for, so give it a plan. The trick for an anniversary is to repeat something you once did in person:
- Eat the meal from your first date. Both of you cook it, or both of you order it, and eat at the same time with the call propped up against something.
- Watch the film you saw together. Press play at the same moment, and keep the call on so you can hear each other laugh.
- Open the box together. Each of you opens what the other sent, on camera, in turns.
- Read your letters out loud. Only if you both want to. It's the part you'll both keep.
Between now and the next visit there will be plenty of ordinary calls too; for those, try one of these virtual date ideas. If Christmas falls before then, here are long distance Christmas gift ideas that get there on time.
Book the next visit before you hang up
The best long distance anniversary gift is the date you'll next be in the same place. End the call by choosing it: open a booking site together, compare a few weekends and buy the tickets while you're both there. If the money or the calendar won't allow it yet, agree on the month and write it down somewhere you'll both see it.
A sample anniversary day, six hours apart
Here's how it can run when one of you is in New York and the other in Madrid, with the anniversary on a Saturday. The gap is six hours for most of the year, but the US and Europe change their clocks on different weekends, so for a few weeks in March and one week at the end of October or the start of November it's five. Check a world clock for your date:
| New York | Madrid | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 6pm | Midnight | The anniversary starts in Madrid. A message or a gift arrives on the second. |
| Midnight | Saturday 6am | The anniversary starts in New York. A second message is waiting when they wake up. |
| Saturday 7am | 1pm | Opening the box on a short call, with coffee at one end and lunch at the other. |
| Saturday 3pm | 9pm | The anniversary date: same meal, same film, letters read out. |
| Saturday 4:30pm | 10:30pm | Book the next visit together. |
What to write in a long distance anniversary message
Say something about the distance, but don't make it the subject. One detail from your time together, one thing about this year, and the next date.
Two years, and we've spent about forty days of it in the same room. I'd do the other six hundred and ninety again for those forty. Happy anniversary. Eleven weeks until Lisbon.
I still have the boarding pass from the first time I flew to see you. It's in my wallet, and it's falling apart. Happy anniversary. I love you from here, and I'll love you from closer soon.
This year we learned to say goodnight across six time zones and still mean it. I'm proud of us. Happy anniversary.
A gift that arrives when the day starts
Physical gifts get stuck at borders; a link doesn't. A digital gift opens on their phone the moment you choose, with your photos and your song, and the premium ones can be scheduled to unlock at midnight in their time zone. These three are made for distance, and the long-distance page has the rest.
Questions people ask
How do you celebrate an anniversary long distance?
Plan one day with four parts: something that arrives when the date starts where they are, a box or letter to open, an hour together on a video call doing something you once did in person, and booking the next visit before you hang up.
What do you send for a long distance anniversary?
A handwritten letter, one of a matching pair (two candles, two mugs) so you can use them on the call together, something from your city, or prints of the photos from each visit. Send it two weeks early if it crosses a border, marked to wait until the day.
What do you do on a long distance anniversary video call?
Repeat something from a real date: eat the meal from your first date at the same time, watch the film you saw together, open each other's gifts on camera, or read your letters out loud. End by choosing the date of your next visit.
How do you handle the time difference on an anniversary?
Decide whose midnight counts, or celebrate twice: a small message as the date starts for each of you. Schedule the main call for an hour that's evening for one of you and daytime for the other, rather than the middle of someone's night.
