Moving away from your best friend or your best friend moving away from you doesn’t mean your friendship has to change. Long-distance friendships can be a fantastic opportunity to build a lifelong, unbreakable bond!
As long as you take the time and attention to nurture your faraway friendship, you will still be the best of buds, no matter how far apart in proximity you are. Our team at Lovebox has put together five of our favorite ways to maintain a long-distance friendship, no matter the distance!
1. Don’t Be Afraid To Reach Out
If you haven’t heard from your long-distance BFF in a few days and are missing their company, don’t be afraid to be the first one to reach out. Life can get hectic. They probably have just not had had time to reach out.
So, send a quick text or call them to say you miss your chats and would love to talk soon—make a date to FaceTime or Skype to catch up with them. They’ve probably missed you as much as you’ve missed them!
2. Send Each Other Care Packages
Distance is the perfect opportunity to send sweet care packages to help when you miss each other. In addition, sending long-distance friendship gifts help maintain your friendship by supporting each other through difficult times. For example, maybe your friend is finishing medical school, and sending them candy and snacks will help them survive long nights of studying.
Perhaps your friend is going through a career change or a breakup. You could send them your favorite book and a blanket to keep them company. Your gift doesn’t have to break the bank as long as it’s from the heart; they will love whatever you send!
If you’re all out of ideas of what to include in your long-distance friend’s care package, here are a few of the most common gift ideas:
- Candy
- T-shirt or sweatshirt
- Books or magazines
- Snacks
- Personalized commissioned art
- Journals
- Pair of wine glasses
- Cozy blanket
-
Stationery set
Sending your friend a gift, whether a pair of wine glasses or a personalized art print for their new apartment, your best friend will surely love anything from you!
3. Set a Date To See Each Other
The distance can be challenging, but setting a definite date on a calendar to get together with your long-distance best friend can help both of you overcome the hurdle of being far apart. Take advantage of the time apart to plan fun weekend trips or events to see each other.
For example, if you both listen to the same band, then plan to attend their concert in a new city. With busy schedules and other commitments that make it harder to see each other, planning a specific time and event to get together gives you both something to look forward to and helps you bond over shared experiences. Plus, creating new fun memories with your long-distance friend keeps your friendship thriving!
4. Do Fun Activities Together, Apart
Perhaps you both enjoy the same podcast or Netflix series. Maybe you both enjoy playing video games or other online games. Who says you must stop because of distance?
Get creative with technology and enjoy your favorite hobbies together. You could listen to the same podcast on the same day and then schedule a time to discuss it. Doing the same fun activities together, apart, is one of the best ways to maintain a long-distance friendship and keep your friendship thriving!
5. Get Creative With Long-Distance Communication
Thanks to modern technology, we have many communication methods to choose from to maintain a long-distance friendship with just a simple click of a button! You and your long-distance pal can communicate regularly regardless of differing time zones and busy work schedules with various mediums from WhatsApp messaging to FaceTime video calls to Snapchat. But what do you do when you are both getting bored with your current forms of communication?
Get creative! Making a conscious effort to find new and exciting ways to communicate with your long-distance friend is a great way to feel connected and maintain your long-distance friendship. For example, our Lovebox Good Vibes super sweet connected messaging device goes beyond texting and video calls to deliver instant good vibes to your long-distance best friend!
Simply create your special Lovebox message in our free app with photos of special memories together, drawings, personalized stickers, and even postcards! Then schedule your message and set up reminders if you need.
The sun on their Lovebox Good Vibes will spin when your friend receives your message. Your friend can then spin the sun to send you a waterfall of hearts on the app. One of the best features if you have multiple people in your friend group, you can connect with as many people as you’d like for a genuinely unique long-distance experience!
Summary
As challenging as maintaining a long-distance friendship can sometimes be, distance is the perfect opportunity to learn and grow in your friendship. True friendship can withstand many miles of distance between the two of you. Long-distance friendships can thrive through reaching out even when you’re both busy, sending care packages, setting a date to see each other, and doing fun activities together, apart. And, of course, our favorite tip, getting creative with a Lovebox Good Vibes messaging box to communicate with your long-distance friend.
We hope our suggestions helped your long-distance friendship stay strong no matter the distance!
Sources:
How To Keep Long Distance Friendships Alive & Well | Refinery29
How to manage a long-distance friendship | The New York Times
Five ways to maintain long-distance friendships | theGuardian