Any relationship takes work from both sides to keep it going. Long distance relationships have that extra barrier of periods of time without being able to see each other face to face. Of course, you could visit each other frequently, but that is cost prohibitive.

Less expensive ideas to keep the romance going even when you are apart

Send a Gift

Sending a gift doesn’t mean spending a ton of money on huge surprises. Try brainstorming for ideas including the classics and gifts that may take an inside joke or story into account.

You could think about sending flowers, even internationally, with sites like floraqueen.com. Or you could mail an actual love letter or card with a little spritz of your signature scent or his/her favorite dried flower. If they are missing something specific wherever they are currently located, send a care package with the little stuff that would mean a whole lot. For example, some countries don’t have ketchup or peanut butter or other areas of the same country may be missing specifics like your honey’s favorite toiletries.

Just remember, it doesn’t need to be extravagant to show love.

Make a Date

If you are in a long distance relationship, you know about sites like Skype and Google Hangouts. But have you thought about using those normal means of hanging out to actually have a date?

You could set up a romantic dinner table on your end, have a pizza delivered on their end, and literally have a surprise meal together even when you are miles and miles away.

Or plan out a date night where each of you watch the same interesting or so-bad-its-hilarious movie, “share” popcorn, and talk your way through an awesomely awful horror movie or brain-teasing who-done-it.

Favors

Even if you two are apart, you could possibly help each other out. If you can pull it off from a distance, like helping to plan an event, then it’s straight-forward enough to just tackle. But if there is something you would like to do that would require your physical presence, try reaching out to your sweetie’s friends in their area and see if you can get it taken care of that way.

In the end, everyone just wants to know that they are loved and appreciated. Even when you aren’t physically next to each other, you can show them you care.

How do/did you manage your long-distance relationship?