You’re in a long-distance relationship and it’s getting a little boring to just facetime every day? Here are 15 creative long distance date ideas that are perfect for college students!
My boyfriend and I have been in a long distance relationship for a semester now, and we’ve had tons of virtual dates! Here are our favorites!
If you guys would like a post with tips and our story, comment below.
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1. Create a Weekly Schedule
This idea is not really a DATE idea as such, but it’s a great thing to do that is very helpful if you go to college.
Here is a snapshot of our schedule. The top row has my classes in my time zone, and the bottom row has my boyfriend’s classes in the UK time zone. I like to convert it to my own too so it’s easier for me to reference quickly.
Related: 8 Time Management Tips for Students
2. Do a Travel Challenge
We did this quite a few times and loved it!
Here is how it works:
You choose a country (or US state if you both live there), and plan SEPARATE trips there.
So basically you can choose any place, activity, accommodation, and restaurant within that country or state.
We did this for the UK (where my bf lives), Switzerland (where I am from), and the USA (because I study here). We actually ended up choosing the exact same location AND activity in the Switzerland challenge which was really fun!
I can really recommend this long distance date idea because you guys can do it on multiple days and then present each others ideas on zoom with screensharing!
We created powerpoints of our trips and the presentations were always so fun.
3. Play Quizzes
We love to challenge our knowledge so quizzes were almost a daily thing for us.
We personally use QuizUp (not sponsored), because you can add each other as friends and play quizzes together at the same time.
You can also make this into a trivia challenge, pick 5 different topics and keep score of who wins which quiz. So fun!
4. Play Would You Rather
This might be a classic, but we still love playing it once in a while.
You can google questions if you can’t think of any, but my favorite is actually to just come up with some on the spot when you’re already in bed.
5. Make a Trivia about Each other
There are 2 different ways to do these trivia long distance date ideas.
- Ask questions that are about your own life and see if your partner knows them! Example: How old was I when I became friends with…?
- Ask open ended questions about what your partner likes. Example: Where is your favorite place you’ve been with me?
I love both ways, and you can either mix them up or have them as separate trivia nights.
If you can’t think of any questions you can also google: trivia questions for couples or something!
6. Take an Online Course together
This is something super fun and also useful!
The website Skillshare offers hundreds of courses for a small monthly fee. You could each choose a class to go through every month!
With this link you can get Skillshare 2 MONTHS for free!
7. Create a Spotify Playlist
Not only is this idea great for when you are together and maybe going on a road trip, but also creating the playlist is super fun!
For example, me and my boyfriend have a road trip playlist as well as a Christmas playlist for the winter. It was so fun putting them together because we discovered so many great tunes.
8. Watch a House Show
This is a great date idea for couples who are serious about making this work (I am guessing anyone doing long distance is serious though haha).
We LOVE watching shows that show houses and apartments in different places because we love talking about how we want our future home to look like.
If you and your partner love cars or cooking, you can also watch those kinds of shows to talk about those topics!
If you’re into home shows as well, here are a few we like:
- Instant Hotel
- The Block
- The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes
- Selling Sunset is supposed to be good as well
9. Write a Bucket List
Making a bucket list is one of my favorite long distance date ideas in college.
We have different category bucket lists, but if you just want to make one that’s fine!
Here are some bucket list topics you can use:
- General
- Travel / Places to See
- Activities
- Future (these are long term things to want/have)
- Bedroom ;)
10. Research Jobs/ Internships/ Study Abroad
Another thing you guys can do is research summer jobs or internships in the area your partner or you live in.
Our LDR reaches across the ocean (USA-UK), so I can’t wait to spend my winter and summer breaks in Europe.
So we don’t end up just being inside doing nothing, having an internship is a great way to live together while doing something for your future career.
What I want to do in my next year of college is to study abroad in the UK. That has various reasons, not only to live with my boyfriend.
So if your partner lives in another country that has a good university close by, considering studying abroad for a semester!
Related: The Ultimate Study Abroad Guide
11. Get/Make a Gift for each other
I love sending my boyfriend gifts once in a while (small things like a card is already a nice surprise), and you can do this planned too.
One time we did some online shopping while being on a call and picked out something for each other without saying what it was. We set a budget of $10 and then opened the gifts at the same time once they arrived.
This is super fun and exciting, and if you’re getting something your partner made himself/herself and sent to you, it’s even more meaningful.
Great shops for this is Etsy, Amazon, or small online stores.
12. Look at Apartments
This can be done for fun to discuss what kind of apartments and houses you guys like, as well as more seriously if one of you actually needs an apartment soon.
We did this for different locations where my boyfriend would possibly work after his graduation, and it was fun to see what there is!
13. Watch a Show/ Movie Simultaneously
I know this is a basic, but it’s also part of long distance date ideas for college students!
Watching a movie is much more fun if you start it at the same time and talk about it through texting.
We found that calling at the same time is too annoying because even if you start it at the same time the sound isn’t exactly the same, so rather just text when we watch something.
You can also create a movie/tv show bucket list with what you want to watch.
14. Plan a Short Trip
We love planning trips!
Especially in the first weeks of being apart (we usually don’t see each other for 4 months because that’s how long my semesters are), we are pretty depressed because the next time we see each other is so long ahead.
To help feel better, we like to plan things that we actually do when we see each other again.
That can be a day trip or a short trip somewhere, and it helps me feel sooo much better having something to be excited for.
You can also plan your summer, which can be multiple planning dates:)
15. Create Shared Pinterest Boards and Google Docs
I love Pinterest (check out my account here), and I love saving things that I think would be great to reference later.
We have a Pinterest board for gift ideas for our families, one with future house/apartment ideas, wedding planning (we don’t plan on getting married soon but it’s still fun to see what we would like it to be like etc).
If you’re not really into Pinterest or just want something different, you can also start a shared Google Doc where you keep your travel plans, bucket lists, and personal information so you can both reference it.
We have both, Google Docs and shared Pinterest boards. For example we have our weekly schedule that I shared in Tip#1 on Google Docs, as well as our bucket lists and travel plans.
Can only recommend!
Final Long distance date ideas for college student thoughts
I hope you enjoyed this post with 15 long distance date ideas!
These are some things we like to do that are different from the normal facetiming, t(/s)exting, and asking deep questions. While those are great ideas, I wanted to share some new things to do in LDR’s with you.
Which idea are you most excited to try? Comment below!
Until soon,
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