14 Meaningful Long-Distance Family Gifts

Family Gifts

It isn’t easy living far from the people you love. Even with the ability to video call parents or check in with kids via text, you still miss them. 

This is especially true when birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions come around. Fortunately, you can choose from a variety of meaningful and thoughtful gifts to send when you can’t be together. 

Long-distance family gifts are one way to make sure your family feels loved—even from a distance.  

What’s the Occasion? 

When considering how to stay in touch with family long distance, reaching out during special days throughout the year is essential. Find ways to celebrate each other by tailoring the gift to that person and occasion. It’s the perfect opportunity to convey love and thoughtfulness that spans hundreds of miles. 

Birthdays 

  1. Family Lamps: Thanks to technology, you can now shine a light every time you think of your loved one. For the next birthday on your calendar, try family lamps. Each of you gets a lamp for your respective home, and when you each think of the other…you turn it on. No matter the distance, their lamp will illuminate as well. 
  1. Customized Jewelry: You can send bracelets engraved with your town and their town connected with hearts. You can also send necklaces with coordinates representing a hometown or other special location. “Smart” jewelry—like family lamps—connects two people by tingling or lighting up when one puts it on.  
  1. A Box of Favorite Things: What does your family member enjoy? Wine or microbrews? Coffee or tea? Movies or books? A bit of everything? Send a box or basket full of samples, allowing them to enjoy an array of their favorite goodies. It also shows you care enough to remember what’s important to them.  

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Job Promotions

  1. Monogrammed Bag: When someone you love gets their dream job, send a monogrammed bag—customized with their initials, a favorite logo, or even a meaningful quote—to congratulate them. Help them carry a laptop, a phone, and other daily items with style and sophistication.
  1. Standing Desk Converter: Sitting all day isn’t good for anyone. Promote your loved one’s health while celebrating their professional promotion with a sit-or-stand converting workstation. It allows the hard worker in your life to stand or sit at different times throughout the day. Choose different sizes and shapes to accommodate various body types and decoration styles. 

Holidays

  1. Family Photo Frames or Plaques: Get creative with older or recent family photographs this holiday season. You can get them made into a plaque that will last much longer than a card. You can also send a digital frame that holds thousands of photographs and memories, rotating them throughout the day rather than holding just one picture. 
  1. Unique Decorations: Holidays can be difficult for families separated due to jobs, school, or other responsibilities. Send monogrammed stockings for younger family members waiting for Santa’s visit, or a holiday-themed cutting board engraved with your favorite latke recipe for Hanukkah.  
  1. Traveling Traditions: When your family member leaves home for the first time, get them started right. Send a box filled with starter kits for whatever holiday is coming up. Include decorations for inside and outside their home, traditional keepsakes, or food items to help them feel loved during this special time. 

Medical Issues

  1. Customized Pillow: When someone is sick, a comfortable pillow reminds them to rest. Create one of any size with thoughtful messages letting them know the importance of self-care and how much you love them—especially when they’re not feeling well. 
  1. Paint-By-Numbers Set: Staying in bed while under the weather quickly becomes tiresome. Why not give them something fun to do with a paint-by-numbers kit? They don’t have to be an aspiring artist…anyone can enjoy this activity, and many find it a relaxing way to recover from surgery or illness. 
  1. Photo Family Blanket: This is an excellent gift for someone who just moved to a colder climate, or someone recuperating at home or in the hospital. Find a comfortable throw blanket (or a king-sized comforter!) and decorate it with a variety of family photos. They will love curling up with a lifetime of memories.   
  1. Care Package: Comfort food is sometimes the best medicine. Check out Spoonful of Comfort’s gift packages to help loved ones feel better, inside and out. 

Just Because

  1. Personalized Candle: There doesn’t have to be a reason to send lovely, scented candles that help houses or apartments feel more like home. Find special scents and personalize them with meaningful messages of love and support. You can also choose candles with family names and hometowns to celebrate your family connection.
  1. Family Cookbook: Create a cookbook with family recipes handed down from generation to generation. This is an amazing legacy gift to be cherished far into the future for children going off to college or relocating for work. Or, perhaps a grandchild is heading out to start their own family. Many cookbooks can include recipes, conversion tables, reviews, and photo galleries.

Send Some Love

There are plenty of reasons to shower love on family members or even long-lost friends who live far away. Celebrate birthdays, holidays, or any special occasion with meaning and thoughtfulness. You don’t ever need a milestone to tell someone you love them.