Christmas Gifts for a Long-Distance Best Friend

Best friends who live far apart tend to keep things alive in small bursts: a voice note on the drive home, a two-hour call once a month, a meme at midnight. A good Christmas gift for a long-distance best friend fits into that rhythm and gives it a little more weight. It should travel well, or not need to travel at all. Our top pick is a song about your friendship, because there is nothing to ship and it will be the first thing you play on your next call.

Listen to a Songbond song made for someone else

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry your friend's name and your stories.

12 Christmas gift ideas for a long-distance best friend

1. A song about your friendship across the miles ($39.90). The dorm, the road trip, the summer you both worked the same terrible job. Songbond turns your stories into an original song, ready within 24 hours and easy to send wherever they live.
2. A weekend halfway between you. Pick a town in the middle, book two nights, and put the plan in a card. Usually $150 to $400, split between you.
3. Matching mugs for your calls. Two identical mugs, one for each of you, so you drink your coffee together on video. Usually $20 to $40 for the pair.
4. A friendship journal that travels. Write the first few pages, mail it, and ask them to write the next few and mail it back. It goes back and forth all year. Usually $15 to $30.
5. A box from your old hometown. The pizza place's hot sauce, the local chips, a postcard of your high school. Usually $30 to $60 with postage.
6. Coffee near them, on you. A gift card for their favorite café, with a note telling them to use it on a Tuesday when the week gets hard. Usually $20 to $50.
7. A print of the place you met. The dorm, the school, the office building, the summer camp. A framed drawing or vintage postcard of it. Usually $30 to $90.
8. A year of postcards. Buy twelve postcards, stamp them and address them to yourself, so writing back takes thirty seconds. Send them twelve of yours through the year. Usually about $20.
9. A puzzle made from a photo of you both. The more ridiculous the photo, the better the evening they spend putting it together. Usually $25 to $45.
10. A cook-along kit. Mail the dry ingredients and a recipe card for a dish you both love, then cook it together on a call. Usually $25 to $50.
11. A weekly watch party. Pick a series you both want to see and agree to watch one episode together each week on a call. Add two boxes of the same snacks. Usually $20 to $40.
12. Your best text thread, framed. The funniest exchange of the year, printed and framed. It is the most accurate record of your friendship there is. Usually $20 to $50.

How to choose for a friend far away

Look at how you stay in touch now. The best gift makes that habit easier, or gives it a reason to happen more often.

• If you mostly text: the framed thread, the postcards or the travelling journal.
• If you mostly call: the matching mugs, the watch party or the cook-along kit.
• If you have not seen each other in too long: the halfway weekend or the song.

Keep a tradition going across the miles

Long-distance friendships survive on small rituals more than grand gestures, and Christmas is a good time to start one. Open your gifts on the same video call every year, even if it has to be December 27th. Trade the same small thing every year, like an ornament from wherever you each live now, so both trees slowly fill up with the other person's towns. Write each other a short list of the year's best moments and read the lists out loud. The gift you give this year matters less than the fact that next year, and the year after, you both know it is coming.

Send your best friend a song

Make a friendship song for your long-distance best friend. It is ready within 24 hours, and express delivery gets it to you in about an hour, with no shipping deadline to beat.

Also in the Journal: long-distance friendship songs and a thank-you song for a friend.