Virtual dates are weird. Here are some ways that can help make them suck less.
This Valentine’s Day, many people will remain isolated, among them couples who live in different countries, states and households. While there are those who have managed to meet up, many others don’t have this opportunity. As much a Valentine’s Day is a made up holiday, it’s normal and expected to experience some extra wistfulness on the date.
Virtual dating has been on the rise out of necessity. No one likes it, but people adapt, getting creative in order to have a date that’s special and that doesn’t leave you feeling like smashing your laptop out of frustration and poor Wi-Fi connection.
Whether you’ve just digitally met someone and hope to have a memorable Valentine’s Day date (very brave), or you’re unable to spend the day with your partner, here are 5 virtual date ideas that aren’t terrible:
Virtual fancy date night
The simplest way to make a date feel serious is to dress up a little bit, even if it feels silly to dress up for a night spent in your bedroom in front of your laptop/phone. Still, try your best. Order in food or cook. You can get as detailed as possible, by ordering food for each other or preparing the same meal. Or you can just eat whatever you want; there are no rules.
Take advantage of the new pandemic software technologies
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New features from Spotify and Netflix allow for more connection, enabling people to get deeper glimpses into the stuff they like. You can plan for a Netflix date night, using Teleparty, which allows you to stream movies or shows together without having to sync up. Spotify’s Group Session feature is also something fun you can try out, giving you the opportunity to share songs as you’re listening to them, or send someone prompts like very stressful one of “Play a song that reminds you of me.” High stakes. Perhaps not first date material?
Online classes
Food is inherently romantic. Since you can’t meet up, you can try taking a virtual cooking class and afterwards have a face time or phone call to talk about what you learned and enjoyed (or didn’t enjoy). This is a date idea that takes some time and prep but that could be very fun and provide something to bond over.
Online games
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Online games are not the first thing that come to mind when talking about romance but, you know, we’re doing what we can. There’s a wide variety of online games, which you can adapt according to your needs. You can have some healthy competition with games like Words With Friends or Cardzmania, which provides hundreds of card game options. You can try a more chill joined digital activity, like chatting and putting a puzzle together via Jigsaw Puzzles.
Mail them something thoughtful
We all love presents and getting stuff delivered. A really nice gesture is to mail your date something, whether that’s flowers, a care package or something you know they love and enjoy. If you don’t have any better ideas, you can just mail them a good assortment of alcohol. You can’t go wrong with that.
