Digital gifts for your lockdown valentine

Valentine’s Day in lockdown is set to be a big deal. A KAM Media and Toggle poll showed that one in five people intend to make more of an effort than normal in 2021. If you are living apart from your Valentine, how do you show your love from a legal distance?

After nearly a year of lockdowns and social distancing restrictions, there have been unique pressures on couples who are together but live apart. The British Psychological Society advises couples in such a situation to explore new and creative ways to connect with each other and make new memories.

Digital cards, gifts, and experiences offer quirky options to put a smile on the face of someone you love this Valentine’s Day.

E-cards

Send an e-card…or five. One for your Valentine, your Galentine, your Mum, and so on. Lots of e-card services offer a bulk sending facility to help share your love among friends and family, as well as with your partner.

There are lots of providers out there. Our favourites also offer the ability to donate to a charity.

Friends of The Earth have a selection of eco-friendly-themed cards to help you and your valentine confirm your love for the planet, as well as each other.

If you have a specific cause in mind that means something to both of you, dontsendmeacard.com has a broad selection of charities to donate to in exchange for an e-card. 

Digital gifts

Usually when choosing a gift, you might think about what the person you are gifting really wants or needs. If you are choosing a digital gift this year, it could be an opportunity to do a bit of good in the world, too.

Pangolins have had a tough few months – the eight species were listed as vulnerable or critically endangered even before the Pangolin became the Coronavirus fall guy. You can adopt a pangolin for your partner via WWF for $55 (£40 approx) along with many other endangered species.

Or how about helping to feed a family year-round by gifting six chickens. The chickens will produce 250 eggs between them over a year – the very definition of a gift that keeps on giving. Available for only £13 from concern worldwide.

For valentines who value flora over fauna, you could gift a tree. Tree planting has significant potential to address climate change and thanks to organisations like Treedom, you can do it from your sofa.

Galentine’s might appreciate an e-book celebrating the life of another inspirational lady. Michelle Obama’s Becoming was the best-selling book in 2018, Samantha Power’s, Educating an Idealist is a must-read for the human rights activists in your life, and Caitlin Moran’s More than a Woman is raucously entertaining.

Virtual dates

You’ve done the virtual quizzes, wine-tasting, and cheese-tasting together, but here are some slightly different digital-only ideas to impress your partner on Valentine’s Day.

Justin Bieber has just announced that he will be live streaming a special performance of Journals, his compilation album from 2013. It’s taking place on TikTok on 14 February 2021 at 2am GMT, but if your celebrations don’t stretch that far into the night, there’s a repeat on 15 February 2021 7pm GMT. 

If your love is more into biology than Bieber, the Natural History Museum has a ’Love, Naturally’ episode on their YouTube Museum Lates series. You and your partner can learn all about how animals engage in…courtship.

Drawing or painting each other could be an intimate (or amusing) activity to share and you can gift the final version of your portraits to each other. Or you could both draw someone else: Brixton life drawing are offering a Valentine’s special as a class.

If you prefer to admire the art of masters, you could spend an evening in Paris with a virtual tour of The Louvre. Find out the story behind the Mona Lisa’s smile by downloading an app to take part in the VR experience, Mona Lisa Behind the glass.

During times of crisis, it can be hard to see past the end of the next week or even the next day. Imagine for a moment that you could write to yourself or to your partner in the future. What would you say? Would you tell future you how you feel now? Your hopes and dreams for the future? Would you imagine a better world?

Well, you can. Future me allows you to write an email to yourself (or someone else) and have it delivered in a year, two years, three years, five years, or a date that you choose.

We hope these ideas for e-cards, digital gifts, and virtual dates help you to turn ones and zeros into hearts and flowers and enjoy being together, apart.