28 Things To Help You Feel Closer To Friends During Lockdown
Love y'all with all six feet of my heart.
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1. A Friends photo frame mug you can slide a pic of your BFF in — a way of saying 🎶I'll be there for you 🎵even when you gotta say it from afar.
A perfect gift for when you and your friend have to "PIVOT!!!" your usual hangs.
Get it from Firebox for $16.99.
2. A "because social distancing" wineglass perfect for all the Zoom happy hours you're hosting.
Get it from Red Lines Designs on Etsy for $7.99+ (available in 35 colors, including *glitter* options!).
3. A Baby Yoda Popsocket you can grip to make it easier to FaceTime your BFFs no matter which couch/chair/bed you happen to be chilling on.
Keep your friends close and your Baby Yoda obsession closer.
Get it from Hot Topic for $11.99 (originally $14).
4. Plus a flexible phone stand you can attach to any tabletop or desk surface when you need your hands free to pull your hair out when you somehow blow it for your whole Zoom trivia team again.
IN YOUR DEFENSE, there are a lot of celebrities named Chris and you can't be expected to keep tabs on them all!
Promising review: "Love using this when I FaceTime or I’m on calls for a long time and don’t want to hold my phone at home. Clips pretty well to surface, the neck is sort of hard to bend but overall nice accessory." —UO Customer
Get it from Urban Outfitters for $16.
5. A calming lavender "Quarantine & Chill" candle to support your friends no matter what specifically is stressing them out — a tall order, seeing as it can change every 15 minutes, but this candle's up to the task.
Promising review: "My friend lives in NYC and this candle gave her the love she needs to get through this hard time." —Brittany Livingston
Get it from Zoey's Attic on Etsy for $20+.
6. A set of long-distance lamps you can use to let your friends know they're on your mind. If you tap yours, theirs will light up wherever they are, so it'll be like you're right there in the room with them even when you're a bajillion miles away. Take that, space-time continuum!
Better yet, if you have a friend group scattered in multiple places, you can actually put these lamps in a family CHAIN. It lets you assign each person in the group a color so when they tap the lamp and it turns blue, everyone will know who tapped it to send their love 💕.
Promising review: "I wanted the perfect gift to give to my mother for Christmas. One lamp is at her home, and the other is at my home. She knows that every time that I, using my lamp, send a light or new-color light to her lamp, I am thinking of her. Love this gift for her, and she sends 'light' thoughts back to me. Great for busy people to let each other know that they are thinking of each other." —Gale
Get one from UncommonGoods for $99 and a set of two for $198.
7. Or a more compact long-distance bracelet that does essentially the same thing, except now you can carry your friend's virtual love from the living room to the kitchen to your bedroom without ever missing a tap.
It even shows you the weather and time wherever it is your friend is tapping from so you can get a lil' glimpse into each other's worlds!
Promising review: "I bought these for my boyfriend and myself who live 700 miles apart. These really help make the distance seem shorter as it feels like he's right there with me when I get a tap. I'll be at work and get a tap from him and it brightens my day. A sweet message combined with a tap from the bracelet helps to make me feel better about being apart." —darla
Get a set of two from UncommonGoods for $98.
8. A set of temporary friendship tattoos you can put on the inside of your wrists so you'll think of each other every time you're washing your hands and singing your favorite 20-second bops.
Promising review: "Great temp tattoos! Love the designs. They went on perfectly and scrubbed off easily when I was ready to remove them (after a couple days)." —Kimberly Smith
Get a set of two from Tattoorary on Etsy for $3.
9. An I <3 Trader Joe's Cookbook that you and your friends can cook through together no matter what odds and ends of ingredients you have in your kitchen, or your mismatched levels of cooking experience (microwaving a DiGiorno pizza counts, right?).
Every ingredient in this book can be sourced from Trader Joe's, but the recipes themselves revolve around cheap and easy staples that most of have on hand already, so a TJ's run isn't required.
Get it from Urban Outfitters for $18.95.
10. A personalized social distancing mug for friends you were already keeping in touch with from far away, because no matter the miles or the circumstances there is truly no experience more bonding than taking your morning coffee to the face.
Get it from Max & Mitch Co. on Etsy for $15.99+ (available in two sizes).
11. Or a long-distance sticker your friend can use to keep them company on their WFH laptop — all of the joy of having a coworker without any of the "AFGFDGLJK" when you can never find an open conference room.
Promising review: "Quick, thorough, reasonably priced! I will do business with you again! Thank you for my one of a kind gift for my BFF!" —tslickb
Get it from Princess & Her Frog on Etsy for $7.70+ (available in five colors and various sizes).
12. A book scratch-off poster you can get with your bookish friends to read your way through lockdown together, one classic novel at a time.
Promising review: "I bought this as a birthday gift for my friend who moved back to her home state. She's a book junkie and loves kitschy things so I thought she might enjoy this. Sure enough she LOVED the poster and is mounting it on some foam board to put up in her office. Really unique idea for someone that has everything and loves to read." —Randi
Get it from UncommonGoods for $15.
13. A personalized pillowcase you can adorn with your own face, so your BFF can still cuddle with you (or draw a Sharpie mustaches on you) no matter where y'all are.
TBH, if you and your BFF miss each other's doggos, this is also an adorable opportunity to put a puppy's face all over a pillow.
Promising review: "Bought for a friend as I moved to Australia nine months ago. It was bought as a joke but she absolutely loves it. Pillows for everyone." —Firebox Customer
Get it from Firebox for $24.99.
14. Or a pair of personalized face socks so you can be with each other in spirit as the two of you binge-watch The Office together for the infinitieth time.
Promising review: "Looked great and arrived in good time. My friend was suitably freaked out to receive a gift of socks with my face on." —Firebox Customer
Get it from Firebox for $24.99.
15. A Friends-themed fill-in-the-blanks book that you and your BFFs can write out for each other now and swap for some Big Feelings once you get to reunite again.
Just because your usual happy hours are "on a break" doesn't mean your friendship has to be!
Get it from Urban Outfitters for $12.
16. A set of fairy lights with photo clips so you can print out photos of all your BFFs and hang them over your bed or your workspace to keep you company during quarantine.
Promising review: "Super cute way of displaying my Polaroids in my room. The wiring is discreet so there is no ugly cords when the LED is switched off!" —UO Customer
Get it from Urban Outfitters for $20.
17. A five-year "Question A Day" journal you can start together now, so you can watch your friendship grow and evolve not just through lockdown, but for all the years to come ❤️.
Promising review: "I love this little book. I’ve had it for about six months now and even reading old entries now shows me how much of changed in such a short period of time. Plus it’s absolutely adorable. I can’t wait to see how I change over the next 4 1/2 years!" —peyton ab
Get it from Urban Outfitters for $16.99.
18. A social distancing T-shirt that comes in so many colors that your friend group will look like a beautiful quarantined rainbow wearing them in the Zoom chat.
I can see the glorious screenshot now.
Get it from Handmade & Handpicked on Etsy for $16.99+ (available in 56 colors and sizes XS-4X).
19. Or a "Quarantine & Tiger King" T-shirt for the friends you've been going on bizarre Netflix rabbit holes with.
Just add all seven episodes of it to the "List Of Things I'm Pretty Sure We Hallucinated In 2020."
Get it from Handmade & Handpicked on Etsy for $16.99+ (available in 65 colors and sizes XS-4X).
20. A set of Table Topics cards full of thought-provoking questions to get the ball rolling in your Google Hangouts with friends.
The themes for each set include Teen, What Would You Do, Family, Couples, Original, and Inspiring Women Table Topics, so these are basically an investment in group chats of all kinds.
Promising review: "I was so excited about this game! We are a big family so it's not often for all of us to be home and together. This was a great and low-key game to play and get to know each other even more. I want to buy all the different sets and the travel versions they have! I can't wait to break this out during the holidays too. Plus it comes in such a cute little glass box, love love love!!" —Sydney
Get it from UncommonGoods for $25.
21. A "Quarantine Succs Without You" care package that comes complete with a candle, matches, and a potted social distance succulent, so you can help them de-stress even if you can't be there to do it as your human self.
For a personal touch, you can add a sign, and choose the candle from one of these three scents: creme brulée with Himalayan salt, lavender with rose petals, or cranberry apple with marigold petals 🌹.
Get it from Peace Organics on Etsy for $27+.
22. A copy of The Astrology Of You And Me that will help you figure out how to best support all of your friends through lockdown based on their signs' needs, and will help explain why the stars aligned and made y'all friends in the first place.
Promising review: "Zodiac isn't my thing, but this is a super cool book to help you learn about how people with different personalities interact with each other in different aspects of life. Plus, it is an awesome way to look at the human experience. People can be wack and this book helps to better understand them." —Pheen
Get it from Urban Outfitters for $24.99, from Bookshop (to support local bookstores) for $22.49, or your local library.
23. An all-purpose social distance card you can send to friends to let them know you're thinking of them in a way slightly more personal than your usual "u up?" text (to swap fruit from each other's Animal Crossing island's trees, of course).
Psst — you can save yourself a step by sending the shop a message you want to personalize it with along with the recipient's address, and they'll send it for you!
Get it from Socialholic on Etsy for $4.
24. Or a Kate Spade stationery set so you can start sending out letters to a bunch of friends at once, and so each of you will have a chance to write down your experiences in a way that may feel more therapeutic than just talking it out.
Get a set of ten from Kate Spade for $20.
25. A personalized long-distance BFF keychain so they'll think of you every time they hear the jingle jangle of their keys in the door.
These keychains are super customizable — you can get messages like the one above, or get creative with inside jokes or cheeky phrases like "I hope your day is as nice as your butt."
Promising review: "I absolutely loved this! It came out very neat and my boyfriend cried when I gave it to him. Thank you so much for making this lovely personal gift!!" —vctigie
Get it from Bees Hand Stamped Gifts on Etsy for $14.76+.
26. A pair of matching personalized bracelets from BaubleBar you can customize with a message up to 12 characters to say important things like "MISS U PUNK" or "ZOOM SQUAD."
Get one from BaubleBar for $36.
27. A mini self-care package focused on helping with stress and anxiety you can send to remind your friends to take care of themselves when you can't be there to do it yourself.
Each box comes with a cognitive behavioral therapy workbook and science-backed strategies for reducing anxiety and helping with sleep, as well fun little relaxation gifts like bath bombs, teas, and notebooks.
Promising review: "This box has exceeded my expectations. The workbook is very high quality and well structured. Great for anyone who enjoys self improvement or working on skills for mental health. I am enjoying the journaling cards. I try out a lot of subscription boxes. This is one I will be keeping for a while. I was pleased with how many items came in the mini mailer. I did end up upgrading anyway so I don’t miss out on anything. Looking forward to next month’s box! Subscribers also get to be part of a very supportive Facebook community." —Kimberly T.
Get the mini version from Cratejoy for $19.99.
28. A "Reasons You Are My Bestie" box full of little wooden hearts you can personalize yourself, so your BFF can pull one out and smile whenever the distance feels a little more distant than usual.
Everyone in the Zoom chat with their matching social distancing merch tonight:
Reviews have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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