Maintaining adult friendships can be challenging at times, considering our always busy schedules and countless responsibilities and duties, which is completely normal. And it’s not rare that your path and that of your friend separate, whether it’s due to an internship abroad or relocating because of an attractive job offer. That’s fine – after all, we all are here to live our best lives. 

However, sometimes the distance between you and your friend can become an additional factor that complicates the communication. Fortunately, thanks to the internet and new technologies, staying in touch with your close ones is nearly effortless. You can call each other via FaceTime on a daily basis or even celebrate important occasions together but in a virtual format.

Additionally, there are numerous ways to surprise your friend living abroad. Apart from sending postcards and ordering comfort food to their doorstep, you can also gift them an online subscription, send them something from their hometown, purchase an online course for them, or buy them an experience for local activity in the new city. Continue reading and choose something to your friend’s liking!

Gift From Their Hometown

There are probably a number of things that your friend misses while living abroad. When they moved to another country, they left their familiar surroundings, friends and family behind. Whether it’s a favourite food you can get in no other place or just something that reminds them of home, make sure you find something special for them.

It’s possible thanks to online shops like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and others, as well as various individual shipping options. Furthermore, services like Buy For Me in the UK enable you to make purchases if an online retailer won’t accept your bank card, making it easier for you to even order things from abroad (you might not be located in your hometown either).

Online Subscription

Why not sign up for Netflix or Amazon Prime and surprise your friend with a subscription? Thanks to various new features, you can watch movies and TV shows together or even binge-watch a series that you both love! 

You can also choose a different media platform to do something meaningful for your friend. Likewise, a Spotify or Apple Music subscription can also be a good option – you can even create special playlists for each other.

Online Course

If your friend needs to catch up with a certain topic or sharpen their skills, you can purchase an online course for them. Just think of something that they’re interested in or might need at work and look for an exciting offer.

There’s an online course for just about anything these days! Whether your friend wants to learn a new language, improve their coding skills or become a professional cake decorator – there’s a course for that. Another great idea is to give them the opportunity to participate in live sessions with a professional instructor. If a course is not available, you can also find local classes in their area and sign your friend up for them.

Gift Card for Local Attraction

If your friend lives in a foreign country and has a busy schedule, you can surprise them with something that’s easy to enjoy. A gift card for a local attraction is the best alternative if you can’t think of anything else. You can buy a season ticket for a zoo, museum, or concert hall they haven’t yet been to. Or you can purchase a ticket for a local festival or a sightseeing tour, which will allow them to explore the new city in which they live.

Experience

You can also buy your friend some experience, rather than things. For example, you can purchase a local concert ticket or an experience like a wine tasting tour or a scooter ride around the city. Giving your friend an experience might not seem like a typical gift, but if you know them well, you’ll know that they’ll definitely appreciate that.

This might be a perfect idea if you are thinking about surprising someone for their birthday or another important occasion.

Postcard

A postcard is a great way to surprise your friend living abroad! You can write any message on it – from an obligatory ‘Hi, how are you?’ to a funny joke or an anecdote. Additionally, you can attach any small gift that will make your friend feel special. It’s a lovely way to keep in touch and do something more personal than exchanging messages online.

Comfort Food

If your friend misses their favourite food, you can easily order it online and send it to them! It might be that your friend has moved to a place where the local cuisine differs radically from the one they had been used to, or they simply got so caught up in work and worry that they don’t think about simple pleasures. It’s an easy and fast way to help them feel at home.

Care Package

If you want to show your friend that you are thinking about them, sending them a care package is the best way to do it! There are numerous services that provide this option, including Home Chef, Blue Apron, and others. They deliver all the ingredients necessary for cooking a meal to your friend’s doorstep, along with step-by-step instructions on how to prepare it.

In Conclusion

There are numerous ways in which you can surprise your friend who is living abroad. It’s not hard to do, and it will allow you to strengthen your friendship. After all, friendships are the most important thing in our lives, and we should do everything to keep them. And we can do it! As long as we communicate with each other and are ready to help, nothing can come between us.

If you have a friend who is living abroad and you want to surprise them, consider the ideas presented in this article. You can choose one or several of them, depending on their preferences. Surprise your friend and brighten up their day!