The Long-Distance Cocoa Date: Send Matching Mugs to Two Addresses, Then Drink Them Together on a Call

We sell a $35 personalized mug gift box, printed, packed and shipped to each person's address. This guide covers the other options too.

Key facts

• Two boxes, two addresses, one order: $35 per box, delivered, so a matching pair is $70 with shipping included. No minimum.
• One print per order. Both mugs carry the same photo or design (up to about 3 in tall) or the same few words. Different lines on each mug take two orders of one box each.
• One card message and one sign-off per order. The message can include {first name}, filled in from the address list, so each card greets its own person; you preview every card before you pay.
• 81% of US adults said they had talked with others on video calls since the pandemic began, in a Pew Research Center survey of 4,623 adults in April 2021 (Pew).
• Both boxes ship from New York to the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now.

What is a long-distance cocoa date?

A cocoa date is a video call with a shared ritual: you each open the same box at the same time, make the same cocoa in the same mug, and talk. The gift is the box; the date is the part they remember.

Long-distance couples already do versions of this. In an r/GiftIdeas thread from a poster whose partner lives in another city, one commenter described the long-distance dates a friend and her boyfriend kept up for years: "One person in real life, one person on the screen." On one of them, both "had bought some nice chocolate for themselves" (r/GiftIdeas). Another, who had sent small edible treats to a long-distance partner, wrote: "Frequent small bits of connection were a much better way to keep us feeling connected (unsurprisingly) than occasional grand gestures."

Research points the same way. Cindy Chan (University of Toronto) and Cassie Mogilner (UCLA) found that "experiential gifts are more effective than material gifts at improving relationships from the recipient's perspective," and the University of Toronto's summary adds that "Those considering material gifts can also highlight the experience it provides" (University of Toronto). A mug is a thing. A mug with a date on the calendar is an experience you share.

It also gives a video call something to do. In Pew's same 2021 survey, about a third of all US adults said they feel "worn out or fatigued" often or sometimes from time on video calls (Pew). Making cocoa together is easier than staring at each other's faces for an hour.

How do you send matching mugs to two addresses?

Put both of you on the address list: them on one row, you on the other. Choose a personal gift, add your photo or type your words, check the preview of your mug and card, add the address (or a list of addresses), and pay $35 per box. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address.

The card is printed (not handwritten), with no logo or brand on it: only your message (up to 300 characters) and your sign-off. The order page tells you if a message is too long to print.

Because the order has one message, write it so it works on both cards. Your own card will say the same thing, which is half the fun of a matching pair. Lines to adapt:

• "Hi {first name}! Cocoa date: Saturday at 8 pm Eastern. Kettle on, camera on. Don't open the box until we're both on the call."
• "{first name}, same mug, same cocoa, two kitchens. Call me when the kettle boils."
• "Hi {first name}. This is our new Sunday ritual: one cup each, one hour, no phones except the one we're talking on."
• "Happy holidays, {first name}! We can't share a couch this year, so we're sharing a cocoa. Video call on the 24th?"

Every person on the list needs a first name in it when the message uses {first name}: the order page flags a row without one, so no card ever reads "Hi ,". The address list's columns are on the address list template.

Matching or paired: what should the two mugs say?

One order prints one design, so a single order makes a true matching pair. Short, specific words read best on a mug. A name or a few words works (our suggestion: 25 characters or fewer), set in one of 3 fonts:

• "Same cocoa, two kitchens"
• "Sunday calls, always"
• "Chicago to Denver"
• The date you met, or the date you'll next be in the same room
• An inside joke only the two of you get

The fonts print Latin letters, including most accents. Non-Latin scripts, such as Devanagari, Greek or Chinese, and emoji can't print yet, and the order page names any character it can't print.

A photo works too: one of the two of you, or a place that matters to you both. It prints up to about 3 in tall, on one side or both sides, so crop close and keep it to one to three faces. The order page warns when a photo is under about 600 pixels tall (upright) or 700 wide (wide), because it may print a little soft. We remove location and camera data from photos before they're stored. More on choosing one: which photos print well on an 11 oz mug.

Want paired designs instead? Your city on their mug and their city on yours, or "his" and "hers" lines, take two orders of one box each. There's no minimum, so each order is $35 delivered, and each order has its own card message. Sixty more lines by relationship: personalized mug ideas that don't feel generic.

One check before you order: does your partner drink something hot? The cocoa date gives the mug its first use, and the calls after it give it the rest.

When should you order so both boxes arrive before the call?

Ships within 2 business days of a complete order (your design, your address list and payment). Ships by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS Ground, with tracking, and usually arrives 2–5 business days after it ships. Delivery dates are carrier estimates, not guarantees, and run slower in mid-December.

Two boxes going to two addresses can land on different days, so set the call for after both have arrived. Our suggestion: order at least two weeks before the date you have in mind, and pick the exact time once both boxes are in hand. When your boxes ship, you get one email with a spreadsheet of recipient, ship date, carrier, tracking number and $35 per box, so you can see where each one is.

A long-distance poster on r/LongDistance asked how to get a gift delivered on an exact anniversary. One reply: "I just send it early - if it arrives exactly on the day then great! But if not, it being there earlier is better than it being late". Another suggested telling your partner it's coming and adding "Don't open it before" (r/LongDistance). Our card can do that job for you: it lies on the lid of the gift box, so it's the first thing they see when they open the shipping carton.

For comparison, USPS's recommended send-by date for Ground Advantage delivery by Christmas in the lower 48 is Thursday, December 17 (USPS). Every date in one place: 2026 holiday order-by dates.

A cocoa-date plan for the call

1. Pick the time zone first. Write the time in both zones on the card, or agree on it by text, so nobody's kettle boils an hour early.
2. Track both boxes. Set the date once both show as delivered.
3. Open the cards together. Read them out loud. They say the same thing; that's the joke.
4. Make the cocoa at the same time. Each box holds a 1.5 oz packet of Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa; follow the directions on the packet.
5. Split the truffles. There are 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles in each box. Agree how many you eat on the call.
6. Bring one question each. "What's one thing from this year you want to do again?" works better than "So, how was your week?"
7. Book the next one. The mug stays. Put the next cocoa date on both calendars before you hang up.

If you can't land the same day, our suggestion is a voice note recorded while you open your box, sent to them before they open theirs.

Can I put together two matching boxes myself?

Yes: you can make two matching boxes and mail one, and for one gift the printed mug and counter postage alone cost $28.46, before the cocoa, truffles, gift box, tissue or card (DIY cost comparison, as of Oct 29, 2026). A pair doubles the mugs; then come the parts from several stores (plus a week or more waiting for supplies to arrive), the packing, so the handle and the rim survive, and the counter. A mug packed without a collar can break at the handle and must be bought, packed and shipped again, and a cocoa date with one broken mug waits for the replacement. By our estimate, 25 mug gift boxes take about 9 hours of hands-on work; two take less, but every step is still yours.

With Personalized Gifts Delivered, you add your photo or type your words, add both addresses, check the preview and pay. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address.

What to know before you order

• Where we ship. From New York to the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now; no Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, other US territories, APO/FPO or international addresses. Each box ships on its own, with its own tracking number.
• One print and one message per order. Every mug in an order carries the same photo or words, and every card the same message and sign-off, with {first name} filled in. Paired lines or two different cards take two orders of one box each; there's no minimum, so each is $35 delivered.
• The day it lands. Delivery dates are carrier estimates, not guarantees, so set the call for after both boxes arrive; the tracking email shows where each one is.
• The treats. LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels. Both boxes hold the same cocoa and truffles, so one question covers you both.
• The seal reads "Happy Holidays". This season the tissue inside is closed with a gold "Happy Holidays" seal, so every box carries a holiday greeting; your card carries the date's own words.
• Emoji and non-Latin scripts can't print on the mug yet; the order page names any character it can't print, before you pay.

Where Personalized Gifts Delivered fits: two kitchens, one cocoa date

A cocoa date needs the same props on both sides of the screen, at two addresses, packed to travel. Personalized Gifts Delivered sends both in one order. Each box holds one 11 oz white ceramic mug printed with your photo or words; a 1.5 oz packet of Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles inside the mug; and black tissue closed with a gold seal sticker, all in a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid, with your card on the lid in an envelope closed with a gold wax-seal sticker. Each mug is packed by hand on a 2 in foam pad, in a 1 in foam collar, with a 1 in foam pad on its rim, inside a plain white carton whose return address shows PersonalizedGiftsDelivered.com, never your name. If a box arrives broken, send us a photo within 7 days of delivery and we'll reship it free. If a box goes astray because of an address on your list, we'll reship it to the corrected address for what the reship costs us, with no markup, and tell you the amount before we send it.

That's the personalized mug gift box shipped to their door, and for a cocoa date, to yours too: $70 for the pair, delivered. More ideas for people far away: personal gifts for people you love who live far away and hug in a box. Ready? Start your order.