I don’t quite get the idea of having a cyber-boyfriend or girlfriend. How do you “date” or have a romantic relationship with someone who you don’t physically see in person? Full disclosure, I also don’t fully trust the process of online dating for myself, but I never had to either… filtering and select a potential partner or love interest from a thumbnail and bio–especially considering the looming prospect that they could be totally scamming you (hello… ever watch Catfish?).

All that said, through my giftingwhisperer at gmail dot-com email address folks ask for advice about what to give and get and I LOVE to answer those emails. (They even send me suggestions for new lists from time to time–and if you have ideas, please comment or email me too). Most of the time the questions and suggestions I receive are related to a significant other–this isn’t surprising, the most popular post on my blog for the last year is about that– but lately a new theme has been emerging: Cyber or Virtual Relationships…cyber-boyfriends, virtual-girlfriends, cyber-loves and virtual-mates. For anyone who doesn’t know (I didn’t), this is different from Cyber-dating–a precursor of the Virtual/Cyber Relationship. A Virtual-Relationship is when a couple has established that they are in a romantic (usually committed in theory, if not in practice) relationship but have never met each other in real life; this means the entire relationship is based on phone, email and/or text, instant messenger conversations and possibly some video chat. So after speaking to a variety of younger, much hipper and more interesting people than myself, I’ve come to understand this is much more common than I initially thought, and is considered a “real” relationship.

Any-hoo. Here are some gift ideas for the virtual paramour in your life.

1. The eBook of Love
Just because he or she isn’t analog doesn’t mean you can’t woo them with traditional sonnets and such. And a Kindle book will work on a Kindle device or in the Kindle App on multiple devices.

Love Letters of Great Men Vol. 1 (Kindle Edition) $9.95, Amazon

Love Letters of Great Women (Kindle Edition) $7.95, Amazon
100 Best Love Poems (Kindle Edition) $0.99

2. Social Art

Take your favorite art and make it ambiance with CanvasonDemand. Your (or his/her) Instagram pix can become works of art…

3. A Real Boy

Looking to send a message? Perhaps you want to finally meet the real person behind the avatar or maybe you want to say: “hey, I’m the real deal and I’m looking for the same.” Either way, there’s only one movie that says that like no other: Walt Disney’s Pinocchio, sold on Amazon (multiple formats, starting at $11.99).
Other selections with a similar idea (but not as good, IMHO): Mannequin and Artificial Intelligence: AI

4. Photo Doctor

One thing Virtual-Relationship participants don’t have are photos of them taken together. I would imagine this is particularly obvious in places like the office where personal photos are displayed. Not to fear… technology to the rescue! There are photo services like LunaPic that let you edit photos as does the Photo Wiz Photo Editor (App Store, $0.99)

5. Case Love

You’ve heard of His & Her (or His & His and Her & Her) towels… Well what about couple cases? These Soul Mate cases are for a variety of devices (365inLove, starting at $15.99) and are totally adorable–plus, you can know that even if you’re not physically near… your cases will (literally) complete each other.

This was a challenge, dear readers, but I’m here for you, so when you ask… I will answer. For me, physical intimacy and chemistry is so important, and without that, how can I know if I’m even interested, but I’m old (or maybe just old fashioned). Hopefully these were helpful, or I’d settle for even entertaining.

Related Posts:
First Time Gifts: Buying For A New Boyfriend or Girlfriend
10 Gifts Every Woman Wants From Her Mate
Unique Gifts For The Love of Your Life
Joint Gifts: Things To Buy Each Other

Photo Credits
– Lead image “Internet Dating” courtesy of renjith krishnan and freedigitalphotos.net
– Photo Doctor image “Select Photos” courtesy of by worradmu and freedigitalphotos.net

Related articles

• My virtual boyfriend: Unraveling cyber love (gentwenty.com)
• Meet The Men Who Prefer Virtual Girlfriends To ‘Going Out With A 3D Woman’ (businessinsider.com)
• We are doing just about everything online now, so why the stigma surrounding dating? (walesonline.co.uk)