Millions of people are finding new ways to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, graduation and other milestones in an era of social disturbances.
Take this example from two friends: When the global pandemic made Hannah Wilson’s dream of crossing the stage at graduation impossible, Ashayla Blakely began brainstorming.
She was trying to be optimistic about everything, but I knew deep down that she was sad about it, Blakely said. I wanted her to know that her friends and family did not support the circumstances.
With the help of Wilson’s family and friends, Blakey threw a surprise Zoom party. After a great applause of “Surprise!
With a little creativity and helpful supplies the celebration can be very special in quarantine. To help you get started, We sought advice from medical and public health experts to identify these special moments and stay safe.
“Virtual celebrations work. It takes a bit of planning, but start by inviting fewer people at a time. Give them a topic to follow if you have one. It is also a good time to celebrate your birthday for several days, that way you can have day one for the family and day two for friends. You may find that you actually spend more time with each person you assist. This is a great time and a great way to connect with friends, even if you haven’t seen them in a while. In the event that someone blocks the virtual party, you can always cancel the invitation by disconnecting it. It really is your birthday.
First, remember that the younger the child, the lower the attention span. A 15 minute birthday with a specific theme (construction, pet, sport) can be good for the 4-5 year old group. Quickly listen to the song “Happy Birthday”, do a little activity and thank everyone. If you alternate birthdays, there will be plenty of opportunities for parents to greet and children to see their friends. For older children, there are more options, due to multi-person online games.
Activities that encourage distancing and that can be done outside, such as kicking a soccer ball or passing a soccer ball, would be preferable to actual games or tackles.
We have been doing a lot of car celebrations, especially for the older people in our family. We’re done, sorry, I say “we” but it’s actually my wife, Maxine, we’ve done three or four of them, even a few graduations. I’m from a family of organizers so they sent out formal email invitations to everyone and signed up people to help.
Then, when the whole caravan is ready, we go together to the house of the person we are celebrating and we honk the horn. The one we just went to was actually the 50th anniversary celebration, and the couple came out on the porch to say hi to everyone.
“I know some are celebrating in the parks. It gets a bit risky when it comes to social distancing.