My Fashionable Designs: Virtual Birthday - Quarantine Birthday Idea!

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Virtual Birthday - Quarantine Birthday Idea!

If you're like me, I'm sure you know someone who has had a birthday during Quarantine 2020!!! I've seen drive-by parades all over social media!! My daughter has her 13th birthday coming up and we've been brainstorming some ideas about how we can celebrate if we're still stuck at home. While our plans could change at any moment, we are considering a Virtual Birthday! This idea may work best with older kids who have their own phone or device, but you could tweak it for younger kids too! Obviously more parent involvement will be needed for the younger ones!

FREE VIRTUAL PARTY PRINTABLES

PARTY LOCATION:
FACETIME, ZOOM, MICROSOFT TEAMS, SKYPE, ETC.
Your invitation will be very important in detailing all the details of the party. You may need to set up a video conference ahead of time and provide a passcode for your guests. Not everyone has an Apple device with access to FaceTime, so you will need to figure out these details ahead of time and include them on your invitation. Etsy has great invitations available (my shop has two--see below), but you can just create your own from your phone using Canva or any other free app!
EXAMPLE INVITATION 1

EXAMPLE INVITATION 2

PARTY TIME:
Select a one-hour party time slot for the video call. Some conferencing hosts have time limits, so you may be forced to adhere to these restrictions. Kids get bored and may not be used to extended video calls, so keeping the call under one hour will make it easier to maintain their attention span.

DROP OFF "PARTY KITS" WITH FOOD, GAMES, CRAFTS, FAVORS, PHOTO PROPS:
This is where you can be creative!!! An hour before the scheduled party, drive around to each of the guests' homes (if they are local) and drop of a party kit! Examples include:
-Printed party games like BINGO, Scavenger Hunts, Word Games, Apples to Apples or my personal favorite: "Who Knows Her/Him Best" where guests use dry erase boards or paper to answer a question about the birthday girl/boy. If they answer the same as the birthday honoree, they get the point!

-Photo props for guests to wear during the call like sunglasses, birthday hat, feather boas, temporary tattoos, crowns or tiaras, necklaces, etc.

-Food like pre-packaged cupcakes, donuts, & cookies, bags of chips, juice boxes. Keep it simple and sanitary by including items that are already packaged, but add a cute ribbon or sticker to make it more personal! Make time to sing Happy Birthday and eat the cupcakes all together!!!

-Craft sets like scratch art, LEGOs, canvases with paint--activities that could be done by the guests during the call!!!

-Favors. This one is tricky for me because I like to opt for a craft over a favor, unless it is useful or disposable! I personally do not care for trinkets like bouncy balls, whistles, bubbles, etc. But that is just me!!! I love favors like candy that be consumed, crafted jars that can be used to store pencils, photo frames with a photo from the party, gel pens or fancy pencils.....you see where I'm going, right?!!!

PLAN EVERY MINUTE!
Create an agenda for the party. This will help keep you and the guests on track to get through all your activities. You can plan time for socializing, games, eating, photos/screenshots, and even a quick one-on-one chat with the birthday girl/boy and each of the guests!