Celebrate in Quarantine

With the Coronavirus Pandemic, we are all in isolation and only allowed out for essential services which means a lot of us will be celebrating our birthdays and other special occasions in Quarantine.

I'm sure you might be feeling upset about not being able to see your family and friends, go out for meals and have parties. It's ok to feel that way, it's natural but there are other ways you can still celebrate birthdays at home. Here, I am sharing a few ideas. These are things you can do on your own birthday and things you can do for your family and friends birthdays.

Drive-by birthday parties - This involves driving past the person's home and wishing them happy birthday. People can make signs, throw decorations and gifts onto the person's front yard (As long as the're not breakable of course) or safely drop them on the doorstep. This is becoming a common practice, with videos regularly appearing on social media. Before you do this, make sure to check that your area allows it. This works best in a quiet, less busy street so you don't hold up traffic and if you do it, be mindful of the neighbors, we don't want to disturb anyone. 

Virtual/online parties - By now, a lot of us are good at using Zoom, Skype, and WhatsApp to have work meetings and keep in touch with family and friends. These can be used for celebrations too. Arrange a time with your loved ones to join the video call on the day of the birthday or celebration and you can all wish the person happy birthday, happy anniversary or whatever and have a good catch up. Maybe you just want to call to wish the person and sing happy birthday but you could actually have a party. Organize for everyone to eat the same food or just have your meals and dessert while you're on the call chatting and play music too. It's not the same as physically being together but could be just as fun. 

Decorate - Make your house look festive by buying signs, balloons, streamers and other decorations and hanging them up around the house or just the persons room. You could decorate their room while they are fast asleep, it would be lovely surprise to wake up to! Look around for any decorations you may have around from past celebrations or, if you're crafty, you could make your own. That's part of the fun! 

Glam up - You have probably been spending most of your time in a T-shirt and track pants or pajamas so why not use your birthday as an excuse to dress up. even though you're not going anywhere? Do your hair and make-up and put on a dress or outfit you love. 

Photo-shoot - When you're all dressed up, ask a family member or whoever you live with to take some photos of you, either in a nice, aesthetically pleasing part of your house or in the backyard. If you don't have anyone to take a photo of you, put your camera's self-timer on and pose! You don't have to post anything on social media if you don't want to, it's just a fun thing to do. 

Eat your favorite foods - Ask someone you live with if they could make one of your favorite dishes or, if you enjoy cooking, make it yourself. Local businesses need a lot of support right now so think about ordering something from one of your favorite restaurant. 

Eat cake - What's a birthday without cake? If you're not keen on baking one yourself, buy a cake from a shop or order one and have it safely delivered to your house. 

Day Off - If your birthday falls on a working day and you're allowed to, take the day off and do things you enjoy. You could read, spend time in your backyard, go for a walk, watch Netflix etc. Anything but work!

Dance - Turn on some music and have a dance party! Don't worry if you're not good at dancing, it's just you and your family or roommates. Nobody will judge you and you can have fun being silly together. If they don't want to dance or are too busy, don't let that stop you. You can dance on your own and if you don't want the music to bother them, play it softly in your room or have a silent disco. Play the music on your phone, put your earphones in and go for it! If you're worried about people walking in on you, don't do it but remember, there is nothing wrong with dancing!

Karaoke - You don't need a microphone or anything special to do this. Just search for karaoke videos on YouTube and sing and if you can't sing, don't worry, just have fun with it. 

Go to a concert - I mean virtually. Play any concert DVD's you have or videos of concerts you went to. There are full concerts on YouTube, so search for your favorite artist or band and see if any of their shows are posted or you can watch a different performer. 

Watch movies - Watch with whoever you live with or get Netflix Party which allows you to have long distance movie nights with friends and family. It synchronizes video playback and adds a group chat to whatever you are watching so you can watch and talk at the same time.

Reminisce - Look at photos and watch videos from past birthday celebrations and talk or write about what you remember from those days. 

Say thank you - Show your appreciation of those around you by thanking them for everything they have done for you. Start with your mother. After all, without her you wouldn't be here! Mothers day is coming up very soon so you'll be doing things for her then. Thank your friends for standing by you for how ever long you have been friends. We are stuck at home but think about everything you have and are grateful for. 

Give a card - Newsagents are still open so go get a card for your loved ones birthday or special occasion. If you're good at craft and have the supplies, make one your self or design one on an app. I suggest Story Art.

Make a video - Get family and friends of the person to send in recordings of themselves wishing them for the occasion and put them all together in a video. 

Organize a message from a celebrity - This one is difficult but possible. Cameo is a website of personalized messages from celebrities but you have to make an account and pay for the messages. The prices vary depending on who you want but if you are able to and don't mind spending money on it, do it. Another way you could get a celebrity message is by contacting the manager. Try calling or emailing them to ask if it is possible to get the celebrity to send a message or if you are lucky enough to be close to a famous person you or know someone who is, ask them directly but be prepared for no response or rejection. 

I talked a lot about birthdays but these can be done on any occasion!