My son turned 20 this week. He’s a social person and had been hoping to have some of his mates over to help celebrate. That was before COVID-19 and we all had to practice social distancing & isolation. He was quite disappointed that he couldn’t do anything for his birthday. So how can you celebrate a birthday during COVID-19?
I’ve seen a number of different ideas online or what other family & friends have done. These ideas are outlined and expanded on below.
Birthday Party Convoy or Drive By
I’ve seen a number of different birthdays for all ages celebrated with a drive-by convoy or parade of cars. Basically a time is nominated for people to drive by the birthday persons house. Cars may be decorated with balloons or birthday messages. Cars form a convoy and drive by. For this to work you obviously have to make sure the birthday person is outside at the right time to experience this.
We decided to not go with this option as we weren’t sure when/if my son was going to be working on his birthday. We also didn’t want people to get fined for being out of their suburb/area without good reason.
Tie a Balloon in the Tree
Another person I know asked people to add a balloon to a tree and leave a message in a jar, the day before her daughter’s birthday.
Balloons and precut string were available for people to use. As you can see from the pictures below some people added streamers and special balloons, as well as using the available balloons.
Message Jar
A message jar was left on the table for messages & drawings to be added. People were asked to have their notes written before hand to just put in the jar. This way there was no sharing of pens.
People were also invited to send messages if they couldn’t visit. The parents then added these to the jar, along with tying a balloon to the tree.
Obviously for both of these ideas, you would need to have these activities happening in an area that is not going to be seen by the birthday person, until the right time.
Posting Cards
I’ve seen a couple of people asking others to post cards to the birthday person. This way they would get lots of messages and feel the love on their birthday.
Virtual Party
We had 2 zoom sessions with extended family on our sons birthday. It was also his cousins 18th birthday on the same day.
My niece who recently turned 9, had a zoom party. Her parents organised for a bubble show. This man who used to entertain live audiences with his bubble show, is currently doing these shows online.
You could also organise your own zoom or online gathering. There are a number of online games and quizzes that you can use. My how well do you know the birthday person quiz could also be good to adapt for this.
Messages Video
For our sons birthday we decided to invite family and friends to send digital messages or short video messages. We also invited people to include a photo of them with our son, if they had one. Below is the message we sent to people asking them to contribute.
As you may know it’s _____ 20th birthday next _______ April.
He’s very sad that he can’t have a party with his friends.
We’d like to put together a digital birthday greeting for him.
If you’d like to contribute please email a written message or short video message to ______ or myself by ____________________ April.
If you’d like you could include a positive affirmation of what you like about ____ or a favourite memory/story about ____.
Also, if you’d like, include a photo of you and the birthday boy.
Thanks for helping to make _____’s birthday special.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A SURPRISE, SO PLEASE DON’T TALK TO HIM ABOUT UNTIL AFTER HE’S RECEIVED IT! However feel free to tell others who may want to send a message him.
We compiled all the messages and videos into a large digital presentation. We were going to make into a mp4 video but in the end just set up the timing on a PowerPoint and played it that way. We had messages from family, church family and friends. We were able to get messages from kindy to now friends, as well as from friends/family near by to those on the other side of the country and the world.
The messages ranged from short text messages to a longer letter, to a ‘resume’ even. There were short 2 second unedited videos to longer edited videos. One of his favourites judging by his reaction was the video a friend compiled with a number of different messages from friends and photos of them together.
My kids also made a video message for their cousin who turned 18 on the same day as our son.
Celebrating to match personality or love language?
When considering how to celebrate a birthday during social distancing you can also consider the personality or love language of the person you’re celebrating. This is one reason I chose to do affirming messages and videos for my son. His love language is words of affirmation.
Words of Affirmation
For a person whose primary love language is words of affirmation any positive messages would be effective. Like the video messages we put together or the message in a jar idea or sending cards with messages.
Another thing I did was to write out 21 affirmations (on post-it notes) for our son. I was going to do 20 but then had another idea, so made it 21 like birthday claps, having one to grown on. I slowly stuck them on his bedroom doors (yes, he has 2 doors and you can walk through his room), through out the day. It was more than half way through the day before he noticed. They are still on his door.
Physical Touch
Obviously for a person whom this is their primary love language, it’s hard for them right now. Particularly if they live alone. This is a bit harder to do COVID-19 style. Here a few ideas:
- “Touching” through a window.
- making a hug to give to the person. Trace around your arms on a long piece of paper, decorate & gift.
- sending a hug in the mail
- send a virutal hug
- Put up a clear plastic curtain that you can hug with, wipe down after each use.
Acts of Service
Complete an act of service for the birthday person. Or give them a voucher for an act of service that you can perform at a later date.
Quality Time
This is my primary love language and I’ve often made gifts for others or spend time putting together something for them, such as the message video for our son. So I think for many people for whom this is their primary love language will appreciate the time gone into whatever you prepare for them.
Here are a few other ideas:
- Spend some time talking with this person on the phone or on line.
- Have a watch party on netflix using the Netflix Party plug-in.
Gifts
Here’s a few ideas for someone whose primary love language is Gifts:
- You could ask people to send small gifts or leave gifts outside for the person to find.
- You could send flowers or have another gift delivered.
- Put money into an online bank account
- Give an e-Gift card
- a Gift certificate for an adventure when this is over
- Make a digital photo album
- Make a digital book of stories/memories of the birthday person
Or if your looking for ideas of different things to send in the mail have a look at 15+ Things you Never Thought You Could Mail.
Have you or a loved one had a birthday during COVID-19? If so how have you celebrated?