Hello everyone and happy Tuesday! wow it’s almost July already and the pandemic is still here. Who would have thought?! I honestly thought that when my birthday rolled around this would be behind us all, but that obviously wasn’t the case!

For my birthday I always try to plan a short trip somewhere or have a gathering with my friends and family. This year it was a little different for obvious reasons but I did end up going to the beach with a friend.

Now, about the beach trip…

Not one of my best last minute decisions because of the pandemic, but I was safe and wore my mask the majority of the time especially when I was around people and used my hand sanitizer ALL THE TIME. Maybe too much because my hands were really dry…

Anyways…I’m here to share some ideas to celebrate your birthday or a holiday as safely as possible so that you don’t have to spend it alone. Wish I had thought of this before and prepared for mine, but hey! we all learn from the choices we made haha

  1. Virtual gatherings
    • Have you ever wanted to be a mixologist for a day? RealSimple.com did a really nice job listing some companies that deliver drink kits for you to make at home. Gather your friends and meet up on zoom and make your drinks together virtually and have some fun!
    • If cocktails is not your thing or you are looking for kids ideas, Theneonteaparty.com has some really cool crafty ideas that can be done over zoom! Check them out!
  2. In-person gatherings
    • How do we meet up now with the pandemic going on? It’s a tough decision trying to see if meeting up with friends in-person is worth it, but life goes on and we can do the best we can to do what is right for us and stay sane during these uncertain times. With that being said, if you do go out and meet friends please wear your mask. That is one way to save you and save other people. Also, if you are hosting a birthday party with a group of people or maybe a larger crowd, how do you handle social distancing.
      1. One idea that comes to mind is to schedule shifts. So, if you have a large group of people, select a small groups of people and have them come at different times so that you get to see everyone but not everyone is there at the same time. This should be mentioned in the invitation.
      2. Another idea in addition to the one above or if you have a really small group of friends and family coming over is to have colored wrist bands available for people. For example: red for “please stay 6 ft away”, yellow “you can come closer, but wear a mask and do not shake hands”, and green for “I feel comfortable shaking hands and/or hugging” I would recommend making masks more mandatory rather than optional just to keep everyone safe.
      3. Speaking of masks, a really cool idea would be to pick a theme for the party and have each guest have a mask that matches that theme.
      4. Also, parties are probably better outside specially if there is nice weather and have hand sanitizer available in different areas of the party/house.
      5. Now, as far as food, I would stay away from buffets and dinners in general because that would include having to sit at the table and that would really limit the number of people you can have over if you want them sitting around the table. You could do appetizers, but have individual appetizers that people can just grab and go rather than for example having a bowl of guacamole and everyone is using the same spoon to scoop it out. Not a very good idea.

I hope you liked the ideas I mentioned above! If you have any ideas to share, I would love to hear them!

With love,

Natalie