Remember when the biggest challenge to celebrating your little one’s birthday was a shortage of helium? Wow, nothing like a pandemic to make you re-think your plans to host a birthday during the coronavirus outbreak. My daughter turns four in three weeks and I’m thanking my lucky stars that she has asked to celebrate her birthday at home.
Creative ways to celebrate while social distancing is something many of us are thinking about, as we live in this new normal, and still want to mark important milestones for our children. I’ve seen this question pop up all over social media and wanted to compile a few ideas that seem to be really striking a chord!
One of my bestie’s had a baby who turned one a few weeks ago and the first thing I thought of to encourage her was birthday caroling in our neighborhood. Each family stands outside her house to sing to the birthday kiddo. Easy peasy, right? It made my friend’s day as she fought to celebrate her boy’s birthday in the midst of a pandemic.
Here are creative ways to make sure your little one has a birthday to remember from the confines of home.
Birthday wishes
- Missing someone extra special and want them to “stand in” during the party? Check out Party City’s personalized cut outs and have a life-sized cardboard version of your guest or order your little one’s face on a handheld fan with a birthday hat!
Sidewalk chalk rocks! Leave out some chalk and have your neighbors do a Happy Birthday design for your kid.- Get the whole family (near and far) on a FaceTime, Google Hangout or Zoom call to sing Happy Birthday and watch the birthday kid blow out candles. If you can’t get everyone on the phone at once, request video messages throughout the day.
- We have had a ton of fun on shamrock and bug hunts in our neighborhood looking for shamrocks and bugs in our neighbors’ windows. Turn it into a birthday scavenger hunt where your friends or neighbors print and color a cake, balloons or other birthday messages.
- Snail mail for cards, obviously! Put out an APB to friends and family so that the mailbox will be overflowing with greetings or even ask friends and family to send a free evite birthday card!
Birthday meals
Cook your kid’s favorite home cooked meal or pick up a family style meal kit from their favorite restaurant. I’m looking at you, Chuck. E. Cheese and the new family and party packs!
Birthday desserts
- Tart Bakery delivers cookie decorating kits with an instructional video to Dallas locals and is now offering nationwide shipping.
- Want to finally try MilkBar and get it shipped straight to your door? This is the perfect opportunity!
- If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at baking but didn’t want to have a #pinterestfail in front of a large audience, this might be the time to experiment! At least if it doesn’t look perfect, only your family will know! Your kids might enjoy helping you bake. Add a funfetti cake mix and some icing to your Instacart. Order a cake topper from Amazon and you’ll be all set.
Décor
“Go big or go home” now translates to “go big and stay home”, so why not make this the year you use Sign Gypsies, Card My Yard or Sign Dreamers to bring a whole lot of fun to your yard.
Gifts
Order early because, again, that supply chain is a wild card. For our family, this is probably the year we go with a big gift like a small bounce house because we are likely in for a marathon, not a sprint, in keeping our kids entertained close to home. This feels like killing two birds with one stone.
Enjoy finding creative ways to celebrate your child’s birthday at home! Know that you are doing the best you can with the resources you have in an unprecedented situation. Good luck celebrating!
