COVID-19 has affected much of our daily lives, including countless birthday celebrations. Whether you have a child, sibling or friend who is blowing out the candles soon, you can and should still celebrate them, albeit a little differently than usual. In this article, we’ll talk about some ways to host a virtual birthday party as well as share some fun ways to celebrate a birthday from afar.
Choose Your Guest List
When it comes to celebrating a ‘virtual’ birthday, you’ll want to choose the guest list a little differently than you would for a standard party. For a child’s birthday party, the more the merrier! The kids likely won’t pay too much attention to the computer screen after a while, so it’s ok to have more guests. For an adult’s birthday party, try and keep the list a bit smaller. It can be tough to have a large group of friends all talking over each other, so try and limit the group to only your closest friends and family. Alternatively, you can have some guests join first with others joining later on.
Cue up the Invitations
Just like for an in-person birthday party, no celebration can begin without invitations! If you’re using a standard birthday invitation, simply change the physical address to include details for your Zoom instead. If you want to go with an invitation that reflects the unusual nature of a virtual birthday party, choose from one of the many designs that highlights it prominently.
Set up Your Decorations
Although you won’t have any physical guests at the party, you still need to put up decorations! The guest of honor could be surrounded by a birthday banner, customized balloons or posters. Let your imagination go wild here – it’ll be the only view the guests have of the birthday boy or girl!
Provide Favors in Advance
If you were planning on giving party favors to the attendees, try and arrange for those items to be dropped off or delivered before the party begins. If you plan in advance, you can even provide game cards or sweet treats to the guests, so they can be used during the celebration.
Plan Virtual Activities
Even though you likely can’t play the same games as you would normally, there are other activities to keep your guests entertained! For a kid’s party, considering reserving time with a Sky Zone Party Pro! Employees of Sky Zone will lead your guests through games of Simon Says, Dance Battles and much more. If the birthday boy or girl is more interested in animals, you might consider reserving time with Tiny Tails to You. Their animal experts will virtually showcase the animals while answering questions and entertaining your guests.
Another fun idea for kids and adults alike is to host a movie-watching party. Have the host select the movie and then share their screen so the rest of the group can watch alongside.
You can certainly still have entertainment for an adult birthday party, but you can also expand into more fun options. Consider having a theme for your party, and asking all your guests to dress up. Then, vote for a winner with the best costume who will win a small prize! Many board or card games are also available to play online, which can be fun for both you and your guests.
Birthday parties in 2020 might not look like what we’re used to, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still be fun and unique! With some small adjustments and preparation, you can celebrate birthdays in a whole new way.
Erika focuses on email marketing, copywriting and merchandising at Zazzle, but she has a secret obsession with all things wedding! During the week you can find her writing punny subject lines while also pinning the latest wedding trends, and outside of the 9-5, she is usually cheering on the San Jose Sharks, reading a good murder mystery, or hunting for the best Philly Cheesesteak in the Bay Area.
