Birthdays are a special occasion. No matter what your age, it does feel great when your loved ones send you wishes, surprise you with a celebration and feed you tons of delicious cake! Birthday celebrations also make you feel loved, which can be a nice way to boost your mental health, especially during stressful times. Experiencing the pandemic in a lot of different ways, people see that there aren’t many things you can control at the moment. Yet, small actions like how you spend your time, with whom and for what makes a big difference.
So how can you keep the spirit of your birthday celebrations alive while still following the rules of the pandemic? Here are 5 birthday celebration ideas to have the most fun without risking the coronavirus.
5 Fun Ways To Celebrate Your #PandemicBirthday
1. Go Virtual
There’s (almost) nothing you can’t do online! Choose your favourite virtual meeting app, prepare a list of people you want to invite and make it a fun gala. If you’ve ever done it, you already know that sitting in front of a screen doing video chat can get tiresome after a while. So plan for about an hour but leave some room before and after. Dress up in party clothes and hang up a “Happy Birthday” banner in the background behind to make it festive. If you were hosting a party in real life, you would try to make sure everyone was having a good time. The same goes for virtual parties. Plan the video call well in advance. Get the party going and maintain the flow. Assign the co-hosting duties if you think it’ll be overwhelming.
TC46 had its 2020 Diwali party virtually and it was nothing short of memorable. The Rolling Dice, a board game rental service in Mumbai hosted a Tambola game via Zoom and the team had the time of their lives! Read more about this fun venture that offers board games, card games, drinking games, and even host party game nights for various occasions here.
2. Relish A Fancy Feast
Who says you can’t get fancy and sassy at home! If you stay with your family, friends or partner, plan a royal feast for your birthday. If you have polished your baking skills during the pandemic, then it’s time to whip up a cake unlike any other. Haven’t had the chance to get tipsy in a while? Here is a quick easy-breezy guide to some innovative cocktail recipes. Plan a brunch, order your favourite food and make a mimosa or two! Make it a fun one by assigning everyone a course and prepare a lavish meal. And if cooking on your birthday doesn’t bring you joy, then simply order in. Support a local food business and have a blast at the same time.
3. Shop Till You Drop
Have you been holding yourself back during the pandemic and avoided shopping? Well, then this might be the time to unleash your inner shopaholic. Time to open up the wishlist on your favourite sites and shop. And you don’t have to do it on your own. Set up a virtual shopping date with the ladies and have fun. There’s more! Apart from the unending, fabulous sales offered by top online shopping websites, many even offer a free birthday gift. The virtual shopping spree is also a great idea for your friends and besties to buy you what you actually like! Just share your wishlist, get cracking on the deals and make your birthday a shopping lover’s heaven.
4. Chill With A Netflix Party
If you will be celebrating your birthday far from your loved ones, a virtual Netflix marathon is the answer to what’s the best way to have fun. Select your preferred show and invite your friends, cousins or partner to the Netflix Party. Binge-watch with your beloved people! What better way to spend birthdays than Netflix and virtual chill?
- How to host a Netflix Party
- Download the Netflix Party extension, to your chrome
- Play your desired show on Netflix
- Click on the Netflix Party extension icon
- Start the Party
- Share the URL with your friends
5. Donate
Celebrating your birthday isn’t selfish. Even during the pandemic, many have managed to support small businesses, help those in need and come to the aid of countless in one way or another. So if your goal this year is to help out people, animals or even the Earth, this is your chance. Having a cake at your party? Send in one to the local orphanage and see the ear to ear smiles of kids who’ll truly enjoy it. Instead of gifts, ask your loved ones to donate to the charity of your choice. Create a birthday fundraiser, set up a safe and sanitary feeding shelter for the local stray animals or simply volunteer if you are fully vaccinated.
Sure, the celebrations might lack the glitz, glamour and excitement of being with loved ones in person and socialising. But it’s a blessing to be able to stay healthy another year, isn’t it? Try these fun and intimate birthday celebrations ideas and add some sparkle to your pandemic life. To summarise celebrations in the pandemic perfectly, here’s Shah Rukh Khan’s response to a fan’s tweet wishing him a happy birthday, “Iss baar ka pyaar thoda dur se yaar.”