We’re now past the year mark of living life in a pandemic, are you one of those people who is celebrating your birthday twice?
I was one of them!
My birthday was at the end of March, and I just had my second virtual birthday party, and I know we won’t get to a third! Thank goodness!
But if you want something unique to do for a virtual party, whether it be a birthday or just to liven things up during this crazy year, I recommend getting your friends together and planning out the timing of your party. Since zoom only allows one person to talk at once, it works best when you have a clear schedule of what you’re going to do.
For my 30th birthday last week, I had a virtual cooking class with my friends! We started off the night introducing ourselves, answering a fun ice breaker question (if you were to fight in a wrestling ring, what would be your walk out song?), and then went into making chocolate mousse.
I sent out a list of ingredients and every piece of kitchen equipment everyone needed during my cooking “class.” I then used my computer to be a regular camera, pointing at me and my table where I made the mousse, and I trained my phone’s camera on my bowls so my guests could see what I was doing.
We went through the mousse and then you need about 30 minutes to an hour to allow your chocolate mousse to set in the fridge, so I created a quiz on Kahoot about French cooking to keep everyone entertained.
I had every moment planned, and I think that’s what made the party most successful, it kept everyone engaged, and when we were waiting in between moments during the cooking, I asked people fun questions.
There are a lot of ways to keep people engaged during a zoom party; here are some of my suggestions!
Murder Mystery Party. There are so many companies that will let you download a murder mystery to play with your guests! You can choose from a number of different themes! I’ve tried a virtual Halloween murder mystery set at Dracula’s castle and a 1980’s prom party. Just choose which one you want to do and send out characters to your friends. It’s a great way to get people talking to one another, even if they don’t know each other very well.
Cooking/Baking Party. Are you an excellent chef? Do you love to bake? Why not teach your friends how to bake your favorite dessert on zoom? Just send all your guests a list of ingredients and kitchen equipment to have on hand the day of the party and create the mousse together!
Trivia Party. Join a Trivia game with your friends! Either make one up (I use Kahoot) or find one online that’s already made! Enjoy the guessing and randomness of it, or go more specific, with say Harry Potter Trivia. It will keep everyone engaged and smiling.
Painting Party. Did you know that all of Bob Ross’s painting classes are on YouTube? Just plan a time with your friends to paint those happy little trees! You can share your screen so everyone can see what he’s doing and paint together from far away!
Flower Arranging Party. I recently took a class with fellow alumni from my university where we arranged flowers together. It was so fun! You can tell all your friends to find flowers from their garden (or from the grocery store) and to create a flower arrangement together.
Virtual Tasting Party. Tell your friends to get a specific bottle of wine, or send them a couple of different types of tea and have a tasting! You might even tell them to have some different kinds of chocolate, cheese, or nuts available to taste your specific drinks with!
