A Quarantine Birthday Party

My daughter Lyla turned 10 during this COVID-19 quarantine but that was not stopping me from making it memorable and amazing for her. Here are my tips for making a birthday super fun during this time.

Step 1:
I made a video! We asked family, friends, teachers, coaches, and even pets to send Lyla a video wishing her a happy birthday. I got a huge response and strung together with iMovie (it's easy, I promise!). The morning of her birthday we streamed the movie on the big living room TV for her to watch the 17 minute video of wishes. She LOVED it and it helped her seeing everyone that cared about her.

I gave our folks 2 weeks so send in a video and they did not disappoint. It's a great way to show your birthday birthday boy or girl some love.


Step 2:
We planned a virtual party on Zoom with an opposite birthday parade.

Lyla picked a few friends and we made birthday party kits. The morning of her birthday, I decorated my car and we drove to all her friends houses, dropped off the kits, and then came back home for the party.

The party included:

• Making a birthday hat. I got this kit and divvied it up between the girls
• Game: 2 truths and a lie as an ice breaker to get the girls to know each other and comfortable
• Trivia Game - I created questions, a leaderboard, and kept track of points. The girls had a blast!
• Scavenger Hunt - I had a list of items they had to find in their house and bring to Zoom. Each item was worth points
• Panda cupcakes for all! The party kit had a cupcake so we sang to Lyla all together and ate cupcakes
• Final leaderboard and winner of the party games!

I made spreadsheets for the scoreboard, trivia game, and scavenger hunt, and a slide deck to show the leaderboard. Utilizing my work skills for a kids birthday party, thank you working mom status!

Lyla had found a really cute invite one Evite with a panda bear so that is the theme she went with.

Party bag included a little poem, a panda bear cupcake my daughter made (with plate and napkin), the hat craft, trivia score card, a bookmark and coloring craft for after the party, and a little goody bag.

We hand delivered the bags in our cool "birthday bus" to see her friends. Some of them had signs and even gifts and balloons for the birthday girl! My hands were clean making the bags and and before I delivered, sanitized after everyone. The note on the cupcake box included rules to clean hands before eating :). Sign for my car I got free from Oriental Trading as they sent us a gift card for $20 for being a past shopper. Love it!

I used my work Zoom account so our party could be a bit longer than free Zoom. I made a special virtual backdrop and even though it was a bust as it didn't work the best for all, it was a fun time to "see" everyone together.

It wasn't the way she expected to celebrate the big double digits birthday but it was special for sure. My daughter told me later that day that she was so appreciative of all I did to make her birthday special.

If you're throwing someone a quarantine or social distancing party, you can definitely do it in a way to make them special.