Millions of people are going to have birthdays during “Social Distancing” and “lockdown” times. If you are like me, you may be wondering what do you do for a teenager who is having a birthday during. Here are some fun ideas for a social distancing birthday party.
Virtual Birthday Ideas
Set up a birthday party on Zoom or other social meeting platforms. Kids just want to see their friends and having a party when they can invite all of their friends and just talk is great. Make sure to send out the invite at least a day before. Hey people aren’t going anywhere so most people will be able to come. Also, it’s best to be on a computer so you can see all of your friends at once. Watching from your cell phone gets jumpy as the screen jumps around from person to person and you don’t see the people who don’t talk much.
I’m sure by now most of us are pretty familiar with how to get onto a virtual meeting, but what do you do at a virtual party? How can you make a fun kids party so the kids have some fun games to play?
Here are some ideas…
- You Are Not Invited
- One of my favorite ideas from the Quarantine Birthday Parties is the taped off stay out look. Tape off the house in caution tape and send out “You Are Not Invite” invites.
- “Around the World” Zoom Party.
- If you could be anywhere in the world on a fun vacation right now, where would you be. Ask your friends to dress up or set their backgrounds up as if they were on vacation. Take turns guessing where everyone is and dreaming of wonderful vacations hopefully soon to come.
- “Celebrity Look A Like” Zoom Party.
- If you could be anyone or meet anyone, who would you be. Ask your friends to dress up like a celebrity or famous person. It’s fun to dress up, guess, and laugh with the costumes your friends come up with just from their houses.
- Headbandz game through zoom.
- You can send an envelope with a character card for each guest prior to the party. My niece attended a frozen party on zoom with this game. Each kids received an envelope with a note to not peak at the card. During the party the kids take turns guessing who their headbandz character is.
- Dance party zoom activity.
- Have everyone dance to your favorite music just over zoom. Some people may be too timid, but other others may have fun and let loose. Have fun!
- Scavenger Hunt zoom activity.
- Make a list of the birthday kids favorites things. Then tell your friends to go find it. First one back gets a point or wins. For example tell everyone to go find the birthday person’s favorite animal. You can tell them that it’s a panda or you can see what everyone thinks it is and comes back with.
- Would you rather game.
- Ask your friends would you rather questions about the birthday kid. This is a fun activity and game that can take about 5-10 minutes.
- Favorite things game.
- Ask your friends what they think your favorite things are. This is another activity that can take about 5-10 minutes.
- Send out a “Flat Stanley” picture of the birthday kid to family and friends.
- If you have time, mail it to them, print it off and deliver it to them, or have them print it off. The point is to take “Flat Stanley” on a birthday adventure and take a picture of what you did together. You never know what fun pictures you may get back. This is a fun and interactive way to celebrate with family and friends from anywhere.
- Virtual Video messages
- You can have friends and family send a short video birthday message to you. Throw them into iMovie or PhotoShop Premier or other video editing program and add some music to it. It’s fun to watch these videos and you can watch them over and over. (If this is too much, as your video savvy family member to help. It doesn’t have to be complicated.)
Don’t forget that you can do party favors but these take a little more planning and preparation to put together than usual and take a little pit of time to drive around to all of your friends houses. If you do, make sure you have plenty of time to get around to everyone and have a few moments to talk and say hi.
Of course some of the most memorable events to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic are…
Drive By Birthday Parties.
You know you love having a reason to get out of the house even for just a little while. Drive by birthday parties are lots of fun and can be so easy to throw.
- Make sure you set up a time and a route so people know how to drive by without driving the wrong direction or showing up when the birthday kid isn’t outside to see them.
- Decorate the yard with Happy Birthday yard signs or a balloon tower.
- Don’t forget the camera man. Take pictures and record this fun birthday party. It will definitely be one to remember.
If you are invited to a drive by birthday party, it’s always fun to throw out candy. Or you can do as my dad did at my niece’s birthday and throw out dollar bills.
One fun way to keep the party simple is just to have a family party. No stress and no frills. But don’t forget to do something fun. You can play all of the fun birthday party games and have a piñata or plan a Family Olympics with fun games.
No matter what you do for a Quarantine Birthday Party, remember to HAVE FUN! One day, these parties will be a thing of the past, but we can remember the fun times we did have midst the days that seem like all the other days.
Have you had a Quarantine Birthday Party? I’d love to hear your idea too. Comment Below.
Olaf “In Summer” Party
With the release of Frozen 2 this past month, everyone is loving their favorite characters again, especially Olaf. I wanted to share a birthday party from June of 2014.
My daughter and her best friend both wanted a Frozen Birthday party. The problem was they both had June birthdays. How do you do a Frozen birthday party in the summer?
You throw an Olaf “In Summer” combined birthday party.
As Olaf would say in Frozen 2, “I’ll Bring the Snacks!”
My friend painted this amazing Olaf stand up on a cardboard box. The kids all loved him and had to have their pictures taken with him.
She also made this great Olaf piñata from three balloons, paper mâché and pipe cleaners. Isn’t she amazing?
I made a cake using fondant for the first time ever. It was actually very easy.
Using the left over fondant, I rolled little Olaf snowmen for the tops of the cupcakes. For those who have more time, you can really make them look a lot more like Olaf with a few more details. Like a cute little carrot nose and some hair and eyes. But I was running short on time and the kids loved the cupcakes just the way they were.
Sorry for the poor lighting from 2014. Olaf would say, “Because when you’re older, absolutely everything makes sense.”
The kids were invited to come in their swimsuits. We had a kiddie pool, slip and slide, and other fun water games for them to play. We also had my mother’s professional ice shaver for some great snow cones.
If you want an amazing gift that keeps on giving, give them this snow cone maker!!! We gave it to my mom for Mother’s Day with my siblings a few years back and it was the best gift we ever gave her. Everyone loves to have a snow cone at grandma’s during the summer and you don’t have to have little frozen cups of water just for it. It uses any ice you have from your freezer or a bag of ice from the store. I HIGHLY recommend this!
Thanksgiving Jello Turkeys
The best creative minds seek to reuse and create art form unexpected places.
This past November, as we were getting ready for a family dinner one Sunday, my mom was about to throw out the packages from the fun Turkey Butter Sculptures she had bought when I said, “WAIT! Don’t throw those out. Can I have them and make some jello turkeys out of them for Thanksgiving?”
Of course my mom didn’t mind, she was going to toss the packages. But one man’s junk is another man’s treasure and I knew that I had just scored 4 amazing turkey molds.
I used Keller’s Turkey Shaped Butter Sculpture packages to make the turkeys. My mom found them at the grocery store, but knowing that these are seasonal products, I found a few options on Amazon that you can try if you can’t find these exact packages. Also, I know Keller’s has Christmas Tree Shaped Butter Sculptures around Christmas time.
I washed the plastic molds in soapy water to get the leftover butter out and then dried them. What I like about the Butter Sculpture packaging is that you can snap the packaging together, turn it upside down and open the flap on the bottom. That way you can pour the jello straight into the molds.
It only takes four simple ingredients to make the jello turkeys. It’s super easy! But you will want to follow a few tips to make everything go easier.
Expert Jello Tips
- First off, don’t use the regular Jello recipe on the box! Use the jello jiggle recipe or the recipe from this post.
- Second, don’t pour hot jello into the molds. Let it cool down for a few minutes or you may melt the plastic molds. You need to let it start to set up just a little.
- Third, Put the butter sculptures on a plate or tray before pouring in the jello. A little bit of jello may get out through the cracks and make. a mess.
- Fourth, make sure to give the jello enough time to set up in the refrigerator.
- Fifth, heat some water on the stove and pour into a large bowl. After the water has cooled down for a few minutes, dip the turkey molds into the water for about 4 seconds to help them release from the molds.
- DO NOT place the molds into boiling hot water! I did this with the first turkey mold and quickly melted the mold and the jello turkey in just a couple seconds. (See how the orange turkey on the back row in the first picture leans to the side.) Ooops!
I so enjoyed bringing these turkeys to Thanksgiving dinner. All the kids loved them and either ate a whole or a half turkey. It’s fun to hear the kids talk about eating the turkey head etc.
I’d love to see your jello turkey creations or other jello mold creations. Please comment and leave a link below.
Jello Jiggler Turkeys
Equipment
- turkey molds or other desired shapes
Ingredients
- 1 pkg Jello/ flavored Gelatin (6 oz.)
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 C ice
Instructions
- Pour gelatin into a medium mixing bowl. Add boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved and not grainy anymore.
- Add whipping cream and ice to mixing bowl. Stir until the mixture is chilled, but before it starts to set up. Remove any leftover ice cubes.
- Let the gelatin sit in the refriderator for 3 minutes.
- Pour chilled gelatin into the turkey molds.
- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until gelatin seem to be set up.
- When you are ready to get the gelatin out of the molds, boil a few cups of water. Pour into a clean mixing bowl. Let the boiling water cool down just a little bit.
- Gently dip the plastic turkey mold into the hot water for just a couple seconds. This will help the gelatin release from the edge and not stick. I only needed to dip the mold into the hot water for about 4 seconds. Time needed to dip the mold in hot water depends on the thickness of the mold and if it is made of plastic, glass, or metal.
- Carefully remove the gelatin from the mold and place on serving dish.
- Enjoy.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Jello Flower Tools
Who gets excited to get needles and syringes for Valentine’s Day? I do! And no, not druggie needles! I’m not like that! I’m talking about Gelatin Flower making needles and syringes. My husband knows me so well.
To make beautiful gelatin flowers, there are a few things that will make it super easy. First, you need to get a set of special needles and syringes. Some tips are little, some are big and flat. Some are pointed and some are rounded. Some of my favorites have zig zag edges and others are shaped like leaves.
My husband bought me this starter set from Amazon with 30 tips. It has been great. I also bought myself a set of syringes with long needles.
Here is another great beginning option for flower tips that includes a straight tip, you can start with this smaller set from Amazon. I also included another link for a complete starter kit that has tips, gelatin and lots more.
If you like to create Gelatin Flowers, what are your favorite tips? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below.