We recently celebrated another birthday with a difference as Ivy turned 7 during full lockdown and we had to find a creative way to celebrate! We decided to go for a Zoom video call party, but still wanted it small and a bit more personal, so rather than hire an entertainer we just set it up ourselves and did crafts and activities instead. Ivy chose a ladybug / ladybird theme which was so sweet and simple and ideal for a craft party.
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Ivy invited six of her close friends from school to her party, we kept it small and local so that we could easily do a socially distanced drop off of a party pack at each of their houses.
Decorations
Even though no one was coming over to our house for the party we still wanted to decorate so that the background of Ivy's screen looked like a real party! So I set up the kitchen counter with trays of party food and had some themed decorations as well.
We had:
Food
As I mentioned I set up party food in the kitchen for our family to enjoy before the Zoom call so that it felt more like a real party to Ivy, but I didn't want the guests to miss out so I included some party food in their party packs as well.
They each got:
- a cupcake (in an individual cupcake box)
- Party Ring biscuits
- Jammie Dodger biscuits
- a chocolate ladybug
- a lollipop
Activities
The children were all very excited to see each other on Zoom as they hadn't seen very much of each other for quite a while. They were a bit shy though and not ready to chat, so we started with some ice breaker activities to get them feeling comfortable.
We played:
- musical statues (I put the speaker near the computer so that they could all hear the music and freeze when it stopped)
- the biscuit game (putting a biscuit on your forehead and trying to get it down to your mouth)
Then we all got out the paints from the party pack and painted together.
Party Packs
On the morning of the party we did a socially distanced drop off of the party packs at the guests houses. Ivy was so excited to go around dropping off the packs on everyone's doorsteps, it made the party a whole day event for her and she loved it.
Most of what I included in the party pack was for the children to have during the party time. It was nice that they all had the same things and felt connected that way.
We included:
- ladybug party boxes
- a ceramic ladybug pot to paint
- 4 colours of paint (in individual pots)
- paint brushes
- a small mess mat (cut up from a plastic tablecloth)
- biscuits
- sweets
- ladybug pull back toy
It certainly was a unique way to have a birthday party, and though we are hoping that we will go back to having big birthday parties together by next year it is nice that we were able to do this for now. And it could inspire parties with far away friends or family members in the future, party packs could be posted in advance and everyone could still experience a birthday party together.
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