With 2 birthdays in the last 2 weeks, I’m sharing Social Distancing Birthday Ideas! Here are 5 ways to celebrate a birthday together but apart.
This 2020 year is not what any of us planned. We may be sheltering in place, in quarantine or whatever else you want to call it. But at the root of it, this season is not what we thought it would be.
Life Must Go On
Life must go on. In the last month of lockdown, we have celebrated 2 of our kids with quarantine birthdays and have 2 more people in our house that will most likely have a birthday in quarantine.
Quarantine Birthday Ideas
While this all REALLY sucks, we are making the best of it. We have found ways to celebrate a quarantine birthday that best fits each kid.
If you have a birthday to celebrate, I hope these Social Distancing Birthday Ideas help spur your creativity while in captivity!
Social Distancing Rules
Before launching into the Quarantine Birthday Ideas, I want to say this about social distancing. The general rule is 6-10 feet apart and NO crowds of 10 or more. With a high-risk husband, we take every precaution to make sure we are adhering to safely celebrating the quarantine birthday person.
That said, I understand that there are different ways people view this. Some do not order take-out, totally get it. Others keep 20+ feet away, totally understandable. Use these quarantine birthday ideas and adapt YOUR rules.
Whatever your quarantine rules are, please stay safe and be responsible. First on our list of Social Distancing Birthday Ideas – let’s talk teen girls. Our daughter turned 17 years old and here is how we celebrated her bday without breaking social distancing rules!
Teen Girl Social Distancing Birthday Ideas
This past weekend, our daughter turned 17-years-old. After not finding any teen girl social distancing birthday ideas online, I thought this would be useful to others on how we celebrated.
Our daughter, Z is an extreme extrovert. As hard as this past month has been, we have enjoyed seeing her and a break from the non-stop activities.
We have been very strict on teen social distancing. She hasn’t seen her boyfriend in a month, nor any of her friends – except on Facetime, Discord and Zoom video calls.
Teen Quarantine Birthday Party
I wanted to make her day special, but of course the whole social distancing thing is something I made sure we were following. Here is how I made a teen quarantine birthday party work.
Drive Thru Birthday Party
On Facebook and thru one of our daughter’s friends, Z’s family and friends were invited to surprise her with a drive by birthday party.
We have a circular drive and live in the country so we were able to pull this off up until 45 minutes before the parade arrived.
Birthday Party Decorations
Thank you Walmart Grocery pick-up, we were able to pick-up birthday party decorations with our groceries! If you haven’t used Walmart Grocery, use my link and save $10 off your first $50 or more purchase.
Birthday Yard Sign
I purchased a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY yard sign for $15 and a few birthday banners for around $3 each. We also nailed a HONK sign up for fun.
For a birthday yard sign that is reusable, check out this on Amazon.
We set a comfy chair 8 feet back from circle drive on the front sidewalk for my daughter to sit in. A happy birthday sign was placed on the front of the sidewalk acting as a “don’t cross” barrier – and worked out cute.
Drive By and Say Hi
We set the time between 5:30 – 7:00 pm and starting right at 5:30, the drive by birthday began. All starting with my friend Sally, whose family dressed up – played loud music, even throwing confetti eggs!
My sister, made a sign and sprayed silly string. My daughter teared up as her friends came by, sticking their heads out the sunroof and thru the window – honking and celebrating her special day.
Grandparents that we haven’t seen in weeks, stopped by waving and chatting for a few. No one stayed longer than 5-minutes. The drive thru birthday party was quick but meaningful.
This is not how I expected to chaperone a 17th birthday party but in quarantine, this was perfect.
Birthday Party Parade
One of my favorite Social Distancing Birthday Ideas for quarantine is a birthday party parade.
Have friends meet at a location at a certain time – all in their vehicles. Cars can be decorated to help celebrate, but that is optional.
The birthday parade we attended, we just wrote HAPPY BIRTHDAY on different sheets of paper and taped to our car. Use WHAT YOU HAVE AT HOME!
Social Distance Birthday
The birthday parade travels by the birthday person’s house, waving, honking, playing loud music and celebrating the birthday person. This makes a great way to celebrate a social distance birthday!
Virtual Birthday Party
Next on our list of social distancing birthday ideas is a virtual birthday party! Virtual parties are now a weekly thing for me, but here are ways to use them for a birthday celebration.
Create a free zoom account, connect all of your friends and have a Zoom birthday party. If you are of age, and drink – hold a toast to the birthday friend or family member.
Dress up, create a theme, find a way to make the birthday person feel special, even though you can’t be there in person. I have friends that play board games and cards via Zoom, which is another fun virtual party idea.
10 Year Old Boy Birthday Ideas During Quarantine
Our 10 year old celebrated his big DECADE birthday on March 16th. I feel bad for the guy, as this was the first week of serious lock down so we were at a loss. Here is how we celebrated him while sheltering in place. Here is how we celebrated and more Social Distancing Birthday Ideas for 10 year olds.
Decorate Bedroom Door
A long-time birthday tradition in our house is decorating the bedroom door for the birthday kid.
We didn’t have much decor, but made do.
Quarantine Birthday Breakfast
For breakfast, we made his favorite breakfast, Cinnamon Roll Casserole made with canned cinnamon rolls. We let him sleep-in, thankfully we were on spring break – so no school.
Knowing we would be a quarantine birthday, we bought him a bunch of random gifts that would help keep him busy during this time.
Keep Busy Gifts
We found an at home escape room game, an oil diffuser (he has SPD – we found that lavender helps him sleep,) STEM building straws and bought him a kids smart watch.
The STEM building straws have been a huge hit. Here is a HUGE tower he made. The grandparents sent him an additional set – so I expect we will have a tower tall as the ceiling soon.
No Birthday Party
Our 10-year-old is an introvert. A few weeks earlier, his best friend and him – who share close birthdays, had hung out and celebrated with cake. For him not having an actual birthday party wasn’t a huge bummer.
When it came time for birthday cake, we had bought a frozen red velvet cake a week earlier at the grocery store.
Facebook Live Birthday Cake
To include family and friends in on the fun, we used Facebook Live to stream the birthday cake, singing happy birthday, blowing out the candles and saying hi to family. It was a great way to include family who couldn’t be with us.
Teen Boy Quarantine Birthday Idea
Early next month, our teen boy has a birthday. He is a gamer, and even when we aren’t sheltering in place – he adheres to social distancing.
Him and his friends play every weekend, for hours on end – chatting on Discord. For his birthday, even if we weren’t where we are – it wouldn’t be a huge tada like our daughter. Here are some social distancing birthday ideas for teen boys!
For his birthday, we were thinking of things to do – and decided for him to have a virtual lan party. To make this different from any other gaming night, we are delivering pizza, microwave popcorn, a 2-liter and a cupcake to the door of several of his friends (that their parents approve, of course.)
Then they can eat their pizza, and celebrate our son’s 15th birthday on Discord. What a time we live in, right?
Birthday Ideas for Quarantine
Our temporary new normal has changed the way we are doing life. Coronavirus spreading now has us on quarantine. We are working from home and our kids are now learning from a distance (aka homeschool).
That said, life events, birthdays included must go on.
If you have a friend with a shelter in place birthday, do something to make their day special – it doesn’t have to be a big to-do.
- Send a birthday meme
- Order them a pizza
- Drop a quick text message
I hope these social distancing birthday ideas spark some creativity for your next celebration. These are historical times and while yes, it can suck – try to make the best of it, adapt and find a way to celebrate life events like birthdays.
Stay well, friends.