Tell Us How You’re Celebrating Special Occasions Right Now

Now that we’ve all been staying home for a while, chances are good that you or a family member or friend has marked at least one special occasion that, in the Before Times, would’ve been celebrated with a party or a night out: A nice round birthday. A fancy anniversary dinner. A bachelorette party. Obviously, such gatherings—even small get-togethers at home!—aren’t in the cards anymore.

We’ve already considered how to make a child’s special day seem, well, special right now. But adults need to blow off some steam—and feel like their personal milestones still matter—too.

My birthday was at the beginning of April. While I would have normally invited a few friends out for a happy hour at a local bar to celebrate, instead I ended up having a much bigger affair: a two-day “online festival.” I met up with friends for a virtual beer over video chat, both individually and in small groups, and then scheduled a few game nights during which we all played Cards Against Humanity and Mario Kart online together.

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Honestly, while it’s not the birthday celebration I would have chosen in the pre-pandemic era, I think I actually had a much better time than would have had I actually been able to go out. I was able to spend time with a lot of far-flung friends that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen. It was pretty great.

If games and beers aren’t your thing, there are also services like Vemos and Netflix Party that allow you to host a virtual movie night with pals to celebrate a big event. The app Houseparty is a great way to throw a virtual shindig.

Getting all your friends together to serenade you with “Happy Birthday!” over Zoom is becoming an ever more popular choice. I’ve even seen people celebrating birthdays within video games—an island party in Animal Crossing, anyone?

A close friend of mine is celebrating a birthday this week. As a gift, I sent him a Doordash gift card so we can plan a virtual dinner date to celebrate.

All that is to say: You’ve got some options. So, what are you doing? Have you been throwing game nights and group Zoom parties to celebrate those milestones, or have you come up with something entirely different? Tell us what are you celebrating at home right now and how you’re doing it.

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