The world may be a bit wonky, but birthdays (and baby showers and anniversaries and even Tuesdays) still deserve to be celebrated. It’s not ideal, but digital parties can be super fun with the help of Zoom and a little bit of creativity. Follow our tips, and you’ll be partying just like it’s 2019.
What's more festive than loo roll?
The planning
Acknowledge that this will not be like your typical birthday parties. Try to lean into how weird this all is and let the absurdity fuel the fun. Someone will be wearing pyjamas. Someone will be washing dishes. Someone will randomly want to share their screen. Let ‘em!
Consider having different parties for different friends. Organising festivities by meal is an easy way to separate friend groups. Remember that people naturally clump together at a party IRL – a big group where only one person can talk at a time can get awkward (and boring) really quickly. You can also make a birthday week of gatherings and keep your actual birthday for eating chips and watching old episodes of The Nanny.
Order a fancy meal from that restaurant you’ve been meaning to try. You could even suggest your local guests do the same! It’s a great way to make your night feel a little more special.
Take advantage of being at home by wearing costumes. Yes, costumes. Trust us! It can be a nightmare to traverse a city in oddball garb, but now your bathroom and closet are mere steps away. Put on facepaint! Wear a tutu! Whatever you do, at least wear a party hat. It’s the ultimate shortcut to feeling festive.
Start the Zoom with a preplanned crew. Think it’s awkward to be the first one at a party? It’s even worse on Zoom calls. It’s just you and another person’s face, weirdly smiling and waiting for the “ding dong” of someone else showing up.
Set a clear end time. Everyone will thank you later.
Probably the most crucial part of throwing a Zoom party having some sort of structured activity. You can divert the pressure of entertaining a big group by whipping out some fun tasks and challenges. These are some ideas that we’ve tried and loved.
Birthday trivia
It’s your birthday and everyone should have you on the mind. Write a list of questions that will show how well your friends really know you.
Host a game show
All you need is a little imagination (and access to Google Slides) to make your game show fantasies come to life. Shows like Jeopardy or The Price is Right are easy to recreate in a simple presentation.
Show and tell scavenger hunt
Create a list of things that people can collect from around their house to share with the group. You could do stuff like “the most embarrassing photo you can find, “the first thing you’d grab in an emergency,” or “anything that starts with the letter W.”
A craft off
Give everyone the same set of instructions and see if they can make your chosen craft come to life. You could even try some of our gift edition crafts (the origami is particularly difficult).
Epic talent show
This one takes a bit of preparation, but we promise it pays off. Everyone has a special talent and now’s the time to put it on display. Rapping, dancing, poetry, singing, live puppetry – it’s all on the table.
If you’re the guest
The onus of throwing a great Zoom party isn’t only on the host, it’s also on the guest. So if you’re invited to a birthday shindig, keep these tips in mind.
If you were asked to abide by a theme, just do it, ok?
If you wouldn’t go to someone’s birthday in real life, don’t feel obligated to go over zoom. People get overzealous with the invite list when there are no physical limitations. It’s ok that you don’t want to spend your Saturday night video chatting with your high school lab partner.
If you don’t know anyone except the guest of honour, feel free to pop in, say hello and get out of there. Showing your face for a few minutes is enough.
If you don’t feel comfortable in digital groups, that’s totally fine! Dropping off a card or sending a cake from a local bakery is great too. Even just a text to say you’re thinking about them means a lot.
Have you been going to your fair share of Zoom parties? Let us know what advice we should add to the list! Or comment with your most epic Zoom party fails (we all have ‘em).