Adapting birthday celebrations to restrictions makes for unique experience
May 21, 2020
As I spoke to my friend before her 18th birthday, I realized that her upcoming birthday would be one she remembered forever, and not just because it was a milestone birthday. Since this pandemic is unprecedented, all of her friends, including me, were scrambling to figure out how to make her feel special while maintaining social distance.Â
One unique way we celebrated her birthday was by having a birthday drive-by, where her friends and family drove by her house and held out birthday signs to wish her a happy birthday. She was still able to see her friends while social distancing, which is the best you can do while in a pandemic.
Special events can be celebrated by modifying traditions
We also celebrated her birthday by creating a video for her. I had all of her close friends send in a video wishing her a happy birthday and then compiled them all into one video. This also turned out to be a good way to celebrate with her from afar as it showed our love and support for her without actually seeing her in person. Of course it would have been better to give her our heartfelt birthday wishes in person, but I think this was a good way of adapting to government restrictions due to COVID-19.
Of course, things aren’t going to happen traditionally while we’re in such an unprecedented time, but there are things we can do to lessen the loss. Through drive-bys, videos or other formats, showing the person whose birthday it is that you are thinking about them will make their birthday a positive experience, even in quarantine.
