This pandemic has taken a toll everywhere, but perhaps the greatest toll it took is in terms of how we interact with each other as human beings. Isolation breeds a host of issues, so it is important to utilize all virtual modes of communication. If you know someone who has their birthday coming up, then it might be a bummer to not celebrate it the way everyone wants to. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t celebrate birthdays at all. In this article, we will discuss 11 zoom birthday party ideas.
11 Zoom Birthday Party Ideas
Have everyone prepare a favorite memory, toast, or roast
The downside of virtual hangouts is that it’s nearly impossible to re-create the feeling of a real-life gathering. People can’t break away to have side conversations and you’re bound to feel like you’re taking turns. The best you can do is to make things a little less awkward by not focusing on the natural flow of conversation. Ask everyone to come ready to make a mini toast about the guest of honor (or roast) and take turns spreading the love.
Or make it a game of show-and-tell
If you’re planning your own party and also the idea of asking your guests to decide to say something nice about you causes you to cringe (or if you recognize the guest of honor would be so embarrassed to take a seat through a compliment train with an oversized audience), the prompt doesn’t need to be about the birthday person at all! Whatever you think will spark a fun roundtable.
Host a game night
No matter what you and your friends are into—from classic board games to visiting one another’s islands on animal crossing—there may be a virtual game that will bring the right birthday bash.
Fake a restaurant outing
An intimate dinner party is a favorite amongst people while celebrating birthdays. Recreating this is a cute theme. Share a photograph of your favorite restaurant that everybody can set as their zoom background and ask everyone to cook or order food to suit the theme. You can also surprise the birthday person with delivery from their favorite restaurant.
Decorate your space
The party is happening on a screen, but you can also throw a mini party in their house. But there’s no need to get fancy. Encourage people to be creative and silly or maybe throw a birthday party background on zoom.
Re-create a bar trivia night
Whether you want to stick to a beloved theme or spend an entire night competing to prove you know most about the birthday person, there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned trivia night. No extra equipment is needed, just a little planning and a dedicated host to keep things running smoothly.
Record the “happy birthday” song
Trust me on this one. Singing “happy birthday to you” over zoom is kind of a nightmare, both for the guest of honor and the guests. For one, singing alone in your room to a computer screen is daunting and on the receiving end, zoom picks up only a couple of voices at a time, making for a few patchy audios. It will be really awkward, so this might be a better idea. Instead, have guests record themselves singing “happy birthday” ahead of time and have a tech-savvy guest-edit it together. You have no idea how happy the birthday person will be after hearing this!
A full video of birthday messages
Have people record their toast, roast, or other birthday message and make a video out of them to share during the party. That way, everyone can enjoy instead of dreading their turn or wondering when the birthday person’s uncle is going to stop talking.
Watch a movie together
With all the talk of remaining social while social distancing, you’ve probably heard that there are sites and extensions that streamline the process of virtually watching movies with other people. This is actually perfect for a birthday movie night—or a full-on birthday party if you actually want to lean in.
Take a virtual tour together
If you and your friends are a more cultured bunch, plenty of museums, zoos, and other institutions around the world are currently offering virtual tours throughout the pandemic. The best news is that most of them are free. They typically don’t have social integration, so you’ll have to decide the best way to browse as a group, but you can’t go wrong with hopping on a group call or video to chat as you enjoy a place together.
Set a dress code
We all know that it has been a while since some of us have had an excuse to dress up or get dressed at all. Maybe you would like to instruct guests to get ultra-glam or even you would like to throw a selected costume party. In any case, setting a topic may be low-stakes thanks to elevating your average zoom birthday celebration to a subsequent level.
Have a great time!
