Guide To A Virtual Birthday Party

5 GREAT IDEAS FOR AN ADULT'S VIRTUAL BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Quarantine has forced us all to grow a year older over Zoom, Skype, FaceTime and what have you! Only our beloved household members were able to give us a hug this year, have some cake and sing us a birthday song in person making us all realize the true value of face time with friends and family. I'm sure everyone will choose to have a grand birthday party next year whether you ever enjoyed it or not, if only just to see happy, smiling and positive faces. Till then I would like to share unique ways of celebrating birthdays' virtually !

Gather around on your favorite video calling platform, maybe dress up and set up some birthday props in the background to show your love to the person of the hour and get set to have a fun, virtual birthday party.

1) Play "Guesstimate" 

Get to know the star of the party while having fun with this game.

I came up with this idea after having played the board game -Wits & Wagers. Read on for a fun twist to make this game centered towards the birthday boy/girl. You will need a moderator to come up with questions about the birthday boy/girl that can possibly have numerical answers. Everyone on the call will write down their "Guesstimate" and so will the birthday boy/girl. The person with the answer closest to the person of the hour gets the point for that round!

Questions could be : How many siblings does he/she have? What is his/her weight? What is his/her mother's age? What year did he/she graduate from college? How many pani-puri's can he/she have in a minute? How many times has he/she watched his/her fav movie? Get Creative :-)

2) Play "Minute to Win It"

I had organized a minute to win it themed birthday party in the past, and it was such a blast. When I thought of the games I adopted, obviously from the game show, I realized there are many that can be played virtually with minimal effort or items. Let me list a few! Click on the titles for some video previews!

a) A Bit Dicey : You will need about 5-6 dice and a scale. The player gets a minute to stack the dice one on top of the other while holding the scale in his/her mouth horizontally. The stacked dice should hold up for 3 secs once done! Record who was able to stack up the highest number of dice, and you have a winner!

b) This Blows : You will need a balloon and some party cups. Stack the cups at the edge of a table and and hand the player a balloon. Give the player one minute on the clock as usual. The player's task will be to blow air into the balloon and then direct that balloon to let out air and knock the cups off the table. Record how many cups each person could knock off in a minute, and you have a winner!

c) Moving on Up : You will need only cups! Take a good number of cups (8-12), and stack 'em up. The cup at the bottom of the stack should be marked such that it can be easily identified, or use a different colored cup if possible. Give the player one minute, now the player must take one cup from the top of the stack and move it to the bottom with one hand, then repeat the process with the other hand. The game continues in this way until the marked/different colored cup has gone through the entire stack of cups and has resumed its original place at the bottom. Record who did it fastest and you have a winner!

Each of these games can be played by all the players on the call simultaneously with the star of the party acting as judge, or go turn by turn and have more fun giving everyone a chance to sit back and watch other friends try and beat them!

BONUS : Use this TIMER to give  your game the authentic feel!

3) Play "Queen of Sheeba/Simon Says"

Now this one can be a bit more of a physical activity virtual game, but can be modified and played with the star of the party as Sheeba/Simon! Have Sheeba/Simon make a secret list of items around the house that he/she would like the attendees to bring to them! Sheeba/Simon should then start the game and have people leave their screens and rush back to the screen with the item they asked for. Whoever returned to their screen first is then the winner of that round.

BUTTTT here is the twist! The birthday boy/girl should give out the item names with a twist - for example - "Bring me a tee shirt of my favorite color"!!! So now even though you came back to the screen first, you need to know the birthday star well enough to win a point for that round!

Here are some quirky ways to put across your scavenger hunt items : Center the items around your favorite brand, around the letter of your name, middle name or last name, center the item around your age, or your birthday month, favorite food or fruit and so on. Get creative and make this list all about you as YOU are the life of the virtual party today!

4) Play "Trivia"

1000+ Trivia Qs for Millennials

Now this might seem very much like the first game I suggested above, but Trivia can offer more flexibility in terms of questions and answers. Plan to play this with questions centered around the star of the party, or play this with questions centered around a theme chosen by the honoree. The birthday boy/girl can then ask the group questions, and award people with correct answers, points! Keep a time limit to getting an answer, making Trivia fast paced and entertaining.

5) Other Ways

a) Try to dress up in a color theme that would please the star of the party.
b) Try to have a special message prepared for the honoree, and go around the screen sharing kind words & birthday messages.
c) Try to prepare a favorite birthday song and everyone can sing along to wish the birthday star.
d) Have a virtual cake cutting ceremony and dinner afterward, sharing birthday stories and favorite birthday presents ever received stories.
e) If the birthday boy/girl are fond of gifts, try to send over some gifts to them and have them open it on the virtual birthday party night and share the fun!

I tried to jot down my thoughts on how I would go about celebrating a virtual birthday party, and I hope that these ideas can help you plan something for your loved one while keeping them safe and healthy.

Turn a year older, stay safe & stay healthy!