Birthdays during the pandemic

In our family of 4, we have had two birthdays in the last four weeks within three weeks of each other- March 27 and April 16. Yes, both my husband & my younger one are Aries. In addition, my sister, a nephew, a niece and five friends have birthdays in April! I find it fascinating, maybe it is a month with many birthdays, or maybe my family and friends are mostly born at this time of the year:) This post is about ways to celebrate birthdays during pandemic.

So the first birthday in our family is on March 27. My husband’s birthday comes first in the year, followed by my two kids (April and June) and ends with mine in August. We always have a family celebration for hubby’s birthday, so we continued the norm and did the dressing up and picture taking part to share with extended family. But two things were missing. We did not have a cake as we didn’t go to the grocery store to buy one like we normally do and did not get a chance to order the cake ingredients to make at home. Secondly, we did not go out for dinner which is usual for any celebration at our place including birthdays, anniversaries or any special days like Valentine’s Day, New Year or any of the evenings of kids achievement (report card, special recognition, getting into a club or any other means that calls for celebration, however small it may be!).
I believe we still had a good evening as we gave him cards and ate a special home made dinner. I shared our pic on the social media (got wishes and likes!) and shared more pics of the celebration with extended family!

For my younger one’s 13th birthday, we were ready. We ordered ingredients for making cake ahead of time so the curbside pick up from the grocery store was a couple of days before her special day. My husband helped bake the cake for her, and both kids had a great time helping out their dad.

Below is the video I made of the cake.

For the birthday she wanted to eat out for dinner, so we ordered from Olive Garden and I went for the pick-up which was easy and convenient!

Also my older one played piano after a long time, especially for her sister!

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Our Experience

For my nephew’s fifth birthday, the firefighters came to wish him in their fire engine truck and he got so excited. They live in Calgary, Canada and my sister said that all the kids under 12 years of age got a special visit from the fire department after they signed up with their kids’ birthday dates. I thought it was very cool!

I know of a couple who celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary at home, by re-living their wedding day by following the same rituals they did to tie their marriage knots two decades back. They shared their beautiful pics; they both even wore the same clothing from 20 years back and their two kids joined in their celebration. So sweet!

Some Ideas To Celebrate birthdays during pandemic

So here I just shared some ways people are celebrating their special occasions with social distancing and staying-at-home order. I do believe people are getting creative, and are still enjoying in their own ways, however small it may be, without the extravagant big gathering of friends and extended family to celebrate with. I have heard of driveway birthdays where cars line up outside the birthday teen’s place and the friends and loved ones drive down the street at a specified time and wave, honk, greet and sing Happy Birthday, while the birthday child stays in the driveway. How creative!

I have also heard of virtual birthday parties on FaceTime, Zoom or other social media platform where everyone comes at a specific time and have an online celebration together! Or have a recording of birthday wishes from extended family members and friends as a surprise for the birthday child, and play during cake cutting ceremony at home.

Even if it is not a social event and just a family celebration, the birthday child can be treated to a special day by having breakfast in bed, no chores, extra video game or technology time, favorite food for lunch or dinner, and basically have an uninterrupted day of leisure, fun and freedom! If you plan ahead, you can always add balloons, banners, and other decorations for the special occasion. Have a special delivery on the day- it can be gift that the birthday child will love! A gift of a toy, game, book, clothing, gear or anything that you know is important for them, will make it special!

Summary

Although this pandemic may make us feel isolated and detached from others, it also gives us the opportunity to cherish what we already have. There is so much love, joy, and kindness available in our own homes. It’s just up to us to find it and make the most of what we have!

If you had a celebration during this quarantine period, please share how you made it special. We would love to include it in our writing. You may comment below or send an email to nishtha@dawnandhope.com