How to Have a Virtual Birthday Party | My Quarantine Birthday | Mommy and Me Monday | 532nd ed

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. I MAY EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES.

I was the first of our family (and fingers crossed, hopefully our last) to have a quarantine birthday. But, you would hardly know that it was anything different (you know, beside the whole being at home the whole time) because Mr. Serious and the girls planned my virtual birthday party all out!

The girls woke up in the morning and brought me some tea and breakfast. I got a lot of birthday hugs and kisses.

After lunch, the girls wanted me to open my presents. They all made me sweet homemade cards. There were tea mug with their “mugs” on them. (I’ve always gifted coffee and tea cups and mug to family, but never received them, so yay!). They also picked out some embroidery floss, hoops and fabric to continue with some embroidery learning. (Please notice giant fort in the background, affectionally known as “The Cave of Wonders.”)

After lunch, some friends did a drive-by birthday yell with confetti guns, candy and a fun plant. It was nice to see their faces in person…even from 12 feet away.

Dinner was sushi takeout. I didn’t even pick out my order. Mr. Serious and N planned it all out and it was delicious. 

A virtual birthday party

Mr. Serious also planned out a pretty epic Zoom conference for friends and family to hop on and sing happy birthday. He mentioned inviting a few people, but it was very cool to see everybody on there that popped in. 

If you want to have a virtual party, there are a couple ways you can do it. 

1. Zoom – This is what we used and it was nice because we could send out a link ahead of time and see multiple faces on the screen at the same time. You can use a free account for this, but you are limited to 100 participants and 45 minute call.
2. Facetime – If everybody has an iphone, you can use facetime to call multiple people. Having tried this, the quality of the call isn’t as amazing, but it does work. 
3. Facebook messenger– You can use it on a computer when you set up a group and they recently launched a bigger and better conference call app. 
4. Microsoft Teams – If somebody in your home has access, you can also set up a link with Microsoft Teams and send it out. The disadvantage is only a certain number of people will show on the screen at a time. 
5. If there are other options you know if, let me know!

If you have a chance, get everybody set up ahead of time, particularly if you have people that might not have done a video conference or chat before. We had a few technical difficulties but worked through them quickly. 

It was really nice to see everybody’s face and hear their voices. I haven’t been the best about reaching out to people during this time (let’s be honest, as soon as I go to do anything, I’ve got somebody calling for mommy to help, or answer a question or do something.)

Please notice the epic-ness above that is the cake N made. She planned it and started it early enough so everything was for after dinner. And she made two cakes. Both gluten and dairy free. One was carrot cake with cream cheese icing and the other was German chocolate cake. She planned to make them heart-shaped which worked out perfectly (after making sure we had the right sized circles and square cakes). The oldest made a hand-lettered Happy Birthday banner to go on the top. 

It also looks like a Princess Leia with flowers Minnie Mouse ears cake which I also was thrilled about. 

Suggestions for making your virtual party awesome

Some of our friends and family did a couple fun things to really make the virtual birthday party even more fun for everybody.

1. Try to set a time that works for most timezones. 
2. Coordinate singing happy birthday.
3. Have everybody prepare or buy a cake/cupcakes so everybody can enjoy some. This was especially fun for littler kids so they didn’t just see our cake.
4. Take pictures of the chat for the memory books.
5. Better yet, assign somebody else the task of taking picture and maybe even video.
6. Record the video chat if that’s an option.

I’m very thankful to have so many friends and family that stopped their Friday night plans to wish me a happy birthday. 

Even if we weren’t in quarantine, this was a pretty great birthday, but of course, I’m crossing fingers and toes this is the last quarantine birthday we have to celebrate. 

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEK?

GET IN THE PICTURE WITH YOUR KIDS! Who cares what you look like? Cares how you appear? Who cares what you are wearing? JUST DO IT! Come share your picture on the Facebook thread or use #MommyAndMeMonday!

It’s time again for Mommy and Me Monday. Pop out from behind that camera and capture yourself in action with your kids. Check out the inaugural Mommy and Me Monday for more information. Need another reason to participate in Mommy and Me Monday? Read my post about why I blog with words from a friend’s husband.