Create Courage Adventures

How To Celebrate Kid Birthdays While Social Distancing

Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19 has everyone doing life differently. One thing that isn’t different is the fact that we still get older. Today was an especially important day for us because it is my son’s 12th birthday. Having a birthday during coronavirus pandemic could be pretty disappointing. My son was actually really upset (at first) about having a birthday while quarantined to our home. When I saw how sad he was getting, I decided that I needed to put my magical mom mind into overdrive and make his birthday as special as ever! Please use these ideas and help your child have a great birthday during COVID-19 craziness.

For more indoor kid and teen activities check out this post on ideas for families during coronavirus pandemic 2020.

Please Note: I am not a medical professional, just a mom with a lot of love to give. Please modify these suggestions as needed for your family to stay safe and healthy.

Keep All The Family Traditions You Can

Family traditions are exceptionally important. If you eat a certain food or sing a special song or do the Electric Slide, you need to do it more this year than ever. Kids are looking for consistency in a world that is changing daily so for goodness sake, if you usually play a mean game of Go Fish or Poker, bust out the cards!

We, unfortunately, did have to skip our annual trip to various restaurants and Dutch Bros Coffee for free delicious treats but I am really hoping that maybe places will celebrate half birthdays for 2020 because come on, we are all in this together and all deserve an annual free dessert regardless of having birthdays during social distancing.

Use The “Love Actually” Technique

“Love Actually,” is one of my all-time favorite movies. The scene below (Thanks YouTube) where a man uses posters to profess his love inspired me. My mom is in her seventies and has an autoimmune disease so she is vulnerable to COVID-19 so social distancing is exceptionally important. Check out our video below for how we celebrated my son’s birthday with grandma during social distancing.

Bend The Rules

So your birthday boy or girl wants to eat junk and play video games on their birthday? Let them. I know this may be difficult, but trust me, let them. They can’t see their friends at school and many kids don’t have cell phones. Due to this, socializing online or via video game chatting helps them cope and process. We have many rules about who kids can talk to online such as, only chat with kids in our family or from school, not strangers. Obviously those rules should remain the same but maybe extend playtime. Maybe your kiddo wants to stay up a half an hour late, let them. Just for today, try saying, “yes,” more than, “no.”

Have A Junk Food Night

One of our favorite birthday traditions is having an epic movie and junk food night. The birthday kiddo gets to pick the movie obviously! I’m talking about popcorn, chips, dips, candy, cookies, all the things that make kids and tens excited on their birthday!

Brainstorm What Activities You Have At Home

Looking at the items in your house differently. Maybe an old table in the garage could become an awesome poker game station (kid version). Perhaps you have enough pillows laying around to make a “the floor is lava” obstacle course. If you start looking at your quarantine world in the eyes of a child, it becomes much more fun and interesting.

Bake a Birthday Cake Together

Kids love baking. More honestly, kids love treats. Baking has become very popular while social distancing during COVID-19 outbreak. So bust out the old cake pans and make a beautiful (or not) birthday cake. Since you will only share it with your quarantined family, I feel like it may be safer than going to the store and buying a cake that someone else frosted. Our April Fools themed cake is below. My kids have some skills but I don’t think professional baking is in any of our futures.

Buy an Epic Gift if you Can

We went for it and bought a basketball hoop for my son’s social distance birthday. Was it planned? No, Was it worth it? Yes! Amazon actually sells hoops if you don’t feel comfortable going to a store. They are more expensive but keep you safe from coronavirus. Epic gifts could also be a video game system, a skateboard, Beats noise-canceling headphones that all teens and tweens love, or anything else that your kiddo is into. I realize that financial struggles are real right now so an epic gift doesn’t have to be expensive. A dartboard that was $15 is one of my tween kiddos’ favorite things.

Make Birthday Constellation Art

Check out THIS BLOG POST for full instructions on how to make birthday constellation art. Kids love their birthday and a social distance birthday doesn’t have to be the end of the world but it could be out of this world with constellations! Yes, cheesy, I know!

How was your child’s quarantine birthday? I would love to hear all about it in the comments. Also, feel free to submit more ideas below. Subscribe below for more family fun ideas and adventures. Stay safe!