Read on for a full list of birthday ideas while social distancing.  Make someone’s day special with these social distancing birthday ideas.

There are so many things recently that have been cancelled that are just heartbreaking.  Peoples weddings, graduations, baby showers, family members not getting to meet their newest grandchild.  It’s definitely a sad time to have to miss those things.  The only silver lining in missing these events is that you’re helping to stop the spread of this virus. Hopefully in the long run you will get to celebrate and enjoy the people and events in your life in a bigger way later on.

Birthday parties are another thing that can’t happen right now.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t still celebrate.  We just have to shift the way that we’re celebrating.

So today I want to talk about a bunch of ways you can still celebrate your birthday while social distancing.

12 Social Distancing Birthday Ideas

1. Video Party

I keep telling my husband that the servers at Zoom are probably going crazy right now.  Thank goodness for technology in helping us to still stay connected.  Why not host your birthday party over Zoom?  You can still do fun party games like play music and have a dance party, play charades, or pictionary.

If you Zoom with family members you can ask them to all go around and say something nice about the birthday boy or girl.

And you’ll definitely want to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the cake candles during your video party.

2. Card Shower

This idea requires a bit of planning ahead.  Ask your friends and family to mail cards, notes, letters, or small gifts to the birthday recipient.  Getting showered with a bunch of cards will make them feel extremely special.

3. Picnic in the Backyard

Sometimes all we need right now is a change of scenery.  Set up a birthday picnic in your backyard.  Celebrating with a meal in a different place will feel new and exciting.

Take the time to add some fun birthday decorations like streamers in the trees, or balloons tied to stake in the ground.  Banners, garland, and pennants will also make the picnic even more special.

4. Favorite Things Party

Ask your child what their favorite meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is, then cook those things.  Play their favorite board game, or color a picture of their favorite animal.  And be sure to watch their favorite movie.

Doing things that are special to them, makes the whole day about the person whose birthday it is.

5. Birthday Honking

I absolutely love the idea of putting this sign up in your yard if you live in a neighborhood where cars drive by frequently.  And if not, ask your neighbors or family members to just drive by your house at a certain time and honk their horns for the birthday.

How fun to stand on your porch and watch and listen to everyone celebrating with you while they drive by!

You can get your own custom sign made here.  It would be great to use again and again every year to celebrate a birthday, so be sure not to put a specific birthday number on the sign.

6. DIY Birthday Cake

Birthday’s aren’t complete without cake, right?  Try and have the birthday boy or girl make and decorate their own cake.  You can get really fancy and help them to pipe frosting on or go more simple and have them sprinkle fun sprinkles on an at home sheet cake.

Getting them involved will make the cake even more special for them.

7. At Home Movie Studio

If your kids are older then they most likely want to be on their phones all the time.  How about putting them to use and have them produce, direct, and star in their own movie shot on their phones.

Get the whole family involved in acting out a silly movie and then once it’s edited sit down to watch it as a family.

Or surprise the birthday person with a movie that the rest of the family did on their own about the birthday person.

8. Character Zoom Call

So many young kids have character themed birthday parties.  There are a ton of characters that are offering zoom calls.  Hire one to host an online birthday party with the birthday boy or girl and several of their friends.

The kids will still get the themed party they wanted but just virtually.

You can find out more about characters that offer calls here or from a personal friend of mine here.

9. Balloon Drop

Birthdays and balloons go hand in hand.  Order a special balloon kit and do a big balloon drop to celebrate a birthday.  Kids will love having balloons raining down on them and then the balloons will offer hours of entertainment afterwards.

You can buy a balloon kit delivered to your door here.

10. Surprise Birthday Decorations

A sneaky way to celebrate a birthday is to do all of the decorating the night before the big day.  Add a balloon garland around the birthday boy or girl’s bedroom door.  Use streamers to create an elaborate decoration throughout the hallway and down the stairs.  Then surprise them with their birthday presents and more balloons, confetti, and streamers all piled up in one area.

It’s a little birthday decoration obstacle course!

11. Hour by Hour Celebration

Spend the entire day celebrating at home.  Write out fun activities to do with the birthday boy or girl then put them in envelopes.  Mark the outside of each envelope with an hour of the day (10:00, 12:00, 2:00, etc.).  Then when it’s that hour, do the activity in the envelope.

Make the activities fun birthday games.  You can search on Pinterest for fun minute to win it games. Or you can pick a set of activities that are of interest to the birthday boy or girl like art, dancing, video games, or playing baseball.

12. Lantern Release

Who doesn’t love the look of a lantern release at night?  There is just something magical about seeing all of those floating lights in the sky.  Doing a big neighborhood lantern release for someone’s birthday is such a fun way to celebrate.  Deliver the lanterns with instructions and the time you’ll be releasing them to your neighbors and then watch them fill the sky.

I thought about linking to a DIY version of paper lanterns, but the supply list and instructions were long and complicated.  We don’t need complicated in our lives right now, so just use these from Amazon.  Much easier!

Celebrating Birthdays at Home

Celebrating a birthday at home with just your family doesn’t have to be boring or a big elaborate festivity either.  I hope some of these ideas get your creative juices flowing with how to make someones day extra special right now.

Try just doing one of these or combine a few to make the day full of fun.  Wake the birthday person up with tons of decorations, then let them choose their favorite thing to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and finally have them make and decorate their own cake.

You can also get others involved with the celebration with a little planning ahead.  The more the merrier right, well at least from six feet apart.  And we all have an abundance of time on our hands so the planning part shouldn’t be too big of a hurdle.

Do you have any birthdays coming up in your family?  How do you plan to celebrate?  If you use any of these ideas, I’d love for you to tag me in any pictures you post @thedailyhostess on Facebook and Instagram.  Or email me at thedailyhostess@gmail.com I love hearing your feedback.