Celebrating a Child’s Birthday During Lockdown
If you can believe it, next week is my sweet little Roman’s 7th birthday! We lucked out with Marina’s birthday and celebrated just before the lockdown began. However, Roman’s birthday will fall during our 7th week of lockdown and we won’t be able to celebrate with friends and family. Despite the fact that this year’s celebration will be unconventional, we will still celebrate this boy in the most joyous ways possible.
Roman has developed an obsession with Pokémon over the last year or so and it comes as no surprise that he wants to have a Pokémon-themed birthday celebration. In this post, I’ll share a few of the ways that we’ll be celebrating as Roman James turns 7 next week — Pokémon-style. We’ll also take a look at some of our past party celebrations, too. Reminiscing over old photos has become one of my favorite lockdown pastimes.
Here are some simple and fun ways to celebrate a child’s birthday during lockdown.
1. Decorations — Decorating for my babies’ birthdays has always been one of my favorite things to do, as anyone who’s been around here for awhile knows very well. I always try to setup at least one special table to match the party theme. My favorite decorations are banners and balloons, such a fun way to add color to the day.
Many party stores in our area are offering online ordering and curbside pickup. If that isn’t an option for you, DIY banners are always a lot of fun, too.
2. Cake & Cookies — Cakes are often the centerpieces of my parties. I have been so lucky to have worked with so many talented bakers over the years and my little ones have had such beautiful cakes. Most of my favorite birthday cakes have been at Marina’s parties, but Roman has had a few really fun ones, too. This year his cake is going to feature his favorite Pokémon character, Wailmer. It is going to be a surprise for him and I can’t wait to see his reaction.
I am so grateful that our favorite local bakery is still operating during this pandemic. They are only offering pre-orders and curbside pick-up, but that works for us.
3. Gifts — I am a big fan of matching my children’s gifts with their party-themes. It doesn’t always work out, for example last year Marina’s birthday gift request had me on a late night search for childs doctor kit and she had an Oh Deer! party theme. Not a perfect match there. But gratefully, Roman wants all things Pokémon. He’ll be receiving a few things to go along with his theme, including some special edition “rare” Wailmer Pokémon cards, a new binder to store his cards in, and an adorable Pokémon-themed hooded sweatshirt.
I’ve been doing mostly online shopping during this pandemic. Just be sure to leave extra time for shipping, as I’ve found shipping times to be slower than usual at this time.
4. Crafts & Games — Finding creative ways to pass the time seems to be the name of the game during lockdown, and doing so during a birthday party is no different. I have a few fun things planned for us depending on the weather that day. If we can be outside, we’ll be playing Pokémon freeze tag and if we’re inside we’ll do pin-the-tail-on-the-Pokémon. I also have some cute Pokémon card templates so that each child can design, color and decorate their own special Pokémon card.
5. Face-painting — One of my other favorite party practices is face-painting. I always have face paint on hand, and my little ones just love it when we paint their faces and hands. The great thing about face-paint is that there’s no end to how creative you can get with it, so whatever the party theme, there are lots of cute ways to include face-paint in the festivities.
6. Drive-by Parties — We aren’t doing this one, but the mother of one of Roman’s friends from school organized this for her little guy and I thought it was so cute. Essentially, you send out an invitation to friends & family with your party place and time, and invite them to drive by to honk, wave, and share birthday wishes from a safe social distance.
7. Order In — One of the other ways that we’ve been trying to support our local businesses during the pandemic is by ordering in dinner on occasion. On Roman’s birthday, we’ll order in pizza from his favorite local spot which is something that he always loves.
So those are just a few ways that we will be celebrating next week, friends. I hope that this gives you a little inspiration in case you have a birthday coming up before the lockdown ends. There are plenty of fun and safe ways to celebrate if you’re willing to go a bit outside of the box. I’ll have some photographs from his special day to share with you soon. xo