How To Bond With Loved Ones Over Video Calls While You Are Staying Away

Celebrating can feel weird during a time like this. What is there to celebrate? How do we even party when we cannot mix multiple households and could risk contracting a deadly disease? In fact, there actually are safe ways to celebrate during the pandemic, and you do indeed deserve to celebrate still!

Life may feel at a standstill, but it has not stopped. Cherish the major moments that come up and remember to take the time to talk and be with family and friends even if that means virtually! 

There will be so much laughter, there is no fear for any awkward Zoom silences. No matter if you are hosting an office party or just a weekly family get-together, create this general happy hour gift basket to treat each of your guests to something special. Prepare your guests for a memorable evening!

Follow these steps to host a happy hour everyone will want to participate in.

1. Wine. Or Beer. Or Soda.

First off, customize your baskets towards each party guest, so they are drinking something they would've chosen if they were physically at a party with options for drinks. Check out these fun labels from Chaos Wine for a personalized touch and a laugh. Refreshment is a necessity for a happy hour. Giving the guests something they would really drink is thoughtful, and they will thank you for that. 

2. Add a drink marker

Since everyone is going to be drinking from the comfort of their own home, it will be hard to get your drink confused with your friends. But to make life feel a bit more normal, buy a pack of fun drink markers and drop one in each of the bags. Your guests will feel like they really are at happy hour, all thanks to you. You can find the drinking buddies above at Amazon. 

3. Pair the wine with cheese

Next, add cheese or an app to pair with the wine or beer. If you're worried about dietary restrictions a fancy cracker is always a good alternative.

4. Write a card

A card, personalized or a thank you, whatever the celebration may be for, you can keep it short and sweet as just a short hello! It is odd to receive a gift without a card with a note from who it is from even in this case when it may be obvious. 

5. Create a game and include any pieces if needed

Games are great because they work over zoom and get people talking. This is easy to stick in the gift bag as well. You could give each guest a deck of cards or download a virtual card or game-playing app. 

One idea for a game is beforehand to have each person attending the virtual happy hour submit one fact or detail about themselves for everyone else to guess who this information belongs to out of all the guests. As the host, you will know all the answers and organize the game. Read aloud each blurb that was submitted and give time for each player to guess and write down who they think wrote the answer.

After all, submissions were read and guessed go through the answers and have each person tally up if they got it right. This makes for some great stories and a chance to learn more about who you are having happy hour with, even people you thought you may have known everything about! 

Another idea is a scavenger hunt. Make up a list of items around the household and whoever finds the item and brings it back to the screen first wins that point. 

6. Provide the Tunes

Music is a must at any kind of party. Although it may be a little hard to make that work over zoom, provide it anyway so guests can listen before while getting ready, waiting for others to join, or to jam out to after to remember how fun the night was.

You can create a playlist on Spotify or iTunes, or find a station on Pandora to your liking. If you want to go one step further, buy a packet of blank CDs, and burn a party album to stick in each guest's bag. 

7. Deliver the Happy Hour Baskets

Now that your happy hour gift bag is ready, deliver each basket to homes, the office, or a central meeting point where it's convenient to drop it off. If you plan on doing this with friends in other states make sure you plan in advance, so you can send the basket contents through the mail. 

TIP! It helps to create a spreadsheet or table with each name of who is coming, what drink option they are receiving, their address, and a given number (which will be needed in the later steps when creating a route to drop off the baskets). This will prevent any mistakes when giving out the happy hour bags and will make it easier to organize how you will deliver them. 

Use a platform such as Google Maps, where you can enter every person's address or drop-off point, and it will automatically generate a route that is the fastest and most convenient. Look at the spreadsheet you have created and give each person a new number based on the route of the map.

Use a sticky note to label with the corresponding number, so you know which person is getting what. Organize the bags according to the drop-off route, the first drop-off bag at the front of the car or wherever you will grab the bags, and the last guest towards the back. 

8. Create a Party Background

Either browse the backgrounds provided by Zoom or Skype or make your own by setting up the place behind your computer. If you are celebrating a birthday, shower, or major event this can make the party feel a little more real and the guest of honor will feel extra special.

You can browse the web here for free stock photos of nature to set as your own Zoom background if their options were not up to your standards. You can also add a personal photo which creates good fun. Streamers or some balloons can be a simple and cute backdrop. 

9. Set Up a Meeting Link

Use Zoom or Google Meet to set up an account and create a meeting link to send to all of your guests the day prior. A couple of hours before your happy hour starts, resend out the link so all the guests can easily find it and join on time. 

10. Pour up the drinks and enjoy your night! 

The last step: Pour your desired beverage in a cute glass, put on your given wine marker, cut the cheese, and pull out the game because a wild virtual night is about to go down!

Your guests will be so happy with the happy hour gift bags, and you are bound to have a great evening. Remember to stay in touch with those important to you during this very isolated time. Even getting together in front of a computer screen can create quality time and lifelong memories.