How to Throw A Lit Virtual Party
It's been a couple of months, and the entire world has been at a halt due to this pesky Covid-19 virus. I was hoping that our compliance with stay-home orders, healthy lifestyle changes, and a little self-control would flatten the curve in time for my 34th birthday, which was May 12th. That hope faded in mid-April, so I had to come up with something that would give me the satisfaction of celebrating but at a safe distance from all my beautiful friends. I decided to have a virtual party, much like a lot of people are doing. If you know me, then you know I'm all about fun and games, so here are a few things I did that you may want to consider when planning your virtual party. These may have your friends crowning you the Queen or King of the LIT-est virtual party they every logged onto.
Picking the perfect video conference platform
Since so many have been working from home, group conference videos are now the new wave. Don't be fooled by the professional look of some of the interfaces. These same work-based apps can be used for fun! I decided to go with Zoom for my Virtual Birthday Party. You can have up to 100 people on a video call, and as of late, the app has allowed you to extend your time for free. I'm not sure how long that will last, but it does not hurt to try. Here are a few other video conferencing apps to try.
Group Facetime (Apple Users)
Hire a Virtual Bartender
When planning my party, I wanted to keep it as real life as possible. My friends know I am always down for a tasty drink, so I phoned up one of my favorite DC bartender friends, Melody Woolbright, and asked her would she be my virtual bartender. You're probably wondering how this would work if everyone is in their own home. Talking with Mel, she came up with a list of easy-to-make cocktails with ingredients you'd find right in your fridge or with a simple trip to the grocery store. Out of her amazing list I picked 3 drinks that had one of the 3 main ingredients, Whiskey, Vodka or Tequila. I then made a drink menu with ingredients listed below the drink name in my trusty Canva app, of course letting the non-drinkers or wine connoisseurs know that it was perfectly ok to have their own choice of beverage. During the party, to make sure my lovely bartender had the floor, I used the "Spotlight" feature on Zoom, which brings a person's frame forward on the main screen until the feature is turned off. A tip would be to mute all of your other guests so everyone can hear. If they have any questions, they can type it in the chatroom section of the virtual call.
Interactive games
If you want to incorporate games into your virtual party, you're in luck! The House Party app and Facebook Rooms have built-in interactive games that you can play while on your video call. With using Zoom, I had to get a bit more creative. I knew that I wanted my guest to split into teams, so I created two different virtual background wallpaper images, Lemons and Peaches. This was a fun way to keep tabs on who was on what side. Because the app I used for my party has a screen sharing feature, I used my PC's painting app to play Pictionary. By sharing my screen, the party people guessed their lives away at my failed attempt to draw Idris Elba. Charades is another fun game to play. Download the Charades (Adult Charades is way better) app on another device; you can have your guest making fools of themselves on camera while trying to figure out what word is sitting on your head. The person guessing the object has to keep their eyes closed, of course. A great way to keep score is just letting one team go for a full round while muting the opposing team. Whoever was more successful at helping you guess the right answer wins!
It may seem like a lot of info to text or email out all at once. People may get confused, and retyping everything can be a pain. I made my own life easier by creating a Dropbox folder, which contained the pdf format of the Drink menu & list, the virtual background images for the teams, and one for the drink mixing portion. You can also include an invitation giving specifics that will wrap all the information needed in one place. I hope this sparks so super fun and creative ideas. If you have a birthday during these stressful times, just remember it’s the people who celebrate with you that make it all worth while.
