The Show must go on – how to celebrate in spite of Covid19
My sister’s 40th birthday just happened to fall in 2020! We thought – wow – 2020 and Lauren will be 40! How fitting. My brother-in-law and I started planning the festivities last year! We wanted to make it epic! My baby sister is EVERYTHING to me and is such a low key person. Never needs or wants a lot of fanfare or attention and we both felt it was necessary and overdue. We decided to go all out and in November 2019 sent out a save the date for 7/18/20 for an old skool birthday party featuring everything 80’s and 90’s followed by a 5 day 4 night trip to the Bahamas! She’d flip!
The response from family and friends was amazing! Everyone was in and deposits were being made. I began contacting hotels and restaurants to find the perfect location and had a block of rooms held for our guests. We rolled into 2020 with a ton of anticipation coupled with giggles and excitement over the huge secret surprise we were keeping safe. Then came March 2020!
We didn’t panic at first – we figured oh this will pass right? I mean, I think we all thought Covid19 was going to be over soon. As the weeks passed I realized our out of town folks were most likely not going to be able to travel and we also began to realize the Bahamas get-away was most likely not going to happen. We held the party date thinking, maybe, just maybe we can make this week. Our guest list had dwindled naturally with the out of town guest not attending so we were meeting the 25 or less guest list required for most establishments. I updated the evite and asked for patience as we worked through the details. I decided to give myself until June to make the hard and final decision.
My brother-in-law and I both just did not want to let it all slip away. I began to brainstorm about ways to keep it Covid-safe and Covid-friendly while still highlighting such a special day in her life. How could we do this without a huge crowd of folks even if it was less than 25 attendees. Our families were still sheltering in place ourselves and the thought of being “out” and with others was a bit daunting from our view too. Something in me just said stop and think this through. I woke up one morning and thought – we could do an open house! Set up a short window of time for people to drop in and wish the birthday girl well! I reached out to a local restaurant that had a screened in patio so that we could be safely outdoors. They were all in and offered servers for the food and drinks vs. the original fun buffet of her favorites we had been planning. Next came the decorations and color scheme! I decided on rose gold and instead of serving a cake I decided to do a cookie table. The cookies were a huge hit – an array of cake images, the #40, candles etc. and all individually wrapped in cello bags to stay on top of our germ free zones! We also had a feature table of birthday masks and mini hand sanitizers for each guest. Masks were mandatory and spreading out the arrival time kept the crowd flowing. There was never a huge crowd of people which allowed my sister the opportunity to spend quality time with her guests. We even had a photographer on site to capture these precious moments. Celebrating your 40th birthday during the year of 2020 is already something you know will be an adjustment if given the opportunity to celebrate at all but I am confident this is a day she will never forget! When we look back at pictures and try to explain why we all had on masks you will still be able to see the sparkle in everyone’s eyes and the grins behind the masks. An amazing time was had by all! So thankful we did not give in and let covid19 win!
PS – to make sure she felt special on her actual day – we planned a huge birthday shout out with Card My Yard! She awoke to a birthday message across her entire lawn. I love this company. It gives you the option to celebrate any occasion regardless of Covid19! Yay!