You’ve seen the cars parading down your street; everyone is finding ways to keep calm and carry on — especially when it comes time to celebrate a birthday!
At-home parties are back BIG time with neighbors sneaking over to stick a yard sign in your front lawn and friends and family dropping gifts at the end of driveways. So let’s join the crowd (and the fun!)
Here are some of the best ways to brighten up your child’s birthday at home, plus, check out what local venues are doing to add that extra sparkle to your birthday celebrations!
10 Ways to Make Your Kids’ Birthday Awesome
1) DECORATE THE HOUSE — A LOT!
Order an abundance of decorative goodies online from places including givejoy.partydash.com that give back to families affected by COVID-19. Your order comes with the party theme you choose along with a happy birthday banner, cake or cupcakes, plates, cups napkins, straws and more, plus you’ll help a family in need. Bonus!
2) SKYPE OR ZOOM WITH FAMILY
“Invite” friends and family over for a Zoom or Skype and encourage them to mail gifts for the birthday kid in advance. The birthday star will love chatting with their family and friends while opening up their gifts!
3) DRIVE-BY PARTY PARADE
Ask friends and family to do a drive-by parade – encourage them to wear masks – and decorate their vehicles like crazy! Honk horns, throw candy, go wild — it is a party, so have fun with it!
4) ORGANIZE A NEIGHBORHOOD SCAVENGER HUNT
Ask neighbors to place items such as stuffed animals, drawings or something your kid loves in their windows and head out on your search! Your birthday kid will have a blast discovering what’s in-store for them at the end of the hunt – perhaps a birthday present.
5) HOST A NETFLIX PARTY WITH FRIENDS
Older kids will love this — they can literally watch a movie with their friends while using the Netflix Party chat. Netflix Party synchronizes video playback and adds group chat to the movie of their choice so they can see what part their friends like best. Don’t forget the popcorn and candy!
6) LET THE PARTY KID CHOOSE THE MENU
Lasagna with a side of gummy worms? Pizza with extra pepperoni and a side of fries? Let them make the menu and run the show – they will love it and dig right in.
7) ORDER FROM YOUR LOCAL BAKERY
Supporting local businesses is so important right now – order their favorite dessert from your neighborhood bakery and have it delivered to your doorstep. Click here for the best bakeries to order your cake!
8) SURPRISE WITH SIGNS
Ring up the neighborhood, family and friends, and have them sneak by without the birthday kid knowing and “Sign” the yard! Just wait until you see the smile on your birthday kid’s face when he peeks out the window for a special birthday surprise! Local companies are making personalized signs right now. Check out our roundup below!
9) HAVE A “YES” DAY
Have your little one be royalty for the day and let them choose what they do. Can I have a dance party? Yes! Can we play “The Floor is Lava?” Yes! Can I paint the kitchen walls … OK not that far but you get the point.
10) REQUEST A “CARD SHOWER”
This is perfect for the little ones who just learned to read! Have everyone send a card for their birthday, and read away. Afterward you can search for gifts together online.
It’s a Sign!
Watch your birthday star grin ear-to-ear when he sees your yard decorated just for him. This may be the most memorable birthday yet!
BANACOM SIGNS; banacomsigns.com
Plastic signs, flags, feather banners and more.
CARD MY YARD; cardmyyard.com/cincinnati
Choose fonts, graphics and more to personalize for your birthday kid.
ETSY; etsy.com
Various birthday signs for your yard from different artists.
MINUTEMAN PRESS; cincinnatiminutemanpress.com
Customizable, waterproof, heavy-duty yard signs.
SIGNS BY TOMORROW; signsbytomorrow.com/cincinnatinorth
Vinyl banners, yard signs and more.
SIGN GYPSIES; signgypsies.com
In Mason and Hebron, covering Florence, Burlington, Deerfield, Fort Thomas, Loveland and more. Head to the website for assorted pricing.
Virtual Birthdays
Your favorite venues are offering virtual party fun to help you create lasting birthday memories.
ABRAKADOODLE ART CLASSES AND KITS; abrakadoodle.com/programs
Doodle Kits with specialty supplies, written instructions, and video instructions included. Contact canderson@abrakdoodle.com to order your Doodle Kits, or sign your little artist up for an online class surprise. This month, it’s Off the Wall! for their Twoosy Doodlers, Mini Doodlers and Doodlers – you will create interesting sculptures and hanging kinetic art – specialty materials provided. Register early to ensure you receive your materials. Head to their website for more information.
ARWORKSHOP CINCINNATI; facebook.com/ARWorkshopCincinnati
DIY Party kits are a great party activity for kids. ARWorkshop Cincinnati is now offering DIY Kit delivery kits for pickup. They are easy to use for kids, and to make it more exciting, Zoom your friends using your favorite virtual platform and get crafty together. Kits include stencils, wood, a PrimARy Paint Essentials Kit, brushes and instructions. You even have the option to add extra tools and paint sets.
THE BASH; thebash.com/kids-party-entertainment/cincinnati-oh
Looking for a character artist, magician, DJ or puppeteer? This website offers local entertainers that come to you, and now, many of them are offering virtual parties! Whatever it is your kid chose to do for their big day, you can find it and book it all online for a fun Zoom extravaganza.
THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF INDIANAPOLIS; facebook.com/childrensmuseum
Enjoy your favorite home-away-from-home museum at your party without having to leave the house. Have The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis provide your birthday child a friendly, “Hello!” At the beginning of each month, the museum celebrates birthdays, so follow The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis on Facebook for the next summer celebration and get a shout out for your child.
CINCINNATI ZOO’S “ZOOm” CALLS; bit.ly/2zQN630
The zoo will bring an animal to your home with their all-new personalized “ZOOm” calls. They are a great (however costly!) way to send your party kid a unique and personalized birthday message while supporting the zoo. Fifteen-minute calls range from $100 for a goat; $250 for a porcupine, giraffe, flamingo, wallaby, or one of the birds from the Ameritas Wings of Wonder Bird Encounter; $500 for a cheetah or red panda; and a whopping $750 for Fiona herself! The zoo also offers a Cameo video option – a special personalized video for someone you love from zoo director Thane Maynard, Kris the cheetah or even Fiona the hippo. These videos makes a great gift for little animal-lovers. Visit Cameo.com for more information.
PARTY PRINCESS PRODUCTIONS; cincinnati.partyprincessproductions.com
Your little princess can party with her favorite princess, virtually! Book a chat with Miona, Anna and Elsa, Jasmine, Arial and tons more! Princess Productions has a wide variety of superheroes and favorite characters that will chat with your kids and make their day magical with games, story times and more.
SNAPOLOGY OF WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP; snapology.com/location/westchestertwp
Have a little builder? They can have a Lego building blast with Snapology during a fun, engaging Zoom party! Invite their builder buddies during their interactive party. They not only offer virtual birthday parties, they have virtual play dates and classes, too. Your group will join via Zoom conferencing, and a Snapology instructor will send instructions on how to access the play date or party to everyone who has enrolled; and then facilitate the activity with the group of the birthday kids’ friends. Each kid will need a Small Bin of Lego Bricks (cost $10 per child, enrollment minimum, six kids).
Is your business offering Virtual Birthdays? We want to know about it! Please email Editor Amanda Hayward at amandahayward@daycommedia.com with your news.