Lockdown Birthdays - 5 ways to make them special!

It’s looking like everyone is going to experience a lockdown birthday! I absolutely love birthdays, my own as well as other peoples’, and I always try and make sure everyone I know feels special on their birthday, but lockdown has thrown a spanner in the works and made that a bit more difficult. In our household of four people, 3 out of 4 of our lockdown birthdays were ‘special’ birthdays (Dad managed to sneak his special birthday in at the beginning of 2020 but still had a lockdown birthday at the beginning of this year). 

We didn’t want these ‘special’ birthdays to be remembered for the wrong reasons, like not being able to celebrate with family and friends so it was an operation to make sure that we would remember these birthdays for the right reasons, and maybe feel even more special than we would have done in normal circumstances! 

That’s why I’ve made a list of 5 things we did to make our birthdays special in a lockdown:

1. Food & Drink

This is an important one and always works for everyone. On all of our birthdays, we made sure we chose our favourite meal to have on our birthday, whether that be a takeaway or a homecooked meal! For my birthday, we had a lovely buffet with the M&S Christmas buffet food which we had never actually tried before, but I love the idea of having a bit of everything so that was perfect for me. My Dad and I made my Mum a surprise homemade afternoon tea to celebrate her 50th, Cam chose to have a takeaway Chinese for his 18th birthday tea, and Dad chose to have a homecooked pie, chips and peas for his. For myself and Mum’s birthday especially, we loved making cocktails with our new cocktail shaker - it made the day feel a bit more special and gave us a bit more of a ‘going out’ feeling instead of drinking our usual gins that we would have on a weekend. Choosing your favourite meal or food on your day is simple but makes a huge difference, making it feel more special - a bit like going out for a meal and choosing where you’d like to go.

2. Video

To surprise a friend or family member for their birthday (or even if they need cheering up, or for a different occasion), you could create a video compilation of all their favourite people giving their own personal message. For Cameron’s 18th birthday back in May, my parents and I contacted all our friends and family as well as Cam’s friends from school, college and his swimming club and they all sent us a quick birthday message for him. I then put them all together in a video and popped a bit of music on top and it was such a special surprise, including all the people he would have celebrated the special birthday with during normal circumstances.

3. Zoom / FaceTime calls

I’m sure we have all taken part in numerous Zoom calls and quizzes with family and friends during the past year and they might be starting to get a bit tedious, but the truth is, they’re the next best thing for a lockdown birthday. I’m so lucky because I have the best friends ever, and they surprised me with a birthday quiz, and we had a catchup and drinks to celebrate my special birthday. We had a call with my family too on both Cam's and my birthday, calls with family friends for Cam’s, my Mum had a call with her friends on her birthday and on my Dad’s we called my brother where we played a game with him online. They’re the best way to feel like you’re celebrating with all your favourite people and your day absolutely flies by once you’ve had a couple of calls with friends or family, and we know time flies when you’re having fun! They’re a great way to celebrate with your loved ones.

4. Decorations

This might not be one for everyone, but for us (especially for special birthdays), decorating the living room/kitchen/whole house is a great way to make the day feel different and more special than any other. For a ‘regular’ birthday, we have a stash of birthday banners that we normally do put up around the house for a birthday, but for special birthdays, especially special birthdays in lockdown, we went all out and bought number banners, balloons, cakes and wrapping paper to match and made everything look and feel extra special. It meant that we all felt like we were celebrating and it was a lot of fun to do too too (apart from the taking them down - that’s the sad part).

5. Getting dressed up

Another way to feel special on your birthday (or someone else’s birthday) is to make a bit more of an effort. Let’s face it, who remembers the last time they wore jeans? Or makeup? Or curled their hair? Or anything remotely like dressing up for a proper day or evening out of the house?!?! I’ve done this for all the birthdays in our household, and then also for a few family or friends’ birthday zoom calls. It made me feel a bit more like celebrating when I had dressed up for the occasion and also contributed to making it feel less of a lockdown birthday and more just like a home celebration. Of course, I’m not saying you should do this, but it’s just another idea of a way to feel more special and make the day feel different.

I’d like to hope that no-one has to experience a second lockdown birthday, but it is looking like that may be the case for some of us (if not all of us but let’s not dwell on that one). I do hope that these ideas give you some ways to celebrate birthdays in lockdown with style and that they can be made as special as possible in these circumstances.

Thanks for reading! Keep smiling and have a great day! Liv xxx