Apart, but together: A Guide to Virtual Events

May 8

Words & photography by Brooke Van Groningen Edited by Candace Rose Rardon

Wow. So much has changed since I wrote my last blog post.

Our world has been turned upside down, but we are proving to ourselves how resilient we really are. It has been such an emotional time for many of us. So I don’t know about you, but I am in the market for some major fun in my life.

With Mother’s Day and Father’s Day approaching, it got me thinking about how I can make these occasions fun and bring joy into our families’ lives while still being apart. To really make the hashtag #apartbuttogether come alive ;)

Instead of sharing a gift guide this year, I thought it would be fun to share some virtual event ideas that I’ve come up with for you to apply to your everyday life or special occasions (don’t worry, my parents are under strict orders not to read this until Mother’s and Father’s Day are over). So feel free to pick something from each category below to plan your next great virtual event!

Print and color your own greeting cards from Rifle Paper Co. here.

1. Create a shared experience.

The hard thing about a virtual gathering is that we lose out on sharing the five senses that we typically have when we are in person. So, to create a shared sensory experience, consider adding one of the following to engage everyone’s five senses in your virtual parties!

a. Create a “Mother’s Day” essential oil diffuser blend inspired by the honoree you are celebrating to smell the same scent while on your call.

b. Drink your honoree’s favorite wine/beer/tea/coffee/sparkling water or walk them through making their favorite cocktail/mocktail on Facetime. Consider having a grocery delivery service deliver the same drink for them or have a secret agent prepare it for the call if they have a roommate or family member who can help you shop and prep!

c. Along the same lines, have a virtual pizza party. Have pizza delivered for your special guest and make or pick up pizza for yourself.

Thanks to Union Loafers in St. Louis, MO for the best wood fired pizza in the Lou.

d. Watch their favorite movie or show via Netflix Party while on Zoom.

e. Find their favorite band on YouTube and go to a “virtual concert” together.

f. Encourage them to cuddle up with a blanket and have a “cozy night in” theme to your Zoom call. It will be so much fun to experience something similar despite being apart.

2. Get creative with funtivities!

I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes it feels like an impossible task to get people to speak up in group calls. All eyes being on the speaker can get overwhelming and you lose out on the physical cues introverts get in person that give them peace to speak up sometimes. So, use the ideas below to help give some structure to your calls and spice things up! Guaranteed laughs, FOR SURE.

a. Create a virtual trivia night with Poll.Ev. Poll.Ev allows you to create your own trivia questions and then people can vote via multiple choice and the score is kept through Poll.Ev. I plan on having a “Dad’s Favorite Things” trivia night for Father’s Day with questions from his favorite movies, sports, food, and travel destinations. But this could be applied for anyone special like your favorite recent grad, Mother’s Day, or for a friend’s birthday.

b. TikTok Virtual Dance Party. Let’s be real. Even though many of us aren’t in the target age range for TikTok, we are intrigued. So consider a TikTok Dance Party. I did one with my college friends a few weeks ago (thanks Chris for this awesome Danc-E-genda) and it was just so much fun to dance the night away and learn these relatively easy, short dances to bring some joy to our lives. And laugh with one another at our efforts, of course. Haha.

c. Work out together! Now, this might get a lot of eye rolls, just like a family 5K on Thanksgiving gets, but hey, for some families, this is their ideal day! Choose the same yoga video and share your screen while on Zoom or sign up for Peloton’s free three-month trial and do a cardio video.

My favorite online yoga is Caroline Williams Yoga and Madewell Center for Wholeness’s Zoom classes.

d. Walk it out. Take each other on a walk via FaceTime and show each other what your world looks like. Or, if you are lucky enough to live near your family, take a social distancing walk if the weather is right. Your fit-bit will love you.

e. Throw a costume party. I did this with my high school girlfriends after the suggestion of my friend, Roni. I put on bunny ears for the call but let me tell you my shock when I logged on. The amount of joy seeing what everyone chose to dress up as was incredible. More laughs guaranteed. I was quite ashamed of my low-bar effort after seeing Roni had drew on a beard to go with her pirate costume. This one was really fun, but everyone should be encouraged to only dress up with things you already have in your house.

f. Take advantage of virtual backgrounds on Zoom and give your call a theme. Whether it be a tea party, golf course, beach vacation, or your honoree’s favorite movie, this will create a common bond between each person on the call and it’s fun to see what everyone chooses.

g. If you have the luxury of living near your honoree, consider putting together a celebratory car parade. It’s amazing to see what decorating the outsides of your cars and creating large posters can do to make someone feel special.

3. Plan what you can control...and send invites!

It can be hard to pick a time when our entire days are wide-open right now, so I suggest choosing a time ahead of your virtual event and sending out a virtual invitation. We all don’t have the ability to plan too far in advance anymore for physical events or trips like we are used to, so why not make plans and schedule what you can control!

I’m currently loving how Paperless Post has a whole category dedicated to virtual events now & how We Gotchu Cards allows you to send virtual cards.

I hope you all have a blast planning a great virtual party and I’d love to hear what you did in the comments. I promise, it is SO nice to have something to look forward to & to get those creative juices flowing. For more ideas, I also love this spreadsheet of ideas from one of my favorite email newsletters, Girls Night In.

Have fun with it!!!

Brooke