Ideas for Celebrating Socially Distant Birthday Parties

No matter your comfort level, you can still make your child’s birthday feel special with these ideas. Check websites for more information on delivery and services.

Ways to Socially Distance and Party with Guests

Smaller is Better: Due to social distancing regulations, don’t feel you have to invite all of your child’s classmates, teammates and family members. Instead, only invite a few close best friends to celebrate.

Safer Eats: Use prepackaged food and utensils for a grab-and-go food area, such as bags of chips, juice boxes and granola bars. Set out hand sanitizer for kids to use before taking their food. Instead of cake, serve individual cupcakes, brownies, cookies or donuts for each party goer.

In Your Backyard: Have a few friends over to spend a night under the stars in their own separate tents. Roast s’mores over a bonfire, project a movie onto the side of the house, and set up stargazing equipment. Grab a projector and set up individual stations with snacks for a backyard movie night. Invite the kids over before sunset, and have them decorate cardboard boxes to look like cars for a drive-in theatre experience.

Ice Cream Truck: It’s a sweet treat for the whole neighborhood! Rent an ice cream or shaved ice truck, and invite your child’s friends over for a delicious celebration sans cake. Set timed visits to stagger guests.

Get Outdoors: Plan a picnic and a day of outdoor activities at a local park, such as Piedmont Park, Chastain Park, Brook Run Park or Swift-Cantrell Park. If you want to hold the party outdoors  without the hassle of planning, leave it to the experts by holding a party at Treetop Quest, Zoo  Atlanta, Chattahoochee Nature Center or Dunwoody Nature Center.

Game Day: Entertain with socially distance games all the party goers can play. Set up cornhole, croquet or frisbee golf, play Charades with teams, or designate a leader for a game of Simon Says.  Create a scavenger hunt game with items that are easily found outdoors. Outdoor fun can also  include flying kites, or once the sun goes down, play with glow sticks or glow-in-the-dark games.

Paint Party: Set up individual areas with easels, art supplies and paper to encourage party goers to get creative with their own artwork. You can create a still life for everyone to replicate, or have attendees draw prompts out of a hat. Looking to do less work? Party goers can bring their own supplies with art kits, such as Kids Art Box, Creative Girls Club, Orange Art Box or Paletteful Packs. Kits come with their own supplies and themes for an art exploration.

What to Do at Home

Decorations: Go crazy with the birthday decor. Make his room, the house and the yard feel celebratory. Hang banners and streamers, blow balloons, sprinkle confetti all over the place and make signs. Create a photo collage using his age. Get help decorating the yard from Georgia Yard Cards. Hang a poster board or banner on your fence and ask friends and neighbors to sign it with happy birthday wishes.

Activities: Cater to her interests. What does she like to do? If she’s a budding fashionista, hold a runway show. Have a spa day. Play video games or karaoke. Cook together. Hold a dance party. Sit in on a virtual art or coding class. Watch her favorite show.

Royalty for a Day: As much as you can, let him choose how his day will go—what he eats, what he does or what he watches. Host a movie night and let him choose the movie and his snacks. Let him choose what games the family plays and what you order for dinner.

Go Outdoors: Create a backyard obstacle course with the trampoline, cardboard boxes, the swing set and other materials. Have a water balloon or water gun fight. Play pool volleyball. Listen to beach music to transport your family to a beach vacation. Camp out and make s’mores.

Jump for Joy: Rent bounce houses for your backyard for entertainment for the birthday girl and her siblings. Jumptastic is offering free delivery if you meet minimum order requirements for bounce houses, bounce and slide combos, obstacle courses, water slides, inflatable games and more. Jump 2 It has inflatables, games and rides. Astro Jump has water slides, mechanical bulls, rides, foam pits, obstacle courses, bounce houses and more.

Birthday Buddy: Young children will enjoy making birthday memories with Happy the Birthday Bird. Start a new tradition. Anticipation of the special day is half the fun. Think about a certain elf. Happy comes with creative multimedia ways to keep the party going all week long. Read the accompanying book, and follow the steps to activate Happy’s magic and bring him to life. Give Happy a middle and last name when he arrives, play bird-n-seek to find where Happy is hiding each morning. Each day, you can hide small birthday surprises in Happy’s backpack for extra fun.

Buckhead Yard Greetings/Georgia Yard Cards

How to Connect with Family and Friends

Video Connection: Host a Zoom party for her friends, where they can see each other and play easy games, like Charades or Pictionary. Ask friends and family members to create birthday videos that you can show her each hour, or have them collaborate in helping you create a VidHug.

Themed Party: Use Netflix Party to host a watch party for him and his friends. Order craft or
activity kits from subscription box services, such as KiwiCo or Raddish for an experience everyone can do together.

Letters: Bring back the lost form of letter writing! Have friends and family write and decorate letters or ship small presents that she can open on her special day.

Parade: Ask local family members, friends and neighbors to participate in a parade. They can decorate their cars with banners or balloons, and then ask them to drive by your house at a certain time.

Scavenger Hunt: Ask neighbors to hide cards or little gifts outside their houses that he can then search for. If he’s into pirates, hide presents around your house and create a treasure map for his quest.

Driveway Wishes: Leave sidewalk chalk on the driveway so local family, friends and neighbors can drop by to sign and decorate the driveway with birthday wishes, messages and doodles.

Keep the Celebration Safe

When looking at indoor party venues, ask about safety precautions, how often surfaces are sanitized, distancing and mask requirements. Make sure you’re comfortable with their policies.

An “open house” style party is a great way to see friends without overcrowding. Invite guests to choose a time window, or assign specific times for them to stop by.

The great outdoors is the ideal party location, whether it’s your backyard, a park or nature center. You’ll want to have plenty of mosquito repellent and sunscreen on hand; plan a rain date in case of bad weather.

Mask up! Remind your partygoers to bring (and wear) masks. Have extras on hand or buy themed masks for the party.

Singing “Happy Birthday” and blowing out candles is a fun part of the celebration, but for safety reasons, skip the singing and don’t put candles on the cake. Instead, have a separate small cake with candles just for the birthday girl to blow out.

Consider party games that don’t require kids to be in close contact with each other. Classic games like Simon says, bingo and freeze dance are great choices.

Be considerate – if you’re a party guest, be sure to RSVP so the host can keep an accurate count. If your child shows any signs of illness, let the host know they won’t be attending.

Crowd Pleasing Entertainment

Entertain with a wide variety of puppetry styles and exciting stories, either with in-person or online shows, from The Piccadilly Puppets Company.

Get up close and personal with farm and exotic animals with Sam’s Path Mobile Petting Zoo.

Enjoy a visit from a princess, prince, fairy, mermaid, mascot and more from your child’s favorite movie or show with Southern Belle Princess Parties.

Celebrate the amazing world of science, chemistry and physics with Lab Coat Kids.

Rent an outdoor tent or indoor teepee for a fantastic themed slumber party experience or host a delightful tea party from Sweet Dream Sleepovers.

Book a virtual magic show with hilarious and interactive experiences from Jungle Dave. The birthday kid will receive a Magic Wand Kit prior to the party.

Dream Friends Entertainment offers costumed characters and impersonators, including princesses, superheroes, pirates and more, both in-person and virtually.

Watch fantastic bubble creations dance in the wind with Bubble Celebrations.

Atlanta Birthday Party Characters have virtual character visits, princess parties and superhero parties. Characters can also drop by for an in-person visit and fun activities.

Learn more about reptiles and enjoy a petting zoo with My Reptile Guys.

GellyBall of Atlanta uses blasters that shoot soft gel balls for a fun party activity that’s easier and less painful than Nerf guns or paintballing.

Party Animals Entertainment have entertainers including magicians, jugglers, stilt walkers, clowns and more for a circus-themed party. Characters also include princesses, superheroes and more.

Georgetown Cupcake

Party Treats

These dessert places and bakeries are currently offering goodies you can celebrate your child’s special day with. Call or check websites before ordering.

Get Ali’s Cookies from one of their three locations. (And if you want to pass along the celebratory birthday spirit, order a Healthcare Workers Care Package!)

Batter Cookie Dough has classic cookie flavors and seasonal treats.

Through shipping, pickup or delivery, get Baked Wright Bakery’s cookies, brownies, cheesecakes, cupcakes or cakes.

Get a celebration cake, cookies or a cookie decorating box from Baker’s Man for pickup.

Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop in Sandy Springs is available for curbside pickup or delivery through Uber Eats or Postmates for 9″ pies, bite-sized pies or thumbprint cookies.

With custom orders, get CEG Bakery through curbside pickup or delivery. Their menu changes weekly.

Check out Cake Hag‘s weekly menu on Facebook.

Pre-order cakes or cupcakes from Cakes by Darcy for pickup.

Get Endulge Cupcake Boutique for Banana Dream, Chocolate Criss Cross, Salted Caramel, daily specialties and more.

Order Georgetown Cupcake in Buckhead for pickup, delivery or shipping; monthly and seasonal special flavors available, as well as a birthday dozen assortment.

Get cookies, cookie cakes or brownies from Great American Cookies, with delivery through Uber Eats and more than 20 metro Atlanta locations.

Henri’s Bakery & Deli has cakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes and more.

Order a gift box or customize an order of 14 different flavors of cookie sandwiches, cookie cakes or brownies from Jimella’s Bakery.

Kupcakerie in East Point is open for takeout or delivery. Flavors include Churro, Cookies & Dreams, Birthday Cake and more. Or order a Kupcake Kit to decorate yourself.

Lenox Cupcakes is operating through takeout or delivery for their sweets, featuring cupcakes, cakes, cake pops, cookies, bundt cakes and cupcake push pops.

Order MyFairSweets online for custom cakes. If your child is a baker, why not have her bake her own treat with the Kitchen Quarantine Cupcake Mix?

With curbside pickup or delivery, order a cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. Metro Atlanta bakery locations: Alpharetta, Cumming, Kennesaw, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Snellville and Tucker.

Sammy’s Cheezecake in East Point offers cheesecakes and cakes whole or by the slice, with flavors changing daily.

Place an order for Southern Sweets Bakery, which is offering curbside pickup. Get pies, bars, cookies, cakes, cheesecakes and more.

Order birthday cakes or cupcakes from Sugar Benders Bakery, with 30 cake flavors, 18 icing flavors and 12 filling flavors.

Sweet Hut Bakery & Cafe, with locations in Doraville, Duluth, Marietta and Midtown, is available for pickup or delivery for their cakes.

Order Tiff’s Treats for pickup or delivery for cookies, brownies, ice cream and more.