Tips for hosting a socially distanced party
Tis the season for celebration…and social distancing (ugh). Let’s just call a spade a spade: 2020 has made it increasingly challenging to get together and celebrate those people we love. But there are still ways you can mark those milestone occasions in your life and keep your friends and family as safe as possible!
My baby sister is getting ready to welcome another little girl to our family, so we had to get creative in figuring out a safe way to celebrate! Check out the pics below from our “Baby It’s Cold Outside” themed sprinkle, and then at the bottom we’ll share our best tips for hosting your own socially distanced celebration!
We had the perfect weather for our celebration - it was in the upper 50s so just warm enough to not freeze, but also just cool enough to enjoy the warm and toasty hot chocolate! As you’re planning your own celebrations, here’s my top six tips for keeping them Covid-safe:
Keep it outside.
I know as it gets colder, this gets increasingly tougher for parties…especially if you don’t live in the south or warmer climates, but the fresh air and room to space out is key for keeping everyone safe!
Provide masks.
Even if it’s outdoors, provide everyone a mask for safety - it’s a cheap and easy way to let everyone know your safety standards if you’re handing out masks when they arrive. Bonus points if they match your party’s theme! Check out the links below for some adorable pastel masks I found for our party! It’s super easy to set up a mask and hand sanitizer station conveniently where your guests arrive.
Don’t serve a meal.
It’s definitely risky in groups when everyone is removing their masks to eat a full meal, and it’s even more risky when they are all scooping food from a buffet - so try to eliminate both of those options. Choose a time of day to host your party where the food you would need to provide is minimal. We hosted this shower from 2-4pm because it was between meal times, so we only served dessert and small bites (individually packaged, of course) and it was also the warmest part of the day.
Individually package the food you do serve.
This is much easier to do when you’re serving small bites! We boxed up our cupcakes, served individually wrapped custom sugar cookies and I created customized individual mini-charcuterie boxes that were a hit! That way, if people want to eat the food at the party, they can safely space out and do so…but they can also take it with them if they feel safer eating afterwards. I provided some to-go bags for people to put treats in so they knew they didn’t have to eat it there! For our hot chocolate, we did not allow our guests to self-serve (to keep all the hands off of the dispenser), instead we had a host who was masked and gloved serve drinks in cute customized to-go cups.
Space out your seating and keep the groupings small.
I’ll tell you a little secret, those “bistro” tables you see in my front yard are actually tv trays. I just covered them with a linen and pulled chairs from my back deck and boom…instant bistro seating for intimate tables of 2 that were more than 6 feet apart so everyone felt safe! I kept them significantly spaced away from the food as well, just to be extra safe!
Keep your guest count low.
It probably goes without saying, but you likely shouldn’t invite hundreds of people to your celebration. Keep the numbers smaller, or you can even space them out over several hours as a drop-by party and assign smaller groups certain time windows they can arrive. We also intentionally hosted the party in the front yard as opposed to the back yard and let our guests know in advance they had the option to just drive by if they didn’t feel comfortable getting out and visiting. That way those who are older or high risk feel like they have options as well!
That’s it! We hope this is helpful for you in this season of “unprecedented times” (I swear if I hear that again it will be too soon, ha!). And we hope you keep finding creative ways to safely celebrate those you love because even when the world is turned upside down, our people are still worth celebrating!
Check out the links below for some of the products we used to make this party happen!
Event Design: Sweetwood Creative Co.
Custom Cookies: Bakeologist
Cheers!
(DISCLAIMER: This post contains some affiliate links. This does not affect the price of the products you're purchasing, but I do receive a small kickback for any purchase made. I only link to products that I personally use and highly recommend!)