7 Tips for Hosting a Party During Covid
My daughter turned one at the end of September and we wanted to find a safe but still festive way to celebrate her first birthday. I spent lots of time thinking and planning to make an enjoyable party where everyone wouldn’t have to worry about exposing themselves to people outside of their small Covid circles. Can’t say this is ever something I thought I’d be learning from hosting a party… but here are the 7 tips I have for hosting a party during a pandemic.
1. Keep the Guest List Small
It is always difficult to curate a guest list, making sure that you aren’t leaving out anyone that would be terribly offended. With Covid, that guest lists gets even shorter. We kept our party to just family and very close friends but we still had almost 40 people! Depending on where you live there may be restrictions for how many people you can legally invite at this time. Thankfully for us, 100 people were allowed outside so we were well under the cap.
2. Have Your Festivities Outside
We’ve all learned a lot about germs in the last few months and being outside is definitely preferred for less virus spreading. Having your party outside leads to many complications. I was prepared for rain at the end of September but I wasn’t prepared for winter! It was only in the high 50s and it was a bit chilly and windy for an outdoor party. So prepare for any kind of weather if you aren’t planning to bring guests inside.
3. Provide Your Own Masks
In order to keep the spread down, I was hoping that people would wear masks even though we were outside. I made 40+ llama masks to keep on theme and make everyone feel festive. Masks = new party hats? If you want people to wear them, you’ve got to provide them. We also found that by setting the example of wearing them ourselves people were more likely to follow suit.
4. Do Some Things Yourself
In the age of covid I think we’re all trying to save some $$ and the best way to save money on a party is to DIY. I ended up cooking all the food and making my daughter’s smash cake. Had this not been a covid party there would have been many more guests and I would have needed to cater. Why only make some things? Don’t make your own banner. I spent hours making a banner which looked great but maybe not great enough for the time spent.
5. Keep Shared Spaces Clean
Keeping everyone outside kept most of my house covid-free. However, you can’t place the bathroom off limits to your guests. In order to keep everyone safe I used disposable paper towels instead of a shared hand towel and I kindly requested that everyone wipe down shared surfaces with a disinfectant wipe.
6. Make Individual Food When You Can
The idea of shared utensils gave me a slight heart attack. When guests served themselves dinner, I strategically placed hand disinfectant at the start of the buffet line in hopes that everyone would de-germ before sharing serving spoons. For dessert, I purposely served cupcakes and cookies and they can easily be grabbed without a shared utensil and without touching other people’s future desserts.
7. Inform Your Invitees
It’s hard to know what party or event is safe to attend these days. I decided to be upfront with my invitees and inform them on the invitations that masks would be provided and the guest list was short. I personally connected with my relatives that have pre-existing health conditions to make sure they were comfortable with the steps I was taking to keep everyone safe.
The most important part of any part is to have a fun, memorable time and with covid we should update that to a fun, memorable and SAFE time.
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