It’s mind-boggling to think that quarantine has gone on for nearly an entire year, which means almost all of us have had at least one quarantined birthday. Some of us may be able to safely hang out with friends in-person again, while others may still be staying at home and unable to see people outside of immediate family. As everyone’s second quarantine birthdays approach, what can the people at home do to keep their special day inside exciting?

One idea is to use Teleparty, a free downloadable program that allows you to chat with your friends while you stream movies or TV shows on Disney+, Netflix, HBO Max, or any other streaming service.  

The process to get Teleparty running is incredibly simple: install the Teleparty extension on the Chrome Web Store, pin it to your Chrome Toolbar, start up your favorite show, open the “TP” icon on your Toolbar, click “Start Party,” then share the URL with your friends. After that, you’re free to get watching and chatting.

Another idea is to have a virtual version of a typical birthday party. A spa night could be turned into a virtual spa night, where everyone calls each other and does their skincare routine while chatting over the phone. A virtual shopping trip could replace an in-person shopping spree, where you or your parents set your budget to use on any online shopping sites you wish.

While all these virtual festivities are happening, the typical grocery-bought or fancy cake could be replaced by a cake you and your family make yourselves. There’s no shortage of delicious recipes online, including recipes for cakes with three ingredients or less. If you still want to buy a cake, though, try finding a local bakery to safely pick one up from.

Hosting a virtual gaming party is another great idea. Partygoers could make a recreation of the host’s house in “Minecraft” and celebrate, host a murder mystery party on the free “Among Us”, or call over the free app “Houseparty” and play games like “Heads Up”, “Trivia”, “Quick Draw”, or “Chips and Guac”.

An unpopular but great game for virtual gaming parties is Jackbox. Jackbox is a collection of different mini-games that come in seven party pack sets, with each set containing a unique combination of five games. 

The best part about Jackbox is that not everyone has to buy the game to play it. Only one person has to buy a party pack on their gaming console of choice, and by streaming it through their computer on a Google Meet, Zoom call, or even by streaming their TV screen through a phone camera, everyone else can join in simply by entering the on-screen code into the on-screen site.

So, while quarantined birthdays may not be everyone’s favorite, perhaps these ideas will help make them a bit more fun.