It’s been over a year. Your free ticket to missing special occasions has officially expired.
Here are seven ideas in the ‘new normal’ for celebrating your loved ones from a distance.
1. Movie Parties
If you’re online, there’s no need to be alone with your thoughts on a Saturday night. Teleparty is now a thing. It’s an online platform by Netflix that lets you watch a movie with friends (synchronising playbacks and facilitating chats).
2. Drive-by Drop Offs
Has that gift cupboard been neglected these last twelve months? I used to be so good at buying birthday gifts ahead of time (although I usually forgot to take it to the party and drove around with it in my car for a few weeks). Recently, I remembered that parties are cancelled, but birthdays go on. There’s no reason you can’t drive around and drop that gift off anyway (including a nice plate of sweet treats?).
ALSO READ : Oribi Mom: Great memories don’t need a shelf
3. Online Gift Deliveries
Another way to spoil someone is to let someone else deliver the gift for you. Stores in South Africa are suddenly coming to the party with online shopping. They seem to have realised that most of us would rather shop from our sofas like those Americans.
Did you know that certain sites will even deliver personalised new baby gifts directly to the hospital? And it’s not that expensive. No more excuses, aunties and uncles.
4. Zoom… Everything
We’re getting better at these Zoom meetings. Baby showers are now happening online with gift registries and gift deliveries ensuring it’s still a special celebration. Zoom isn’t the only platform, but it’s probably the most popular and easy to use in South Africa at the moment. Have you been to a Zoom wedding or funeral yet?
5. Email
Did you forget about that little envelope function to connect with family and friends? Compose a note to let them know you’re still missing them. You could even attach a few photos or a link to that Netflix party you’re organising.
6. Video Collations
Google loves to tell me about all the cool stuff it creates with my photos, including GIFs. Fortunately, there are thousands of apps now available to create video content. You don’t have to upload it to Tik Tok – just send it over WhatsApp and let someone know you miss them.
All the memories are digital nowadays. Why not use them in a heartwarming motion picture with background music to help them remember that you haven’t forgotten?
7. Voice and Video Notes
Do you have a chat platform that you use daily? Stop texting, start talking. Hearing each other’s voices is a comfort. Even though I always sound so high-pitched on these voice notes, I still send them to remind people I love that I’m still here. I want to take time to connect with them (in my own real voice) until it’s time to reconnect in person.
When the masks come off, we’ll be ready for those lazy braai afternoons with fifty friends parking on our front lawns. Until then, we need to find other ways to remind our friends and family that we still love, miss, and celebrate them.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
