Isolation Imagination: Walking in a winter wonderland (while wearing a mask and social distancing)
These times are…wait for it… unprecedented. And they are changing how we are living our lives, how we are celebrating our holidays, and how we are being festive. Winter festivities are no exception. Where I live, the cold and dreary weather is making it even harder to see one another comfortably and safely. So, here are some festive winter fun ideas for celebrating winter holidays and the winter season safely during the pandemic.
Cookie Swap, or Virtual Recipe Swap
In my family, we have a Christmas cookie weekend every year - the extended family gets together and bakes all weekend long! It is one of my absolute favorite holiday traditions, partly because it results in delicious cookies, and partly because it means extended quality time with my extended family, reminiscing about the recipes of our families. This year, we are going to have to make cookies in our own homes. BUT that doesn’t mean we don’t get to share! After making our traditional cookies with masks and love, we will be making small batches for one another, so that we still have all the different cookies in our gift tins that would usually be there!
If you want to stay completely virtual without the in-person swap, you could make this a cookie recipe swap over email instead!
Virtual Yankee Swap
The classically New England Yankee Swap, but virtual! How does that work? Everyone participating buys a gift, they take a picture of the gift and send it to a host. Then they join a virtual party room with their wrapped gift. People are randomly assigned numbers. #1 gets to select a gift from the picture of all possible gifts that the host shares. The person who is giving that gift opens the gift for them and shows it to everyone. From there, follow the variation of rules that you prefer. Make sure to keep a running list of who has what gift; if you’re super tech savvy maybe even put the gift picture or label by different people’s faces so everyone remembers. By the end of the swap, everyone should have a gift and know to whom they are sending it or delivering it!
Virtual Gingerbread Contest
Set some ground rules (or don’t), set a date to have the gingerbread finished, and get decorating! Have one person collect pictures of everyone’s gingerbread masterpieces, put them in one place, and then collect the votes of who decorated the best!
Check out drive-in light shows or just neighborhood lights
Many pop-up light shows are appearing around the US (at least where I live), and I plan on visiting a few if I can! Something fun to see and do that allows us to remain in the safety of our cars. Maybe you can even go all out on your own outdoor decorations this year, to make sure everyone that passes your house gets a little extra smile!
Make Your Own Ornaments or Dreidels
This is self explanatory; we have more time (maybe?) so we can make a few extra crafts this year to decorate for the season!
