This holiday season is certainly going to be different from other years in the past. There won’t be any sitting on Santa’s lap this year. Restaurants and places of worship won’t be at full capacity. And the parties and family get-togethers will have “six-feet apart” rules, if they happen at all.
The 2020 holiday season will be different, just like most of the year has been. So what is a parent (and baby) to do in order to make it as special as the ones you remember. Could it be even better?
Here are some party ideas to help lighten up the holidays, have fun, and make memories all while reducing the risk of spreading dangerous germs and practicing safe distancing.
Break It Up!
If you and your family can avoid large gatherings, do it. That could also mean not inviting your coworkers or even your entire family over for a party. Instead, you could break up your party of 10 or more into several smaller parties–either in the same day or on different days. That way you can still enjoy the company of your peeps, but perhaps more personally, while keeping the risk of spreading dangerous germs lower than if you threw one big party.
Drive-Thru
I’m not talking about fast food here. Rather, you can invite your guests to drive through a designated area while you hand out goodies, gifts or grab bags. For instance, during Halloween, UMC invited the community to a drive-thru at the Convention Center as they offered treats, information and a community of support. UMC’s Lions Burn Center will host child burn survivors with something similar in the winter.
Get Virtual
Google Meet and Zoom calls don’t have to be relegated to work and school; they can be used to actually do things with family and friends. The idea is to tie in as many physical objects you can each share so the cohesiveness of a group is still present in the virtual realm. How?
For example, a grandparent out of state or who can’t visit this year may want to build a toy set with their grandchild. In this case, the grandparent would send a “kit” of building blocks to their grandchild. Once their grandchild receives it, they can both get on a virtual call with each other, go step by step, and create a real, physical memory with each other–albeit virtual. You can even get creative and have a certain costume theme for everyone who participates on the call.
Nothing Like the Great Outdoors
Living in Las Vegas means good weather most of the year and tons of outdoors activities to do with your family. During the holiday season, it’s not uncommon to see Thanksgiving temperatures in the 60s -“perfect” outdoor weather. With the many parks around the valley, you can easily host a small outdoor gathering in your neighborhood park, go on a hike
in the Spring or Sunrise Mountains, fish at Lake Mead, chill at Sunset Park, the possibilities are endless. I like the outdoors idea, not only because I love nature and fresh air, but being outdoors is a great way to social distance. No one person or party is all that close to the other and you can move about as you need to in order to avoid close contact.
No Guests Allowed
As the pandemic has taught (even forced) many families to reconnect with each other, you may feel like keeping the celebrations to just you and your immediate household.
If this is the case, you can still get creative and spruce things up a bit with a few games to play, puzzles to piece together or movies to binge watch. Sky’s the limit!
Happy Holidays
No matter your preference in gathering, be safe, stay healthy, and call me if you have any cleaning and disinfecting needs.
From all of us at Germz Be Gone, Happy Holidays!
Brought to you by
Lyndon Conaway,
Germz Be Gone