Orange You Bold: Celebrations during the pandemic

Published 12:15 am Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Tricia Stroud
OrangeYouBold

Hello beautiful people. I typically write to you about projects I am creating, but this week I wanted to talk about my experience celebrating a milestone for my youngest daughter.  We all have been impacted in some way by the pandemic. Many people have had to postpone, cancel or change their plans during this time.

My youngest daughter turned 13 on Saturday. How often does your 13th birthday fall on a Saturday? It was a big deal. We decided early on that having a party was not something we wanted to tackle. However, we wanted to celebrate her.  She has an underlying condition and we are trying to keep her exposure to others down. Obviously, we have seen many people have a drive thru party. The hiccup for us is that we live on a dead-end street.

What do we do we now in this unpredictable southeast Texas climate?  We decided to take our party to the cross street at the end of our road. This is not the conventional type of party, but it will work. We did it and it was wonderful. It was the next best thing to being all together.

Several friends lined up and drove by and blew and waved and wished her a happy birthday. She was handed sanitized gifts from the cars that passed, and she handed out sanitized thank you cards. I promise you it put a huge smile on her face.

We celebrated later on our porch and in the yard spread out with a few friends. DIY decorations were present and pre-packaged sanitized snacks.

We may not know how to navigate everything going on in our current situation, but let’s be mindful and cautious. You don’t need to be fearful, but caution is a great thing. You have to make things work for you and what is best for your family.

If you have a birthday coming up, the birthday parade is a great alternative.  This may be a new thing. Imagine how many parties you can make if they were all drive thru parties. We all have those weekends when we have multiple parties to attend. I am attaching a photograph of my youngest daughter and the DIY balloon garland we put together. We are not balloon professionals, but we made it work.

Share your party alternatives with me at orangeyoubold@gmail.com. Follow me @OrangeYouBold on Instagram. Step outside the box and try something new. Now is the time. Orangeyoubold…YES I AM.