Let the party continue: How people are finding creative ways to celebrate their birthdays while social distancing
People around the country are finding fun, clever and creative ways to still celebrate birthdays while social distancing practices are still in place.
Video Transcript
- Out of nowhere, I heard a tuba, like a real tuba. And I went, something is up, and that's when I kind of started piecing things together. I knew music was going to be involved.
SHANNON DOYLE-BELL: Before coronavirus took over our lives, our plans for Bryson's birthday were to gather some friends and go to either, like, a rock and jump trampoline place.
- My husband and I decided we were going to kidnap a couple of his friends and we were going to take them to iFLY.
- What did I think was going to happen for my 40th birthday? I thought nothing.
MICHELLE GAINEY: I was hired by Jessie's friend Christian Howell. They were planning a girl's trip to New Orleans to celebrate. Because of the pandemic, they could no longer travel.
- I had very low expectations, but I was OK. I was like, I can just spend it with my daughters.
MICHELLE GAINEY: And so Christian reached out to me to see if I could bring a little bit of New Orleans to Jessie's doorstep.
SHANNON DOYLE-BELL: One of my friends actually had-- her daughter went to a Zoom party and had some ideas for us, so we started making the plan. We wanted to do Zoom because we wanted to include grandparents who were in Michigan. We wanted everybody to be able to come together.
- Our town decided that what they were going to do was become a lot of the kids were having birthdays and they weren't able to celebrate their birthdays, they put on Facebook that if anyone wanted to do a birthday parade with the help of the police and the fire department, you could contact the one police officer.
- It was really embarrassing because I was just sitting out there with, like, undid hair. Like, my shoes weren't even on, like, fully.
- Everybody ended up meeting up at town hall, and they come through with the firetrucks behind them and the sirens are all going.
- Hi, Grandpa.
- Hi, Grandpa.
- [INAUDIBLE] for you.
[LAUGHTER]
[HONKING]
- Happy birthday.
- Woo!
SHANNON DOYLE-BELL: We had a scavenger hunt where everyone had to find items that started with the letters of Bryson's name. For those that were local that wanted to get out of the house, we said put your pajamas on at 7 o'clock on a Monday night. They were so fun. They made posters for him and the neighborhood and school. So it was fun. I think everyone enjoyed just being able to see everyone.
- We figured this way it would be a lot of fun, and it's loud, and it's exciting. His friends' moms were like, we finally have something to do.
MICHELLE GAINEY: People were just so happy to be together again. Even if we couldn't touch, we couldn't hug, just the experience of being together in some way, it just, like, made the emotions, like, so high.
- I mean, I was surprised. I was overwhelmed. It was-- it was just beautiful, you know? It made me feel so loved. And, you know, this second line band comes traipsing down, and then my friends are throwing beads, and they had signs. And, yeah, it was pretty amazing.
SHANNON DOYLE-BELL: It ended up actually a birthday that, I think, was one of the best birthdays for our family.
DALE BELL: This young man here, it goes to show how much people love this guy here.
- I was really surprised by the parade because I didn't expect it to be like that because I had so much fun.
- Because at first I was sort of angry at my mom, but yeah, at the end, I was happy to see my friends.
- I don't know if it's luck or skill, but I have collected the most wonderful group of people in my life, and I feel very lucky to have met those people-- open-minded, big-hearted, intelligent, committed people. And what they did for me just reminded me how lucky I am.
- And my favorite part of Bryson's party was when we get to ear the cake.
[LAUGHTER]
