Virtual Party and Other Fun Ideas

These days it seems hard to come up with anything that brings us a sense of togetherness. We feel isolated and it is so easy to allow ourselves to withdraw and cut ourselves off from our sense of belonging and community. Lately it seems like an accomplishment just to roll out of bed before eleven o'clock and do the bare minimum of our schoolwork. We're giving ourselves and others grace and trying to remember that we're all coping differently and none of us have ever done this before. We find that we are mourning the loss of our old life, our routines, and our friendships. So to bring some sense of normality and comfort into our friend group, we thought it would be fun to get everyone together -- virtually.

That brings us to this week's big idea... Allie and I decided to throw a party with our friends! In this dark time of disconnect and distance from our relationships, we wanted to do something to lighten the mood. Hopefully, at least for a few hours, we will be able to smile and laugh with our friends like we used to. This will be held on Friday the 17th via FaceTime because it is going to be more user friendly than Zoom or Google Meet. We started out by creating the invitations. We sent all of our friends an invite. We were intentional about not excluding anyone; the more the merrier! FaceTime allows for thirty two people at a time, so we welcome anyone who wants to join as long as they text either me or Allie by Friday so we can be sure to add them to the call.

We wanted to make this feel like a real party, so we are asking everyone to bring themselves a snack and a drink, and we have prepared a set of Table Topics' questions to get the conversations flowing. We cannot wait to see everyone's faces and laugh again! If enough of our friends join and everything goes as planned, we will consider hosting these parties once a week. We've also began to compile a new list; a bucket list of fun quarantine adventures. The virtual party was number one on that list, so we will be tackling something new each week.

Although this blog and project is taking a different turn than expected, we are still seeking out ways to spread joy everyday. We are still coming up with ideas for the journal, but they look a little bit different than normal. This week, aside from the virtual party, we will tackle revising the list of ideas on this website in order to make sure we are actually able to do them while maintaining social distancing as well as ensuring we have the supplies to do them from our respective homes.

We pray that you are staying safe and staying inside! Thanks for sticking around for this journey, though it may not be as fun or exciting as we'd hoped. Have a happy week!

<3 lauren&allie