If you’re like most people, you’re anxiously awaiting your first post-COVID get-together with friends and family. Needless to say, you want to make this party one to remember.
With that in mind, here are ten tips for hosting your first post-COVID get-together.
Consider Your Budget and Location
The pandemic was a feast-or-famine affair — hopefully, you ate well and invested your stimulus wisely. However, you can still party heartily if your wallet contains little but moths due to using yours to cover living expenses.
Depending on your budget, you might do anything from a backyard barbecue to a full-fledged reunion. If you’re considering the latter, you may need to clear your property to provide enough space for multiple banquet tables. To that end, a skid steer is usually a good option.
Whatever you ultimately choose, the following ideas work for any price-point:
Start With Respect
Hopefully, every attendee to your first post-COVID get-together chooses vaccination, giving them extra protection against the virus. However, there is still much scientists don’t know, and not everyone has gotten their shots.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you are fully vaccinated two weeks after your second dose or following a one-shot vaccine. Until then, you should continue to take precautions such as wearing masks and staying six feet apart from others when gathering in indoor places.
Please note that if you take medications that impact your immune system, you are not considered fully vaccinated, even after having your shots — talk to your doctor.
Break Out the Bubbly
Now that you covered the bases, it’s time to party. Pop the champagne!
If you have the means, why not break out an exclusive brand deserving of the occasion. Please ensure that you keep a non-alcoholic bottle or two on hand so that even those who abstain can share in the toast.
Make It a Finger Food Affair
The centerpiece of hosting your first post-COVID get-together is mixing and mingling. You don’t want to weigh people down with overladen paper plates.
Get your finger-food game on-point. Treats like tiny cucumber sandwiches and chicken skewers travel well, letting people devote most of their attention to socializing.
Or Go Formal Sit-Down
However, you might have more exclusive tastes — or merely the desire to share the same table with loved ones again. If so, go all out with a formal dinner party.
Remember, much of the elegance lies in the presentation. A single scoop of ice cream served in a champagne glass with strawberries makes a 4-star looking dessert in seconds.
Share War Stories
What’s the craziest thing that happened to you during quarantine? Did you embrace those tips to plant a victory garden or learn a second language, or did you spend much of the time catching up on lost sleep?
Why not have a contest? You can play charades to guess what you did to fill the lockdown time or collaborate on a master list of disaster survival tips — like how to find toilet paper when store shelves run bare.
Play Games
It’s finally time to break out the Twister again. However, it could take folks some time to readjust from over a year of restrictions.
Get Creative
Even if you got crafty in lockdown, it’s lonely to knit by yourself. Why not get creative with the crew?
You can even build your get-together around a craft theme. Have a mix and match earrings party or a spa and wellness day — you can even make things for a fundraiser.
Do Some Good
Volunteering is a heartfelt way to give back as a group. Why not make your post-COVID get-together benefit a cause? You could participate in a neighborhood cleanup or help put together care packages for less fortunate families who didn’t weather the storm as well as you did.
Reduce Cleanup Hassles
Any party worth remembering creates a bit of a mess. However, you can minimize cleanup hassles by placing trash and recycling containers around your pad and establishing a soaking station for dirty dishware.
Follow These 10 Tips for Your First Post-COVID Get-Together
You want your first post-COVID get-together to be memorable and fun. Follow these tips for an unforgettable bash.