In this crazy time, we are all living in its important to find ways to keep a bit of normality and fun were possible. I see a lot being posted about things to keep the kids amused, whilst that is very important, we shouldn’t neglect our own need for some escape time and fun. I wanted to write this blog today with some of things we have been using to stay in touch and have a bit of fun during the lockdown.
As I am home working Monday to Friday I try to keep a bit of a routine but at the weekends we have been trying organise things to keep us busy and connected to people after our Daughter goes to bed.
Here are just some of the things we have been doing over the weekend evenings during this time.
Virtual Gigs
Anyone who knows me and Eddie, know our favourite thing in life to do together is going to gigs. While this may not be an option just now, we have found that lots of artists are putting on live shows via either Facebook Live or Instagram Live these are great to feel involved in the gig. Also, a lot of DJS are doing sets too
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One our favourites that is on every Friday from 8:30 is the Humes house party on Rochelle Humes Instagram page. Its lots of feel good music and they are doing it to raise money for charity. I would recommend you make sure you are following your favourite artists on Facebook and Instagram to make sure you do not miss any of them going live. And have yourselves a virtual gig night.
Zoom:
I have found this fantastic for video chatting with friends and family and use this to play games virtually. You can download zoom for free here https://zoom.us/ we have used this a lot over the last few weeks. It is free to sign up to and you can do video calls up to 40 minutes. However if you plan on doing a few Zoom nights it might be worthwhile upgrading which will be £11.99 for the month and will allow you to have unlimited time on your zoom call so you don’t have to log back in and out.
Game Nights
We have set a few game nights up for friends and family over the last few weeks here are some we have used
Cards Against Humanity
One of the funniest nights I have had was playing a game of cards against humanity with the girls. I found a virtual game here:
http://playingcards.io/ that you can send a link to friends to play together ( be warned this game is not for the easily offended) we also had a zoom call at the same time so we could chat and make a real night of it (There may also have been wine involved).In this crazy time, we are all living in its important to find ways to keep a bit of normality and fun were possible. I see a lot being posted about things to keep the kids amused, whilst that is very important, we shouldn’t neglect our own need for some escape time and fun. I wanted to write this blog today with some of things we have been using to stay in touch and have a bit of fun during the lockdown.
As I am home working Monday to Friday I try to keep a bit of a routine but at the weekends we have been trying organise things to keep us busy and connected to people after our Daughter goes to bed.
Here are just some of the things we have been doing over the weekend evenings during this time.
Virtual pub quiz
I set up a pub quiz for family and friends last weekend using a PowerPoint pub quiz I downloaded from this site https://www.power-pubquiz.com/ . If you sign up, you get your first quiz for free which is the one we used last week and it was a brilliant night. You set up a zoom call with everyone and then screen share and start the PowerPoint. We had everyone make up team names and I even set a virtual background on zoom like a proper quiz show.
It was such a good night I am going to try and do this every Saturday. To buy the quizzes its only around £10. It’s a good one for a mix of family and friends as all general knowledge. My mum is still in hospital at the moment (not covid related) and even she could join in with this which is great as we are not allowed to visit during lock down.
Boys night in
My husband and some friends set up a poker tournament on 888 poker and played along with a zoom call, cards are not my thing, but it is a great idea for a boy’s night. He also plays FIFA online with friends. Those who know Eddie know he is not one for the pub every weekend, but he seems to have a very busy social life on lockdown. I worry this lockdown life suits him a little too well. Another boy’s night idea has come from a friend’s husband who has set up a darts tournament with his friends. Every Saturday he goes into his garage where his dart board is set up and has a darts game over you guessed it …zoom (I believe some beers may be involved also)
For those not so technologically minded another idea I took from a friend is her and her husband having a garden fence party with her neighbours at the weekend ( socially distanced of course) but good to just have a real chat out with your own four walls especially with the weather we have been having.
This time has really forced us to have a look at how we do certain things and come up with new ways of socialising, I really believe this time is so important especially after a week of trying to work from home , home school or for many of us both. It helps to just unwind and take your mind of everything for those few hours and connect with everyone we are missing. This is so vital in helping us recharge and get through another day of this new normal. I hope you can take something from these ideas and give it ago.
I would also love to hear if you have any other ideas you can share with us as I am always looking for things to fill our weekends.
Hope you are all staying safe #WEGOTHIS
Theresa xx
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