Having trouble coming up with some birthday ideas? The birthday blues are a real thing, and coming up with a theme or a party is hard! I know that it’s difficult to come up with ideas to celebrate your birthday at home, but it is possible!
In this blog post you’ll find 27 ideas to celebrate your birthday at home, and I know that these ideas will help you spur more ideas.
Whether you’re trying to practice social distancing for one reason or another (if you’re sick on your bday, I’m sorry! It’s the worst!), or you’d just prefer to stay home on your bday, attitude is literally everything and you can absolutely make this into a special day.
Your birthday (or your spouse/friend/child’s birthday) can be extra special and memorable this year, even though you’re stuck at home.
27 Ideas To Celebrate Your Birthday At Home
1. Get your friends and family to form a parade of cars
You can look for examples of birthday party parades all over social media, YouTube, and even news networks because they’re just so darn happy!
Text about 10-20 friends and families in your city and tell them a time of day to line up at the end of your street.
To make it really easy on your friends, grab this set of 72 noisemakers for $10.99 (or maybe an air horn if your neighbors are ok with it!) to distribute to out to all of the cars.
Then have them all drive past your house, honking their horns, waving signs, holding balloons out the window, and singing to the birthday girl!
This is an especially sweet idea if you’re trying to throw a birthday party at home for a sick kid. It’s heartbreaking to have the birthday person get sick on their special day and have to socially distance on their birthday. A parade is meaningful to a young child, and they’ll be able to feel all that positive birthday energy will still keeping the germs away from all of their friends.
2. Plan A breakfast delivery
Pick a special food that the birthday recipient is always talking about (like her favorite donuts, breakfast tacos, or brunch special from a nearby restaurant) and order it a day ahead so that it’s delivered on the front porch bright and early.
Lots of third party delivery apps, like DoorDash, allow you to schedule a delivery.
3. Tell your family to send you pre-recorded video messages.
I did this for my husband’s birthday when we were having to quarantine, and it was a special and incredibly simple way to celebrate his birthday at home.
I just asked some friends and family to record 30-second clips of themselves wishing him HBD.
Even though he couldn’t see them in real life, it was fun to be able to have everyone say hi and tell him they loved him.
We watched through all of the videos (some were sentimental and some were very silly) while we enjoyed our donuts and coffee on the couch.
4. Send a dessert
If you’re wanting to send something special to a friend who’s celebrating a birthday at home, there are so many bakeries that will deliver a customized birthday treat to your front door!
Know a friend with a sweet tooth? Send her her favorite dessert, like some birthday cake truffles from NYC or some of these famous 6-ounce chocolate chip and walnut cookies.
Planning for your own birthday? TREAT YO SELF! Sugar is one of the best ideas to celebrate your birthday at home!
And if you can’t find a bakery that delivers, place an order to pick it up. If you’re currently quarantining and want to make sure you’re staying distanced, you can typically call a bakery and ask if they’ll bring the cake out to your car and leave it just outside the car, and then you can run and pick it up.
I 100% did this once in 2020 when I was being super cautious about keeping my distance from people.
5. Go on a picnic
Grab a blanket, some plates and cups and utensils, and a cooler full of beverages.
Then, pack a homemade dinner or just order from a restaurant (we got Franklin BBQ for Nate’s birthday picnic!) and enjoy some time outside.
By the way, this waterproof picnic blanket is everything and it’s just $20 (and comes in 8 colors!). Totally worth grabbing if you’re going to celebrate your bday at home and do a picnic dinner with your significant other.
Also, it’s kind of fun to have a full picnic basket set with fancy wine glasses. This picnic basket set is under $40 and it’s sooo chic and pretty. And these picnic wine glasses with a removable stems are insanely fun. They could double as a birthday gift if you’re planning this picnic for someone!
Hint: picnics are wayyy more fun if you remember all of the cutlery/utensils, so a picnic basket is a good idea because you don’t risk ruining the evening by forgetting something essential like forks or napkins!
6. Plan a birthday treasure hunt
This is especially good for a child’s birthday, but anyone could enjoy it!
(I’m in my 30s and I still enjoy a good scavenger hunt…)
Plant clues throughout the house, and then hide the wrapped birthday present at the final destination.
7. Spread the love! Throw candy at your neighbors!
This one is another good suggestion for a birthday at home for kids!
Call up a few of your their friends so they’re ready, and then drive past their houses and allow the child to toss candy into their front yards. It’s a reverse parade!
I’ve bought this 2-lb bag of individually wrapped candy (free 1-day delivery!) plus this bulk chocolate candy pack of fun-size bars to avoid going to the store.
8. Set up a balloon trap outside their door
When your roommate walks out of her bedroom door, she’ll be ambushed with a wind tunnel of balloons!
Here’s an easy tutorial
9. Go online shopping
Looking for fun ways to celebrate your own birthday at home? Pick a set amount of money (or not! it’s your birthday!) and go online for a shopping spree for a few new pairs of shoes, a home item you’ve been wanting, or whatever your heart desires!
BIRTHDAY SHOPPING SPREE, BABY!!
10. Order fresh flowers
Great for yourself or a loved one. I love FromYouFlowers because they have same-day delivery in case you’re a procrastinator.
Bouquets start at less than $30 and make the recipient feel so very loved, and you can see all of their same-day flower deliveries here.
Nothing announces “special occasion” like a bouquet of colorful flowers sitting on the kitchen counter.
Or, if you want to learn how to arrange flowers yourself, take an online course in Austin through this company. They’ll even deliver supplies!
11. Book a virtual tasting
There are sooo many of these, so look around in your instagram community to see what’s available in your city.
Here in Austin (where I live!) there’s a chocolate tasting class, wine tasting, and cheese tasting among many others.
12. Do a dress-up zoom party
Invite your friends to a “virtual” birthday party, and give them a dress code! This is great for a themed virtual birthday celebration.
You can do black tie, 80’s themed, or disco 70s.
If food is your love language, you can even go all out and drop off cupcakes/wine at your guests’ doors earlier in the day so that everyone celebrate with the same refreshments.
13. Movie marathon
Set up twinkly lights in the living room, open a bottle of wine, and watch your way through a movie series that you love.
It’s super easy to set the ambiance: hang up these indoor twinkle lights from Amazon with some tiny clear damage-free 3m hooks, lay out your comfiest blankets and pillows in the living room, and grab some popcorn.
14. Go on a virtual lunch date with friends
If your birthday falls on a work day and you work from home, set up a virtual lunch date with two or three friends.
You can request that everyone orders in from the same restaurant so it feels a little bit more connecting.
Be sure to wear your festive birthday girl sparkly tiara and sash!
15. Do a virtual game night with friends
There are tons of virtual board games, charades, drawing games, and more available right now.
Set up a game night to celebrate your new year of life!
From online escape rooms to trivia games and SOOO much more, there’s a virtual game for every party theme. Do a quick google search and you’ll find a ton!
16. Order in a really fancy dinner.
If there was ever a time to splurge on a steak and a really expensive bottle of wine, your birthday is it.
Psst: if you live here in Austin, here are the top 20 Austin restaurants. Some of them offer delivery or carry out.
17. Watch a movie together on a Teleparty.
Thank you, Teleparty, for making it so easy to Watch Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO and a whole bunch of other streaming services together with friends!
Go to teleparty.com for details on how to make this happen.
Remember, you’re the birthday princess so you get to pick the show.
18. Dress up
If you work from home and you typically live in athleisure (we’re all guilty!), take your birthday as an excuse to wash your hair, put on some makeup, and wear your cutest outfit.
Whether you’re hosting people for a birthday at home, you’re doing some sort of a zoom/virtual celebration, or you’re just opening a bottle of wine solo (no shame!), putting on a nice outfit always makes you feel like a million bucks.
Red lipstick optional.
19. Go to the museum
Did you know you can do virtual museum visit?
Ever wanted to visit the Guggenheim in NYC, the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, or Picasso Museum in Barcelona?
Now’s your chance! Lots of world-class museums are offering virtual tours.
20. Make sure you have a really good cake!
For the love, please don’t let your birthday go by without blowing out candles!
You can now order a birthday cake from Milk Bar, the iconic NYC bakery, to have delivered to your home anywhere in the United States.
(They offer it in rainbow/vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry, and even have a gluten-free birthday cake.)
Order a cake, get someone to make it for you, or bake one yourself if you’re really into baking. Just eat the damn cake! It’s your birthday!
21. Make a really fancy cocktail
Great news – a lot of liquor stores deliver!
If you’re trying to celebrate your birthday at home because you need to socially distance yourself from others for one health reason or another, you can easily get cocktail ingredients delivered to you.
Find a recipe and gather all of those obscure ingredients, and then enjoy trying something new.
22. Cook at home
This is seriously one of the most underrated birthday activities, because most people want to go out to a fancy restaurant for their birthday.
It takes some time to plan, gather ingredients, and make sure you know what you’re doing, but the act of preparing a meal with a loved one is so rewarding.
23. Plant something in the garden
If you’re lucky enough to get nice weather on your birthday, use it to work in the garden!
Not so lucky? Plant some houseplants and bring some new life into your house as you celebrate a new year of of your own life. TheSill.com has dozens of live plant delivery options and gorgeous planters so you can add a bit of green to your home.
24. Create a spa day
Is the birthday queen or king in need of a break?
Make a spa day by ordering a Voluspa candle, bath salts, masks, and maybe a nice easy-reading book (here are 27 of my favorite fiction novels) and then close the door and give them a few hours alone.
Bliss.
25. Attend a concert....at home
Some of the world’s biggest recording artist are always performing live concerts via instagram or Facebook live.
Make a big deal of it, the same way you would if you were attending the arena show.
Dress up, have a nice dinner before, and then drink your typical concert beverage (for me it’s an IPA) while you enjoy the show. Here is a schedule of livestream concerts.
26. Put up a birthday banner
Or balloons, or a big sign in the front yard. Just do something to make a big show that it’s someone’s BIRTHDAY!
I put together this pretty balloon arch for my 30th birthday back in 2020 when I was quarantining, and it was surprisingly easy and fool proof! Just be sure to use an electric balloon pump...
27. Make the birthday recipient feel loved
A birthday, more than anything, is a feeling. Make sure the birthday recipient feels love from friends and family via cards, zoom calls, video messages, or any other mode.
Planning your own birthday this year? Put out a call for love! Announce on social media that it’s your birthday, and enjoy the flood of attention.
And most importantly, show some self love and make sure that you tell yourself that you’re important, remarkable, and oh-so-loved on this special day.
I hope this helps you come up with even more ideas to celebrate your birthday at home! I totally know that it’s not the same as being able to go out and celebrate IRL with your friends and family, but here’s to making the very best of it, living and loving big, and ringing in a new year of life with what will (hopefully) be the most unique birthday you’ve ever had.
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i great ideas be why eat home when you can just go out and have fun by yourself
I like these ideas. My ideal birthday party is one that is low key. I’ve already started making some tentative plans for it. We are hoping to do a classic pizza and poker night with a tray of free drinks and snacks. We are going to the local cinema downtown and for a sit down meal at a pub as well. And to a museum and so on.
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