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Things we did in the Between Times
Honestly, this post is mostly for me, for a few years now when some of the memories have faded.
We really did try so hard this last year, to keep things fun and special and not just let a year of our lives turn into marking time. Things we did that we probably wouldn't have under normal circumstances:
Activities we somehow made happen on Zoom/Meet/whatever:
- Gaming night. Started off with a lot of sharable online games like Jackbox and Fishbowl and Codenames, slowly degenerated into sort of dispirited hanging out. Was nice to be able to include folks from far away, but I was really glad to see the end of this.
- Smaller group gaming. Did do a couple of campaigns with a much smaller group. Kind of nice to have the 3-5 member party instead of the mega group.
- Movie night. A friend hosted a weekly movie night on Teleparty - at first I thought the text-only thing would be limiting, but it was actually refreshingly low impact and made ducking in and out much easier. Appreciated getting exposed to some movies I wouldn't have watched on my own.
- Cookalong. Another friend hosted a weekly cooking call, with increasingly elaborate themes. (Recipes from the Victorian era! Savory dishes involving booze! Laminated pastry!) We didn't always participate and we didn't always stay on brief, but the themes were very entertaining, and the camaraderie was fun.
- Minecraft playdates and birthday parties. ARR had weekly meetups with his friends on their respective Minecraft servers, with an open video call. There was often drama, but it meant he actually could play with his friends on a regular basis. Also, basically his entire social circle opted to each do their birthday parties on Minecraft (often with favors and cupcakes/cookies delivered the day before so everyone could have cake together).
- Karaoke. Group sings don't really work, given the delay, but you can stream YouTube from your computer with a karaoke track and perform for your friends in a more karaoke bar vs karaoke room style. Not optimal, but scratched an itch.
- Murder mystery. I got one of those box sets from the 90s, laboriously scanned each individual packet, and mailed it to guests. It went great - people even dressed up. First time I'd worn eye makeup in over a year, discovered my mascara had completely dried out.
- Cheese class. Murray's Cheese sent us a box of assorted cheese, wine pairing suggestions, and a Zoom link. Not quite as fun as the real thing, but close.
- Whiskey tastings. I bought Chuckro several flights of whiskeys from The Spirit Co. We had a series of whiskey and rom-com nights.
- Progressive barbeques. We are lucky to have a front porch. We made a full barbeque of smoked meats, sides, and desserts, packaged them into takeaway containers, and invited friends to schedule half hour visits over the course of an afternoon for mask-on outdoor hangouts, with lovely parting gifts they could take home and eat.
- Grandparent calls. The grandparents have done a huge number of video calls with ARR, including nature lessons, writing exercises, math and spelling games, online board games, and more.
- Online extracurriculars. The video call coding and Spanish classes have gone well. The vocal lessons were more challenging.
- Yoga class. Really loved my online yoga class, actually. It's a little harder than in-person where they can do adjustments, but still better than pre-recorded.
- Paint-by-numbers sip n'paint. Organized buying the same kit with friends, started painting together on a call. May have made a mistake. This thing is more detailed than we'd realized, it's gonna take us months at this rate.
- Writing group. Moving to online is a little less fun, but a lot more convenient, and allowed us to bring back some members who had moved out of the area. Not sure how we'll handle as the world opens up again.
Attempts to make holidays special
- Fourth of July: progressive BBQ, glowstick rave in the basement.
- Halloween: We made costumes for ALL the stuffed animals. Trick or Yeet (standing on the porch throwing candy to kids like we were on a parade float). Getting candy yeeted at us (our neighbors got very creative with social distanced candy delivery mechanisms).
- Thanksgiving: Kind of liked the family Zoom calls. Nice to get multiple wings of the family. Thoroughly enjoyed livetweeting the parade with my mom.
- Christmas: Zoom gingerbread house decorating with ARR's friends. (Organized all the parents buying kits, assembled them together online.) So many holiday movies. Made a present string maze for ARR and Chuckro.
- My birthday: Family tea party, birthday themed D&D with ARR.
- New Year's: F that noise. Went to bed early, had our sparkling rose for breakfast.
- Valentine's Day: Got a cookie decorating kit from Chuckro's office cafeteria, did family cookie decorating.
Home stuff
- So many science experiments.
- Lots of crafts, including sewing lessons.
- Family exercise time.
- So many walks.
- Glow stick bubble bath. (Toss them in the water, turn out the lights, very eerie.)
- Multiple glow stick raves.
- Family read-aloud and puzzle time. We've gotten through The Hobbit, all four of Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books, The Sword and the Stone, Dealing with Dragons, and we're working on Pax.
- Hobbit dinner: After reading The Hobbit, made the menu from Bilbo's unexpected party (meat pies, seedcake, raspberry tart, salad, etc) and ate it by candlelight.
- Stuffed animal tea: made full tea spread (sandwiches, petit fours, scones) from scratch. Twice.
I may come back and edit stuff as I think of it. But yeah. I tried.
We really did try so hard this last year, to keep things fun and special and not just let a year of our lives turn into marking time. Things we did that we probably wouldn't have under normal circumstances:
Activities we somehow made happen on Zoom/Meet/whatever:
- Gaming night. Started off with a lot of sharable online games like Jackbox and Fishbowl and Codenames, slowly degenerated into sort of dispirited hanging out. Was nice to be able to include folks from far away, but I was really glad to see the end of this.
- Smaller group gaming. Did do a couple of campaigns with a much smaller group. Kind of nice to have the 3-5 member party instead of the mega group.
- Movie night. A friend hosted a weekly movie night on Teleparty - at first I thought the text-only thing would be limiting, but it was actually refreshingly low impact and made ducking in and out much easier. Appreciated getting exposed to some movies I wouldn't have watched on my own.
- Cookalong. Another friend hosted a weekly cooking call, with increasingly elaborate themes. (Recipes from the Victorian era! Savory dishes involving booze! Laminated pastry!) We didn't always participate and we didn't always stay on brief, but the themes were very entertaining, and the camaraderie was fun.
- Minecraft playdates and birthday parties. ARR had weekly meetups with his friends on their respective Minecraft servers, with an open video call. There was often drama, but it meant he actually could play with his friends on a regular basis. Also, basically his entire social circle opted to each do their birthday parties on Minecraft (often with favors and cupcakes/cookies delivered the day before so everyone could have cake together).
- Karaoke. Group sings don't really work, given the delay, but you can stream YouTube from your computer with a karaoke track and perform for your friends in a more karaoke bar vs karaoke room style. Not optimal, but scratched an itch.
- Murder mystery. I got one of those box sets from the 90s, laboriously scanned each individual packet, and mailed it to guests. It went great - people even dressed up. First time I'd worn eye makeup in over a year, discovered my mascara had completely dried out.
- Cheese class. Murray's Cheese sent us a box of assorted cheese, wine pairing suggestions, and a Zoom link. Not quite as fun as the real thing, but close.
- Whiskey tastings. I bought Chuckro several flights of whiskeys from The Spirit Co. We had a series of whiskey and rom-com nights.
- Progressive barbeques. We are lucky to have a front porch. We made a full barbeque of smoked meats, sides, and desserts, packaged them into takeaway containers, and invited friends to schedule half hour visits over the course of an afternoon for mask-on outdoor hangouts, with lovely parting gifts they could take home and eat.
- Grandparent calls. The grandparents have done a huge number of video calls with ARR, including nature lessons, writing exercises, math and spelling games, online board games, and more.
- Online extracurriculars. The video call coding and Spanish classes have gone well. The vocal lessons were more challenging.
- Yoga class. Really loved my online yoga class, actually. It's a little harder than in-person where they can do adjustments, but still better than pre-recorded.
- Paint-by-numbers sip n'paint. Organized buying the same kit with friends, started painting together on a call. May have made a mistake. This thing is more detailed than we'd realized, it's gonna take us months at this rate.
- Writing group. Moving to online is a little less fun, but a lot more convenient, and allowed us to bring back some members who had moved out of the area. Not sure how we'll handle as the world opens up again.
Attempts to make holidays special
- Fourth of July: progressive BBQ, glowstick rave in the basement.
- Halloween: We made costumes for ALL the stuffed animals. Trick or Yeet (standing on the porch throwing candy to kids like we were on a parade float). Getting candy yeeted at us (our neighbors got very creative with social distanced candy delivery mechanisms).
- Thanksgiving: Kind of liked the family Zoom calls. Nice to get multiple wings of the family. Thoroughly enjoyed livetweeting the parade with my mom.
- Christmas: Zoom gingerbread house decorating with ARR's friends. (Organized all the parents buying kits, assembled them together online.) So many holiday movies. Made a present string maze for ARR and Chuckro.
- My birthday: Family tea party, birthday themed D&D with ARR.
- New Year's: F that noise. Went to bed early, had our sparkling rose for breakfast.
- Valentine's Day: Got a cookie decorating kit from Chuckro's office cafeteria, did family cookie decorating.
Home stuff
- So many science experiments.
- Lots of crafts, including sewing lessons.
- Family exercise time.
- So many walks.
- Glow stick bubble bath. (Toss them in the water, turn out the lights, very eerie.)
- Multiple glow stick raves.
- Family read-aloud and puzzle time. We've gotten through The Hobbit, all four of Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books, The Sword and the Stone, Dealing with Dragons, and we're working on Pax.
- Hobbit dinner: After reading The Hobbit, made the menu from Bilbo's unexpected party (meat pies, seedcake, raspberry tart, salad, etc) and ate it by candlelight.
- Stuffed animal tea: made full tea spread (sandwiches, petit fours, scones) from scratch. Twice.
I may come back and edit stuff as I think of it. But yeah. I tried.