We’re all looking for different ways to feel connected during this time of isolation. And turning to tech is one of the best things you can do to do make this happen. Throw a virtual happy hour, a game nights, host a book club. The possibilities are endless. One of our favorite things that we’ve done is host a virtual dinner party last weekend.
Jake and I are incredibly familiar with virtual dinner parties and dates after being in a long distance relationship for seven years. One of my first blog posts was actually on virtual dates. We would plan nights where we’d make the same cocktail, recipe or watch the same movie and hang out on Skype.
This season, we gathered two of my best friends for a dinner party, choosing to all make the same recipe over on House Party.
House Party is a great app for your virtual dinner party. Not only does it make talking to multiple people at the time super simple, but it also has a ton of games to play. Our friends ended up playing “Heads Up” where one person has to guess celebrities, movies, songs animals etc by their friends giving them clues as to who or what they are.
How to Host a Virtual Dinner Party
Organize your guest list.
Keeping it to four or five people makes it ideal for facilitating conversation and actually hearing people.
Choose a platform.
House Party is what we’ve been using. You also can use Google Hangouts, Zoom, Facetime or Skype. Schedule a time and make sure everyone has downloaded it.
Pick your theme.
Do you all want to make the same food? Same drinks? Your choices are endless!
a few of our favorite ideas:
–Make the same meal. We made a simple asparagus risotto this weekend, and it’s the perfect recipe for a time like this because you need so few ingredients. Also here’s six different ways to cook up Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi.
–Whip up the same interesting cocktail
–Make food Chopped-Style – use whatever ingredients you have in your pantry.
–Infusion party – this takes some planning, but everyone infuses the same type of alcohol. So say strawberry infused vodka. You could stop there or take it to the next level by having everyone come up with a different (simple) cocktail to try. Send everyone the recipe in advance, so they can get the necessary ingredients. This pineapple infused vodka can just be drunk straight up.
–Game night – there are sooo many games you can play online with friends. FOR FREE. As I mentioned, the House Party app has a bunch. We recently followed this genius guy on Twitter’s online Cranium guide for a family game night:
Okay team. I have made a version of #Cranium in a shared Google Sheet that can be played by multiple people in different places over video chat services like Zoom (if the video chat service has a screensharing function, more the better)#Covid_19 #CoronaCrisis pic.twitter.com/4BuBbpxfvl
— Callum W Madge (@CWMadge) March 21, 2020
Also, you can play Cards Against Humanity with friends virtually here.
–Watch the same movie using the Netflix Party extension.
–Virtual wine and cheese pairing.
–Pajama party movie night – and eat alll of the popcorn and candies.
–Do an online wine tasting class. If you live in Portland, Sunday School Wine is offering these classes via a donation. You can also purchase the wine from local wine shops who will deliver the ones they’ll be tasting in the video. Here’s a few lists of places offering online wine tastings: LA Times, Forbes, Huffington Post.
–Book club dinner party – read the same book and discuss over a meal.
Decorate.
Actually set your table or buy a nice bouquet of flowers to make things feel a little extra special.
Get dressed up.
Our friends were dying to actually put on real clothes, so we got dressed up in fancy party outfits this weekend.
Treat yo’self!
This is the perfect time to break out the fancy glasses or open that special bottle of wine you’ve been saving.
Most importantly: have fun!
