Lockdown Birthday

[scottishgirl98]

Hi there,
Just wondering for a bit of inspiration amid the stress and panic. My daughter turns 2 on the 27th march. The plans for ages have been to go to a big zoo about an hour and a half away and then take her to softplay with all her friends for a little party on another day which has obviously been cancelled. We never got to celebrate her first birthday as I unfortunately had 3 university exams the week of so we were hoping to do something a bit bigger to celebrate this year but looks like we may be on lockdown. We haven't been able to get to the shops to buy her a birthday present yet either as we were originally planning to move house on 1st of april (been delayed). Question is how can we still make her birthday special if we are stuck at home? What are you planning on doing for your littles? Also anybody come up with any creative ideas to keep them entertained when we do go on lockdown?

Exact same problem. DD's birthday early next month. The first year I was going to do a celebration for her with her school chums and boom! Corona! Assuming this lockdown does happen I'm just going to spend the money I was going to use on taking them all out to dinner and spend it on (extra) gifts. Do a little dinner of her favourite foods. Decorate the living room with balloons etc.

Oh bless you - I do understand the guilt about it not being a ‘big thing’ but you really need to give yourself a break. She’s 2, she genuinely won’t remember...but I understand you wanting to do something (for yourself really if we’re honest) to mark the occasion. Maybe let her ‘help’ bake the cake with you & get a pic of her stirring her first cake mix, do a messy art craft she’s never done before.... As for presents I’m sure Amazon will deliver...again some sort of craft, maybe play doh equipment that might help alleviate the boredom of any quarantine period.....If it makes you feel better, to my eternal shame, we actually forgot our youngest dcs 2nd b’day.... my dh had been terribly unwell, had got home after major surgery 36 hours beforehand and neither of us had even registered it😱....eldest dc who was six at the time was the one who inadvertently reminded us at about 12pm....thank God we lived in London where toy shops are open on a Sunday😅😅!!

My dc has a birthday same day. At the moment we haven’t cancelled, waiting to see if the venue for the party closes, whether we will be on lockdown etc.

Fully expecting to have to cancel.

If we stay in the house on the birthday my plan is to let her choose all the activities we do, order food she chooses etc, then promise her the party as soon as it’s possible

You've still got time to get her a present. Make party food and have a fun family picnic and party as a family, scatter balloons and decorate the livingroom.

Get her some things that you can play together at home - at that age mine would spend the day in the bath if she could!, Play doh, bake cakes, dance together (lots of fun kids music on YouTube), a bubble machine could be fun, paints, aquadraw mats are great fun and need free even unsupervised, play in the garden if there's no one else around, watch a short dvd with some popcorn, build forts and just let her potter around to give you both a break!

Ah yes bubble machine yatapina - mine LOVED them...hours spent trying to catch the bubbles without bursting them/ how quickly can you burst it..... great idea!

At 2 she won't care. Bake a nice cake and Skype grandparents.

Thank you for all your lovely suggestions, you've been really helpful. I understand she probably won't remember it and its mostly just for us but it'll help ease some of my eternal mum guilt as I rarely see her for more than one full day or when I do we have to attend her hearing aid appointments. I love the idea of an indoor picnic (complete with teddy bears of course) and I am going to pick up a cakebox and some icing and decorations to bake with her in the morning. A bubble machine and some crafts sound like a winner, I'll try pop by the Works this weekend. Thank you all again

She'll just be happy to be made a fuss of, OP, don't worry