13 Awesome Quarantine Birthday Party Ideas For Kids

Dealing with COVID-19 and the worldwide pandemic that has occurred in its aftermath has been tough for everyone.

It has been ever more difficult for our children with birthdays during the mandated quarantine.

They haven’t been able to see all of their friends and family in a long time and not being able to see them during their birthday party is even more devastating.

If there ever was a time to plan an amazing birthday party, this is the time!

The idea is to get as many people participating as possible so it feels like a real birthday party (as much as possible, anyway).

To get maximum participation, don’t just send a general Facebook message out to everyone.

Send real inventions out or personally invite friends and family so they know how important this quarantine birthday party is for your child.

Once everyone is invited its time to plan the best quarantine birthday party ever!

For some great ideas aimed at grandparents check out our article First Birthday Gifts (From Grandparents) While these ideas are directed towards little ones, they can be adapted for any age.

Here are some awesome quarantine birthday party ideas for kids that will turn a sad situation into a positive and memorable one.

1. Neighborhood Treasure Hunt

Getting your child some sense of normalcy (as much as possible) and having a great time while still maintaining proper distancing is the main goal of the neighborhood treasure hunt.

Invite friends and family to have the birthday boy/girl go around the neighborhood or front/backyard to find certain gifts that everyone has bought and placed around the neighborhood or front/back yard for them.

Make a little map and have them try to find all the goodies.

You can use small gifts in the beginning and then as the hunt gets closer to the end you can start having them find the big treasure items.

X marks the spot could be the finale.

If you just have one big treasure you can hide little messages around the area that help them continue in their treasure hunt until they get to the X marks the spot treasure.

You could also modify this into a scavenger hunt .

Be creative and have fun with it!

2. Virtual Sleep Over

It’s tough not being able to have a birthday party.

Some birthday parties turn into birthday sleep overs.

Don’t let quarintining ruin that for your child.

Have them do a virtual sleep over with a phone or laptop!

You will have to be creative on this one but you can have them play games together, do their nails, scavenger hunt, sing karaoke or make smores just on different sides of the screen.

With technology these days there is very little you can’t do using video chat or Facebook video messenger.

Let the birthday boy/girl pick the games and let the fun begin!

Don’t forget to check your internet speed and battery life of your devices so you don’t run into any problems during their virtual sleepover.

3. Driveway Magician or Character

For an extra special surprise, you can hire a birthday magician or the birthday child’s favorite Disney Character.

The hired fun can set up in the driveway or on the sidewalk and do their magic or performance away from everyone.

If you can set up proper ground rules you could even invite the neighbors or a friend to watch.

They could watch from their car or set up a chair at least 6 feet away from everyone and let the show begin.

Just be sure to resist the urge to shake hands or hug people goodbye.

Even with all the restrictions, this still can be a great time.

4. Friend/Family Birthday Serenade

This idea is super sweet!

Invite all there birthday child’s friends and family over and have them surprise him/her with everyone singing happy birthday.

It doesn’t need to be just happy birthday either.

Pick their favorite song and email or text the lyrics to their friends and family.

Have everyone sing their favorite song to the surprised and elated birthday girl/boy.

If you have a two story house it works out even better like in a traditional sarenade.

Have all who attended drop off presents and make their experience even better.

Just in case, if you are concerned about anything getting into the house you can always sanitize the presents, let them sit outside in the sun or in the garage for a little longer to make sure the presents are germ-free.

5. Video Birthday Card

This is a great way to stay connected with friends and family but still stay indoors.

With everyone having phones nowadays this idea is super easy and turns out amazing.

Just have everyone record a birthday message and tell the birthday girl/boy how much they miss them.

If you are tech-savvy you can even add special effects and music to the messages for an even better experience.

Music or not, they will absolutely love to see everyone and will feel honored that everyone took the time to send them a personal birthday message.

In a survey, they asked people what the best gift a person could get on their birthday.

Being with people important to them on their birthday was the number one answer (79.6%).

While the survey was asking adults, I’m sure the percentages would be similar for kids which reinforces how important being around friends and family really is on their birthday even if it is a video message.

For more interesting information check out the study they did on birthdays.

6. Birthday Caravan Parade

This one is a traditional fan favorite.

Very similar to the birthday serenade, you invite everyone to come over for a birthday message.

The difference is everyone stays in their car and drives by with birthday wishes and signs.

The line of cars will impress the birthday boy/girl and all the honking will make it like a real parade.

They will love seeing everyone sticking out of the car and wishing them a happy birthday.

They will also love all the signs and car art wishing them a happy birthday.

They can also stop and leave a presents at the driveway for even more fun.

Give the birthday guests enough invite time so they can really decorate their cars and genuinely take the birthday boy/girl’s breath away.

7. Favorite Food/Dessert Delivery

For the birthday child who has a sweet tooth or loves to eat this will be a slam dunk or in this case an oreo dunk.

Have friends and family deliver the birthday boy/girl’s favorite dessert or meal.

It can be homemade or from their favorite take out or delivery place.

Especially with the desserts, they will love getting all the goodies sent to their house and for the meals getting their favorite meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner will be epic.

You could also have the ice cream or the Kona Icee truck come to the house for an all you can eat party for the family.

If it gets too out of hand with all the goodies, you could always share with neighbors or space them out for different after dinner treats.

Just do your best not to get too much of a sugar high on your own supply.

8. Birthday Yard/Home Decoration

This one really could be an amazing way to show some birthday spirt.

Get the birthday boy/girl away from the house for a little while.

Try taking them to their favorite drive-through for a drive-in meal or treat.

Invite everyone to make a sign, poster or banner and put on the house or yard.

Filling the yard with birthday wishes will make the birthday boy/girl’s mouth drop!

You could also have friends and family leave a present next to the sign or decoration so that they know who made the birthday decoration and show a little extra love.

This one will definitely give the birthday boy/girl some sweet neighborhood cred when everyone drives by and sees all the festivities.

9. Zoom/Virtual Birthday Party

This is a great way to see everyone’s pretty or handsome face through the ever-popular meeting program, Zoom or from another platform you prefer..

The benefit of a program like Zoom or something similar is that you can talk to many different people at the same time.

With some pre-planning, they can play games, make crafts or any other activity right along with their guests on everyone’s computer screen.

You could also hire a virtual birthday performer like a magician, Disney character or a special guest to entertain the birthday boy/girl.

The options are limitless and as long as you are comfortable with the technology you will be good to go.

Before trying something like this make sure you have tested out your bandwidth or how fast your internet speed is as well as your device’s battery length.

If your internet is not fast enough or your computers battery dies it could put a damper on the digital party very quickly.

Also have a back up plan, technology is great, when it works!

One way to make it more fun is to hook up your laptop or Zooming device up to your TV which makes the viewing screen much larger.

This way you can see more people and it makes it a lot more interactive.

You can do this easily, if you have an HDMI cord and a port in your laptop.

Big screen or not, this will make your child’s birthday a huge hit regardless.

10. Letter Blitz

You definitely have to include some old school ideas in the birthday planning.

Although this version has a bit more zing to it!

Have everyone you know sent the birthday girl/boy a birthday card.

Contact all of their friends and family and have them participate in a birthday letter blitz.

Have them send the letters around the same time so that they will get the letters all together to make the rock star effect even more real.

They will have received so many letters that they will think they are a rock star or even better Santa (depending on the age).

They will be amazed with all the letters that they have received.

Although, you will need to make sure you are giving everyone enough notice as it is not known as “snail mail” for nothing.

Plus this is a great way to get lots of gift cards so they can spend like a rock star too.

11. Rent A Bounce House/Slide

While for some this is not a special event as some people do this on a regular birthday.

Although, for others this would be a kid’s dream come true.

Having their own bounce house or water slide all to themselves and maybe their siblings (if their lucky) would make anyone’s birthday extra special.

For those that have had a bounce house before, try renting both a bounce house and a water slide.

You could also rent it for the weekend or the whole week rather than just for the day.

This all sounds very expensive and at another time it just might be but in this day of quarantine there are all types of deals to be made.

Another benefit is you would be supporting a local business as well as having a great time.

A better option for some would be just to purchase one.

The cost of having a regular birthday party can be pretty steep anyway and using that money to invest in a bounce house or slide during this time would benefit everyone in the long run.

12. Movie or Streaming Party

Companies are starting to cater to the quarantined.

While binge watching movies has always been an option many of the streaming platforms are allowing people to watch movies while interacting with them as well.

The birthday boy/girls can pick a movie and invite friends to watch with them in their own homes.

They have new services where you can chat right on the TV screen.

Kids can chat and comment on their favorite or funniest parts of the movie.

At the very minimum, they can video message or zoom while watching the same movie and do something similar without needing to subscribe to a steaming or movie service.

13. Chalk Decorations/Messages

Although this is similar to the yard or home decorating idea this is something that kids might be more motivated to participate in.

All kids love chalk and the birthday boy/girl’s family and friends can use their creativity to really represent their birthday message or design.

The benefit of using chalk is that you are not confined to the size of a poster board, sign or banner.

You can make your birthday message as big as you want as long as you have enough driveway or sidewalk space.

Another benefit is that there is no clean up or signs to remove.

It all washes away with the next rainfall. Just be sure to take pictures before they are gone.

Friends and family could also leave presents next to their chalk artwork or message for a little something extra.

If you wanted to take your birthday chalk art or message to the next level you can hire an artist and impress everyone.

Please Comment Below!

If you would like to add a quarantine birthday idea or have a great way to expand an idea above please leave a comment below.

We would love to hear from you.

Be safe and stay healthy, my friends!