Preparing For A Birthday During Lockdown With Moonpig

In collaboration with Moonpig

It’s been a bit of a strange year so far, with none of us really knowing quite what is lurking around the corner. However, even in these uncertain times it’s important to celebrate the good parts – with birthdays of friends and family falling very much into that category.

But what can you do to make that special someone still feel special even if they have a birthday during Lockdown? Well, with the help of Moonpig here’s a few tips on how you can stay safe but still make sure that special someone has a great time.

Plan In Advance

Lockdown restrictions have meant that spontaneity isn’t as easy as it once was. Although you might still get lucky by turning up at a nice restaurant and hoping for a table, the chances are that you’ll need to plan ahead, especially if you want to eat inside. With restaurant capacity cut in many venues to allow for social distancing make sure you’ve got everything planned and booked well in advance!

Similarly when buying gifts and cards for a birthday during Lockdown, always allow a few extra days for items to arrive. Although most companies are largely back on track by now, it’s still recommended to allow a bit more time in case of any issues with delivery and logistics, especially if it’s personalised.

Be Creative

Current guidance is that you’re still only allowed to meet up with one other household if you’re eating or socialising indoors, so big celebrations involving lots of friends are still not possible. Things are a bit more relaxed outdoors, so think about where works best and what kind of celebration is still possible.

There’s also still the option of online gatherings, so if it’s a big birthday and you want lots of people to be involved it’s worth looking at party options via Zoom or similar platform.

Put The Effort Into Gift Giving!

Even if you can’t currently have the kind of big celebration that you might have wanted for your friend or family member, the least you can do is put some effort into the gift-giving!

With everyone living such busy lives normally it’s easy to leave things to the last minute when thinking of gifts for friends and family. At the moment however, it’s not quite as quick and easy as it once was to pop into town the day before and pick up some gifts! Some businesses haven’t reopened at all, whilst all others have restrictions in place in terms of numbers allowed in a shop and other social distancing measures in place.

I’m sure I’ll get back into it as time goes by, but at the moment I can’t think of much worse than queuing around town, trying to pick out gifts in shops whilst wearing a face covering and trying not to stand within 2 metres of everyone else!

So this year I’ve gone wholly down the online route when picking out gifts and cards for Sarah, ahead of her birthday later this month. Moonpig have a great range of gifts and cards to suit pretty much every occasion so the whole gift buying process was done in the space of a few minutes, including gifts and a lovely personalised card for mum from Joshua.

Moompig have also launched a new app which makes the whole process even easier – you can upload photos direct from your phone and even view augmented reality images of what your personalised item will look like!

You can download the Moonpig app here and if you buy a gift through the app before 13th September 2020 you can get a free card at checkout by entering the code: APPFREEWGIFT

Remember: It’s The Thought That Counts

Having or even planning a birthday during Lockdown amidst a global pandemic is never going to be ideal! But that’s still not an excuse not to make someone feel special.

Even if you can’t go out to wherever you’d like to go, or your budget is tight due to this whole recession thing, you can still make your loved one feel special on their big day by putting in the time and effort. Cook them their favourite meal, or grab a nice takeaway. Decorate the house with balloons or banners. Write something extra mushy in their card. Get some of their friends or family to record a little message for them. Nice, easy, cheap ways of making someone feel a bit special for the day, especially if they are celebrating a birthday during Lockdown.

And hopefully next year, when this is all over, you can do all the things you wanted to do for them this year but couldn’t! Fingers crossed…

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