For New Year’s Eve, all guests received an invitation and a party cracker in the mail.

We’re entering another year of this pandemic, and while things are looking up, it’s still going to take time. While we all have Virtual Fatigue and a good lot of us are vaccinated, there’s still a need for some virtual activities, and it’s still one of the few ways we can stay in touch.

In 2020, COVID forced me into hosting the two parties I’d planned—34 Orchard Dark Literary Magazine’s launch in April and New Year’s Eve—into virtual rooms. What surprised me? I’d felt like I’d actually had a house full of guests, and my guests—especially for New Year’s Eve—said it was almost as though we’d all been together in person. It was so successful, I did it for my 50^th Birthday Party in February of 2021, and I’m hosting New Year’s Eve online again this year (my guests are from all over the country, and sometimes, people come and stay for a few days. Even with all of us being vaccinated, that’s still not really possible this year–we don’t feel it’s worth the risk).

Wanna pull that off? Here’s how:

1 Choose a theme. A party is a party, right? Yes. But a theme creates a cohesion that changes it from a party to an EVENT.

My 50th birthday was themed for my favorite childhood book, THE PENGUIN THAT HATED THE COLD. So the decor was sort of a winter/tropical mix.

2 Set up your chat room/Meet-up/whatever early. Then call your party something Read the rest of this entry →