Hey, yall! It is Jess again.

Time has flown. HOW? Each day feels like it lasts a year.

And yet, my baby is turning one.

I blinked and he went from being super fresh and squishy to running and climbing. My mama heart can’t take it.

In my family, the first birthday is a huge celebration. For my daughter’s birthday, we took her to Europe for a month. We are all about experiences over things. My mom planned a huge party. We had 200 guests, a taco man, and a DJ. It was intense and everyone loved it. All in all, we celebrated hard.

My mom had similar plans for my son but alas, pandemic is still going strong.

So, we are left to figure out how to celebrate my son without actually being in contact with anyone. Here are some ways we have planned that hopefully give y’all some ideas for your own kids’ birthdays.

1. Camping Trip

You get to go somewhere different while continuing to follow all social distancing protocols. This is our top plan at the moment.

If camping is too much for you, you can always go glamping (INCLUDE LINK) or even rent a remote cabin for your family to enjoy the outdoors.

You don’t have to go somewhere and spend money to make it special.

You can always pitch a tent in your backyard and make it an experience.

2. Drive By Birthday

Setting up a tent and having friends and family drive by with sings and balloons sounds so good in theory but my baby is a runner so this one is out for us but could work for your family!

Personally, I feel like this would work so well for an older kid who would actually enjoy reading signs and seeing people.

My baby knows like 10 people so a bunch of random family is just going to freak him out.

3. Facetime/Zoom Birthday

This one requires the least amount of work and includes the most amount of people. If that is most important for y’all, then this is an excellent option.

My husband and I have family all over so we will definitely be spending the day talking to everyone and sending pictures. Unfortunately, my baby will be bored Facetiming after 2 minutes so it won’t feel like much of a celebration.

4. Decorate your whole house

This is my absolute favorite.

Every year for my daughter’s birthday (and some years I have even done it for my husband), I stay up very late or wake up super early and blow up a ton of balloons. I’m talking hundreds of balloons so when she wakes up its like a birthday piñata exploded in her face.

This is the kind of intensity I enjoy.

Good news is so does my kid.

I bake a cake from scratch and decorate it as best as I can. I am no professional so some years its been a little crooked but it’s filled with so much damn love.

Last year I even made all my daughter’s birthday decorations including a gigantic balloon garland. Oh, and there was an actual piñata too, because how could there not be?

This was me keeping it “low-key” because we had a new baby.

I could see in my daughter’s face that she felt like a million bucks! I plan on doing the exact same thing this year for my sons birthday and I hope he feels like the most special kid ever.

Have you had to celebrate any of your kid’s birthdays during quarantine? What did you do to celebrate? Include your child’s age to give other parents ideas!