COVID-19 has taken many things from us. It has taken some of our friends, some of our families, some of our acquaintances and maybe even some of our favourite singers, dancer, writer or celebrity. From the time it has arrived, it has given us nothing but pain and sadness. It has also gripped all the nations across the world with fear. As a result of which, the whole world is under lockdown. COVID-19 has trapped us in our houses with nowhere else to go and to become bored out of our minds.
Yes, there are things we can do like reading, writing, artwork, cooking, watching films, etc but once you keep on doing those same things it really becomes dull.
However, what if we told you, that you can now host a party with your friends virtually?
So here’s how you can do it.
1. Location
Firstly you need to find the place where you will be hosting the online party. You need to select a virtual location so that people know which app they need to download. The apps which can help you with this are:
- Zoom – The app lets you create a free account by which you can invite almost 100 people and hang-out for about 40 minutes. In case you want unlimited hangout time, you will have to decrease the number of people to 5)
- Google Hangouts – Allows your friends to be in the party via a web link through laptops or mobile apps or even phone lines. It enables you to video call up to 25 people at the same time.
- FaceTime – Since it’s only available in the iOS device, this might not be the perfect app to host your party.
- Google Duo – It‘s a simple group call app for chatting with up to eight people which works via apps for both Android or iOS devices.
- Facebook Messenger – Perhaps the best choice as almost every one of your friends uses it and is available in both iOS and Android devices.
- Skype – A maximum of 50 people can join a group chat but a usage policy of a group video call only lasting for four hours is there.
Other apps like Slack, jitsi.org, GoToMeeting, BlueJeans etc also help in videoconferencing.
2. Invitations
Once you have decided the virtual place you’re going to host the online party, it is time to create an invitation for your online party. Create a flyer the way you want, include the link to the video of the app you chose, mention the date and time, decorate the flyer a bit and you’re good to go! Send it to your friends or post it in your social media accounts for a wider reach.
3. What all to do?
Now all you gotta do is decide what you are going to do during this online party. What are the games you’ll play? Here are two games which can be fun. “Word Scramble” is a game where you scramble the name of a product and the one who unscrambles it first gets the product as a gift. “Online Scavenger Hunt” is the second game which you can play. It is a game where you have to give a list of 5-10 products and the first person who can send you the URL to all of them becomes the winner. These games are fun without any added pressure.
You can use apps such as ‘Houseparty’ which is an app similar to Zoom or Skype that has built-in-games with friends like Ellen Degeneres’ “Heads Up!”, “Quick Draw,” and even trivia.
Video calling services like Zoom, Skype and FaceTime allow you to share screens. This also provides an option which gives you a chance to play third party online games which aren’t built into the app. Some of the games that are being played most now include Quiplash and Kahoot.
4. Munchies
Now that the games are sorted, we need to concentrate on food and drinks. A party is never a party without food and drinks be it online party or offline. Amidst this crisis, there is no way you can go out to buy food. So what you can do is either place orders on Zomato or Swiggy or more preferably, stick to goodies from your mother’s kitchen.
So what exactly are you waiting for? Go get the party started!
