I am turning 60 this summer, as are many of my longtime friends. Given that we are still in a pandemic, we are all finding creative ways to celebrate.

For my husband’s 60^th birthday, this past October, I had friends and family from near and far submit a short video, and pictures if they had, to wish him a happy birthday. My daughter put it all together into one video. He absolutely loved his video and looks at it often. For a small outdoor family celebration I had a chef come, with his wood burning stove and make pizza, my husband’s favorite.

We celebrated my birthday early, due to the impending birth of our first grandchild, and my husband made a similar video for me. Although he added a personalized video from Jonathan Frakes, the actor who played Commander William Riker on Star Trek. While I sort of expected the family and friends video (since I made one for him), the inclusion of Number 1 (as he was called on the series) on my video made me literally scream with delight. Any Star Trek fan would understand my feelings.

We then had a small backyard party for my family. As another surprise my husband hired a hibachi chef to cook dinner. My husband set up tables in a huge U shape and the chef was in the middle. As we were not in a restaurant, the show the chef put on was wilder than any hibachi chef I have seen before, i.e he sprayed saki in our mouths using a super soaker gun and eggs were being thrown all over my backyard. The show was great and the food absolutely delicious.

Has the pandemic forced you to be more creative in your celebrations? As a follow up, do you think smaller celebrations are here to stay?