Living in New York
Life in New York City
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Zoom Party Ideas
Our Christmas Tree My son just had his birthday party via zoom, so here are some zoom party ideas as we continue in quarantine. I’ve also had some adult zoom cocktail parties.
- play Mafia over zoom
- scavenger hunt
- Netflix watch party (no further explanation needed)
Mafia
Have you ever heard of the game Mafia? We used to play it late at night when we were staying over with a group of friends at a country house. Back when we did that.
Here are the instructions. I put the names of the guests on paper slips in one bowl and the various roles (mafia or murderer, villager, doctor, detective) in the other bowl. Then I matched every guest with a role and direct-messaged them via zoom. I was the narrator, but actually the boys all really wanted to be the narrator so they could create different scenarios of how people died. I thought the boys would probably prefer to play Among Us (which seems to be the online game equivalent), but not all the boys were allowed to play it, so I did it the zoom way. It worked. We added in other characters inspired by Among Us: the Angel (can tell the narrator one person to protect — if the murderer picks them to kill, they don’t die; the clown (pretends to be the murderer).
Scavenger Hunt
So this game was inspired by my son’s gym teacher. He has them do a scavenger hunt for household items, which makes the kids run around the house like mad.
I decided to add a riddle component. So I used some of these riddles for toothbrush and book (items they’d be sure to have around the house) and also came up with my own.
I am soft. This item is not a hat. I don’t go on your hand. I slip over your foot. What am I?
Answer: Sock
#
I roll, but I’m not a ball.
I’m paper, but you don’t write on me
What am I?
Answer: Toilet paper
#
You rest your head on me
Answer: Pillow
One child unfortunately couldn’t go into the bathroom because someone is his family was using it, which was tough, given that I gave riddles for toothbrush and toilet paper as items they’d be sure to have around the house. 🙁
Zoom Party Ideas Summary
Several parents emailed to thank me and say their children really enjoyed the party. I think the bar is low at the moment and I just occupied their children for two hours.
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays whatever you celebrate! I hope you had a wonderful Hannukah and have a wonderful Christmas!
We are busy making Christmas cookies. My favorite Christmas cookie recipe is gingerbread people (reduced fat!) from the Joy of Cooking. I have yet to find a sugar cookie recipe I really love, so if you have one, please share!
The cookies are quickly disappearing. In other exciting news, my first MS Partner Pursuit was the winner of the Hudson County RWA 25-4-25 contest, and the first twenty pages of my second MS Is This for Real? just placed third in the RWA Windy City Four Seasons contest.
Let’s Talk
Do you have any good zoom party ideas? What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?
Happy Holidays!
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Dollhouse Project for Kids
Wouldn’t you like to curl up and read here? You just need to be 1/12 size. If you are looking for a fun project to make with the kids while #stayingathome, building a dollhouse is a great project for ages 7 and up (or any age, depending on your kid). This Serendipity Shed is from the HBS/Miniatures site, but in the UK, there are many great online dollshouse stores as well, such as DollsHouse Emporium.
In New York City, parents volunteer to make an art project with their child’s class to sell at the school auction to benefit the public school. I volunteered to make this dollhouse library with my son’s third grade class. The class parents volunteered as well thankfully. And it sold!
Dollhouse Library from the Outside Making the Dollhouse Kit
What you will need:
- the dollhouse kit
- acrylic paint in your choice of colors
- wood glue
- door handles (if you decide you want to add those) (also from HBS/Miniatures)
- masking tape or painters tape
- sandpaper
- recommended glue to put in window panes
The kit comes with instructions. So first, read the instructions. Second, dry-fit the kit, so you know how it fits together before you glue it with wood glue. Then I recommend gluing together the walls and the floor. Then paint the partial structure and the various pieces (like the windows) in your chosen colors. For the class, we painted all the the pieces separately because I needed activities for around 25 kids. Then glue it together. And Voila! You have a little dollhouse.
Dollhouse Project for Kids
My son’s class made everything in this dollhouse except for the bookshelves. (And that metal lamp). I bought the back one at #HBS/Miniatures. And I made the side bookshelves with popsicle and stirrer sticks and carboard, and then painted it white. We xeroxed/reduced the covers of their chosen favorite books. As you can see, Harry Potter and 13stories are favorites. And they glued the books together (cut up magazines serve as the inside pages).
Dollhouse Library Project for Kids The kids painted the walls white and the windows blue. (I did have to sand the window openings because I forgot to tell them to paint lightly there, so that the window fit inside.) They made the couch using a cardboard tea box and covering it with cotton balls and fabric and and then gluing it with fabric glue. (No sewing required.) And they made the plants by painting twisty ties green and then putting those in air-dry clay (covered with tea for dirt). We used bottle caps as planters.
If you and/or your child really enjoy this project, it’s a whole new world. There are so many videos on Youtube to watch!
Let’s Talk
How are you doing? Hope you are all doing well and #stayingsafe! We are all fine. We have been inside for a month. I received back a developmental edit on Partner Pursuit, so I was busy this week revising my MS accordingly.
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Some Stay-at-Home NYC Mommy Tips
Bright and Cheery Yellow Flowers left outside our apartment door by my neighbor Here are some Stay-at-Home NYC Mommy Survival Tips. We’ve now been in our NYC apartment for 14 straight days, although we luckily have a small balcony for fresh air.
Overall, we’re lucky. We’re healthy and we just have to stay inside to help flatten the curve. I worry for the medical personnel, the postal workers, the grocery workers, the warehouse workers, the delivery workers and all the rest who are out there working as heroes.
List of Stay-At-Home NYC Mommy Survival Tips
- Exercise
- Keep a Schedule
- Art and Virtual Tours
- Food
- Reading/Watching Movies
- Crafting and Making Masks
- Keep Social
- Keep washing hands
If you have any suggestions, please share!
Exercise
Exercise is important for your immune system and your sanity. I haven’t done enough, but I will keep trying.
For Kids:
Create Your Own Obstacle Course: This has been the most successful exercise activity to date. My kids and I each take turns creating an obstacle course throughout the house and then we each follow each other doing it. We run around chairs, climb onto chairs, run around a table, crawl under a table, jump over stuffed animals etc. (Luckily, our neighbors are very nice and have not complained about the amount of extra noise as we jump around.)
It definitely gets the heart rate up and adds a little extra fun.
Step up onto the chair, then scoot over the table, then back down on the other side. Do jumping jacks. I think you get the idea 🙂 GoNoodle and PE with Joe Wicks: We’ve also been doing some dance videos from GoNoodle and P.E. with Joe Wicks.
For Moms/Dads:
I am trying out Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s trainer’s workout book. My friend gave it to me last year.
The RBG Workout by Bryant Johnson Another friend recommended this site for Yoga: Dharma Yoga New York Center.
Keep A Schedule
I think that it helps the kids to have a schedule. So we have our homeschooling schedule, and to that we’ve added Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems, Exercise and Duolingo (they are trying to learn Danish).
Art
I still highly recommend Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems. He’s very therapeutic to watch.
And he gives writing advice.
Here is my doodle from Episode 3.
This New York Times article also lists other authors/artists giving programs, so I am excited to try some of those.
Virtual Art Tours: I’m excited to go on some virtual art museum tours and other virtual tours.
Food
I made a shopping list of all our usual food so that when I find a delivery slot open, I can check the list and order from it, otherwise I keep forgetting items. I do spend a lot of time looking for open delivery slots.
A HUGE thanks to all the grocery workers and delivery people.
Bread: This is also a great recipe for whole wheat bread from Minimalist Baker. I can’t find yeast available anymore (and flour is also hard to find), but I have some packs left and maybe by the time I use them up, yeast will be back in stock.
Whole wheat bread rolls – yummy! Books/Movies
I am so grateful for all the books that I can escape into. I may actually make some progress on my #TBR pile. And I’m also watching movies at night, rather than always reading the news.
Crafting and Making Masks
I like to craft to keep up my spirits and so I’ve been doing some crafting, in between home schooling, reading and writing.
I found some patterns/tutorials for making masks, so I think I will try to do that too, although I am not very good at sewing and haven’t yet learned to use a sewing machine. It’s been on my bucket list, so I will check out some Youtube videos and learn to do it. I have a tiny kid sewing machine. It’s a Home EC project for the kids too! At the least, my family can wear my attempts, and hopefully, the shortage of PPE will be addressed. If I get good at making them, then I can send them to a hospital.
Keep Social
I am using this time to catch up with friends, so I hope you do too. Try to reach out to a friend every day or other day. My kids are doing zoom/facetime chats with their friends and that makes them happy.
Let’s Talk about Your Stay-At-Home Mommy Survival Tips
Do you have any tips for staying-at-home (with or without kids)? Any suggestions for laugh-out-loud romcom books?
Also, please keep washing your hands (and not touching your face). But it seems to transmit from when you touch someone or something with the virus and then you touch your face, so wash your hands before you touch your face. Which is so hard for me. As soon as I can’t touch my face, something on my face itches. Even writing this, I have an itch on my eyelid. And obviously practice social distancing and stay home as much as you can.
And if you’re not in an area that is yet in lockdown, I recommend stocking up on pantry staples (like flour, pasta etc.) and kids art supplies. You can get kids art supplies delivered, but you want to minimize people delivering (for their sake and yours).
Wishing you all the best!
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Where do you hide your holiday presents?
Taking advice from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Purloined Letter (Hide it in plain sight) Where do you hide your holiday presents? We live in a New York City apartment, so hiding spaces are few (even for when you play hide-and-seek, as you do with kids).
And we are using all almost our space. We have even put in storage space abover our bathroom ceiling. That’s one of the main places I hide presents. You need a ladder to get up there, so it’s not easily accessible.
However, even my main hiding spots are beginning to fill up. My usual spot in the basement is storing toys which haven’t been played with in awhile. But they are in the purgatory period – will my son notice that they have disappeared? If not, in six months, we can donate them. (Not that that always works.)
But I’ve found a new spot. Can you spot the hidden presents?
Where would you hide them in this closet? Feel free to post your guess below. (I can use that next year in case my daughter reads this article).
The presents are in the laundry bags! (And yes, I have a lot of black clothes. And my closet looks nothing like The Container Store closets or any designed closets. :). Although I do love the Container Store plastic boxes and highly recommmend those.
My tip is to wrap the presents in case they are found.
And then the key is to remember where you hid them. I often forget where I’ve put the presents if I deviate from my usual spaces. When I am older, I plan to spend December hiding presents for myself, so I can spend the rest of the year finding my presents 🙂
Have a great weekend! Where do you hide your holiday presents? And how do you remember where you hid them?