Zoom Ideas to Banish Winter Gloom

This article is a list of all the zoom ideas I can think of, in hopes that your winter will be filled with more time with friends and family, even if it has to be virtual.

Here’s the best I got. Hope it helps.

1. Zoom Trivia

   This one is a tried and true favorite for our family. It was Mike’s brother’s idea to meet once a week and ask each other trivia questions. One person brings a few rounds of questions and the rest of us compete in teams to answer the most we can. It’s become a nice way to catch up without just chatting.

2. Zoom ‘Nailed It’

   I haven’t tried this one yet, but I have big plans for an eyeliner edition of ‘Nailed It’ over zoom. The general idea is to meet over zoom, try to recreate something very hard that we will clearly fail at, and then laugh at our accomplishments, or lack. I spent $50 on liquid cake eyeliner in anticipation of making some very strange art on my face and laughing at the monster I will inevitably look like.

3. Take-out Dinner Swap

   Again, one I’ve only talked about but never tried. Make a zoom date with a friend and order each other mystery takeout dinner. Supports local restaurants, leads to full bellies, and probably some laughs when you see what your friends want you to eat for dinner.

4. Zoom Potluck

   For Thanksgiving this year we are trying this out, but I think this would be a fun idea for any night. Cook at home, bring your food to an outdoor location, say hello, fill your to go containers with everyone’s yummy food, and go home and eat. Zoom is optional.

5. Complicated Themed Dinner Party Zoom

   This is an idea I heard about while listening to OMG MY WEDDING IS CANCELED DUE TO COVID WHAT DO I DO themed podcasts all summer. I heard about a couple who made google doc sign ups for weekly themed dinner parties. Each theme was a tenant of their relationship, like ‘laughter,’ ‘trust,’ ‘food,’ etc. Guests signed up to join a weekly virtual dinner party and celebrate the couple. I just liked that the conversations were themed, and not all guests even knew each other!

6. Movie Night

   This one is Mike’s idea. Simply, everyone who will be joining the zoom watches the same movie, and we zoom and talk about it. I think this would be a great way to add a topic of discussion, so we aren’t all just zoomed out.

7. Game Night

   Another thing we have been doing pretty consistently is virtual game nights. We have played Among Us, JackBox, DnD, and this really fun game I can’t remember the name of but I will as soon as I publish this.