Safe Holiday Plans! | BEAUTY & BRAINS

Happy Thursday BB girls! Congratulations on making it through the week! We are so thankful for each and every one of you. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and if you’re struggling to come up with safe plans for this year’s holiday, we’ve got you covered. This time of year is usually filled with family dinners and Friendsgiving celebrations. Although 2020 has proven itself to be one of the most unprecedented years that we have ever experienced, we still want you to express gratitude and enjoy your holiday this year! So, here is a list of covid- safe ways to celebrate!

Zoomsgiving: Zoom has been our best friend for a long time! Zoom is a video conferencing application that you can use to hang out virtually with your friends and family. If you have been using Zoom for months on end, you may have a ‘‘love-hate’’ relationship with it, but at the end of the day it’ll always have your back! Invite all of your friends and family to bring their Thanksgiving dinner or their favorite holiday dessert, and have your meals together virtually! Even though we can’t all be physically together, a group call can be really fun!
Socially Distanced Picnic: If you enjoy the crisp fall air and love the outdoors, this one’s for you. Grab your mask, some hand sanitizer, and your favorite picnic blanket! Invite a few friends to do the same. You can all meet up at a family friendly park, and bring your favorite holiday snacks! Each person can sit on their own picnic blanket. This will allow everyone to remain six feet apart, but you can also see each other in the flesh! Bring a speaker and some snacks, and enjoy each other’s company from a distance. You can be as creative as you want with this idea as long as you practice covid-safe procedures.
Friendsgiving From Home: That’s right! This is perfect for everyone who will be missing out on their annual Friendsgiving dinner this year. This is the perfect plan for you! You can start off by having a Teleparty. Teleparty is an extension of google chrome that allows for you to watch shows on platforms such as Disney Plus, Netflix, and HBO Max with others all in real time! It is a free download and completely safe for your computer. Once you have it downloaded, all you have to do is log into your movie streaming platform, click on the “TP” icon at the top of the webpage, and share the link with all of your friends! There is a chat box feature that allows you to make commentary about whatever you’re watching in real time. After you all watch a movie together, then you can all order your favorite food and schedule a virtual dinner call at the same time! After your meal, you can then hop on another video conferencing app called “House Party” and play games together. There are so many games on the House Party app, from drawing games, to word games. To end off your day, you can all have a dance party! Choose one person to control the music while everyone else goes on mute and dances around! This can be really fun, and everyone deserves to get their groove on!
Utilize the holiday as a self care day. If you are not big on celebrating with others, but want to spend some time with yourself, this is perfect for you. Treat yourself to a nice bubble bath, a mani-pedi, and watch your favorite holiday movies. You can send messages to your friends and family wishing them a happy holiday, and then you can have a chill day in. This can be a beautiful thing; self care on a holiday like Thanksgiving can remind you of all of the reasons why you’re thankful to be here! Don’t forget to have a nice meal. You can order from many places on Thanksgiving for a nice warm meal, but if you’re a chef, do your thing in the kitchen!
Celebrate with your “quarantine crew”. While the idea of getting out and seeing people that you haven’t been able to see in months is intriguing, the safest thing to do is have your holiday dinner with the people that you live with. It might be small, but this will allow you to express why you’re thankful for having them by your side in a year like 2020. Besides, we all usually get dressed up just to go to our living rooms anyway! This time, you can keep those comfy slippers on instead of changing into your party shoes!

Thanksgiving 2020 may not be celebrated in the “normal” way, but there are still plenty of things that you can do to have fun and enjoy the company of others, all by remaining safe. If you have any questions or need advice on your holiday plans, be sure to ask in the advice column! We are here to help, and we will always get back to you. This is an anonymous advice column as well, so ask us anything you’d like to know or need help with! If you enjoyed this blog, consider donating $4 dollars to help fund our Blessed and Balanced app! It will be the talk of the town as soon as it’s out; don’t you want to be able to say that you contributed to it?! That’s all for this week's blog! Stay safe, and stay blessed.

Your BB girl,

Ariana :)