How to Go Out at Home
With current situations, many of us may feel like we are going stir crazy or coming down with cabin fever whilst stuck at home. Many of us miss going out to the pictures, for nice meals and socialising in general. In this blog we will give you some fun, light-hearted suggestions on how you can bring the excitement of going out to your own doorstep!
Restaurant Experience
Not only is it nice to have a night off cooking but there is a certain intimacy about being in a well-lit restaurant having great conversations without any phones or distractions that might be commonplace at home. We are here to suggest ways in which you can achieve this at home! Firstly choose a dining spot. This can be done by creating a new space to dine from in the home for a change of scenery for the night or you can tidy up and decorate you usual dining area. Once you’re happy with your spot you can put on a nice table cloth and decorate with candles and fairy lights – it doesn’t have to be over the top. Once you have transformed your dining area it’s up to you whether you will cook or get a carry-out. Either way make sure to look out the good tableware, bring the wine, dress up and bring the great conversation! You could even send invites to your ‘guests’ telling them where to meet and when and the dress code. And although this is a great way of having a restaurant experience at home, you can also be creative and have a little fun with it. You could do a murder mystery or Cluedo themed dinner with your party too. If you have children living with you, perhaps they could make the invitations or menus. There’s loads of ways to not just achieve a restaurant experience but how to be creative with it and have a little fun.
Home Cinema
You don’t have to have all this fancy cinema gear to achieve a home cinema at home. All you need to do is choose your movie and prepare drinks and snacks. It helps to make sure you have a nice tidy area with lots of comfortable cushions and rugs to do this and perhaps some small snack tables dotted about. And for that added cinema experience – switch the lights off, and enforce a strict no phones and no talking rule.
Some homes have even bought projectors to really get that cinema spectacle. You can buy projectors for reasonable prices online and they give you a little more freedom to change the scenery of your cinema experiences. If you are one of those lucky owners of a home projector then here are some suggestions on how to spice things up!
- Make an outdoor cinema. This can be done by taking out an old plain mattress protector or bed sheet to project your movie onto. You can make the outdoor area comfortable with cushions, blankets and lanterns.
- Make a drive-in cinema: with the use of a projector you could use the front of the garage/garage door to project the movie onto and sit in the car to watch.
- Move around the house: You can change your home cinema up by moving your projector and bed sheet around to different locations in the house so you’re not getting to used to the one place.
To make your home cinema nights extra fun, you could do costumed nights where you dress as a character from the movie or you could have themed cinema nights such as french cinema, nordic noir, bollywood, nollywood etc.
Finding Adventure
What most of our lives are lacking right now, is a little bit of adventure. Although it may not quite be the same, we suggest you can find adventure in the comfort of your own home! This can be done by setting yourself and your family goals and challenges to complete. For example, who can build a tower using marshmallows and straws, that can stay standing. There are also a lot of family friendly fitness classes online you can all take to doing together. You can get the family together to learn something new like music or art or taking an interest in someone else’s hobbies.
Holidays
Recently the sun has been shining and many of us have been enjoying the outdoors. Although the sunshine seems to be cheering us up a little bit amidst a pandemic, we can’t help but think about the holidays we won’t be going on. Well some of our customers, lucky enough to have a garden have attempted bringing that holiday feeling to their back gardens. And this doesn’t have to break the bank either! You can use plastic or deck chairs to sit out in the garden and you could buy a cheap paddling pool to dip your toes in. One of our customers has decorated their garden with hanging and light up flamingo decorations, beach balls, and flamingo floats and lilos to bathe on by the (paddling) pool. Another great tip to keep busy and achieve that holiday feeling could be to try and master those favourite cocktails at home. Many great restaurants and bars have released their recipes and expert advice to help us make great food and drink at home. So look those shades out, bring some magazines and headphones and prepare for some poolside vibes.
Parties and Gatherings
Socialising is an important part of being human and without it, many of us feel quite lost. Thanks to modern technology you can socialise and have a party or gathering from the comfort of your own home. Although it isn’t quite the same as the real thing, it is a pretty great compromise. With facilities to video call and apps like Skype, Zoom and House party, having social gatherings at home have never been easier, and not to mention no big tidying up operations afterwards either! With technology like this you can webcam in groups to chat and have fun. Many have created quizzes to do over video call, like a pub quiz. You can again have themed nights, or do fancy dress contests. Within the app house party, there are lots of challenges that you can take part in with your friends. Therefore there are lots of ways to have a laugh and some fun with friends without breaking any of the quarantine rules.
To Round Off
We hope you have enjoyed our little fun, light-hearted blog that suggests ways to bring the excitement of going out into your home. We understand it will never be the same as the real thing but sometimes small things like this are all it takes to make us feel little more human amidst these unusual and unprecedented circumstances. We hope we have given some of you some fresh ideas on new ways to have fun at home, and who knows, maybe some of these tips are things you can continue once things are finally back to normal!
Love,
No5a x
