I Need Some Creative Help Here - I Need Ideas For A 'Zoom Picnic'.....

[global1]

Every year our extended family (aunts & uncles; cousins; parents & kids and grandkids and even some neighbors and friends) have a picnic at a local picnic grove here in the Chicagoland Area. It's a day of grilling food and pot luck; fun; games (like bingo for the elders and bozo's circus like days for the young kids); horseshoes; bags; golf; volleyball; etc. You get the picture. This years would have been scheduled for July 25th.

But because of Covid-19 and social distancing, masks and gloves - looks like we'll have to cancel it and hope there is a vaccine available before next summers family picnic. When I responded to the survey as to whether we should chance having a picnic this year - I suggested maybe we hold a "Zoom Picnic".

So here's the question. If you were going to hold a "Zoom Picnic" what would it be like? What creative things can we do to hold a "Zoom Picnic"?

Any and all ideas will be taken under consideration. No idea is too crazy.

Please help us make this Annual Family Picnic memorable in this year of Covid-19.

We will appreciate your help and ideas for putting this together.

[MissB]

1. If you can afford it

Definitely matching T-shirts would be great.

If you love Aunt Sally’s potato salad, it’s time for her to give up the recipe ahead of time so every family can make some to enjoy during the zoom picnic.

Don’t forget to screenshot the zoom picnic for next years event.

[Squinch]

2. Take photos of your favorite picnic site and send it to everyone to use as their Zoom background.

You can still do bingo, but for the ball games, you can send out a kit with bolos (those things we used to play with where you bat the rubber ball on the elastic with the wood paddle and see how many you can do), those 'catch the ball in the cup' things, and have contests of who can do the most.

You could have separate rooms (each would need a host) that people can wander in and out of because the large group might be too much for any communication. A conversation room, a game room, a bingo room, an eating room, a kids' room.

You can have a very loose schedule where everyone comes into the same room for the game championship run-off, or for dinner time, or for greeting. The hosts can shut all the other rooms temporarily while the "come together" events are taking place. You can put the links for those other rooms in the "chat" section of the "come together" room.

It's very nice of you to do this for everyone. Enjoy and let us know what you do and how it goes.

[Amy-Strange]

4. I like all your ideas, but then again...

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if they could have a large group, they wouldn't need a zoom picnic, but I still like all your ideas.
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[Squinch]

6. I don't know what this means. This refers to different Zoom locations.

[Amy-Strange]

3. Put on a talent show...

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You're talking about the online telecommunicating app, right?

Everyone zooms in their particular talent, and then everyone votes on the first, second, and third prize, or everyone tells their craziest stories, jokes, Trump imitations, do real 'fake' news broadcast or predict the result of the election.

You can all bet on who signs off first, or all watch the same movie together, and comment on it like they do in that Mystery Theater show.

Create a music video, tv show, or pretend your Trump and throw everybody out of the house.

You've gotta get a clown that dresses up like Trump!

But be careful, because if you have too much fun, then live picnics might become a thing of the past...
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[global1]

5. We Have To Stay Away From Political Discussions And Trump Talk....

We have people of all political persuasions and even at a live picnic we avoid such discussions because they never turn out right.

I like the talent show idea. Also, we've had a clown at the live picnic for the kids. So somebody dressing up as a clown on a Zoom Picnic could work.

[Amy-Strange]

7. Oh well, Trump never mixes well at parties anyway...

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he's always afraid that he's gonna meet a scientist!

Anyway, good luck at your picnic, and I hope you give us the lowdown after it's over.
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[hunter]

8. My wife and her sister set something like this up for their mom this Memorial Day.

Their mom's brother was killed by the Nazis in the very last days of World War II Europe, and another brother never really recovered from the time he suffered as a prisoner of war, held first by the Japanese in China, and later by the Chinese. (They didn't call it PTSD then, but that's what ultimately killed him after he was returned home to the U.S.A. in a prisoner swap.)

We usually all get together for Memorial day, but not this year. My wife is a health care professional exposed to coronavirus patients so the last thing she wants to do is go anywhere near her elderly parents.

While I was barbecuing for two (with plenty of leftovers) my wife was sitting under our grape arbor chatting with her parents, siblings, and a couple of nieces via google meet. Alas our own adult kids were working, so they weren't "there" but maybe they are lucky to have jobs. Most of my nieces and nephews have been furloughed.