Celebrating Birthdays During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Graphic by Abby Miller

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced American life to look quite different over the past few months, and among these visible differences are new ways people have found to celebrate birthdays in quarantine. 

For people with birthdays this spring and beyond, celebrating during a pandemic wasn’t something anyone planned. For King’s students, this meant the loss of celebrating their birthday with friends in the city.

Junior Emma Cisneros turned 21 on May 11. She’s still living in Brooklyn because she didn’t want to go home to Turlock, Calif. She’s upset that her hometown is not practicing correct social distancing, as she says people still continue to have others over to their homes for parties. 

“I’ll probably be more likely to get Corona [COVID-19] there than here in New York,” Cisneros said.

Cisneros is currently thinking about driving to the Hamptons with her mom after moving out of Albee for her birthday celebration, since she is unable to spend the time she’d planned with her friends.

Freshman Mae Easterbrook, 18, also celebrated her birthday on May 11, and had planned to celebrate with friends in the city. She’s back home in Charlotte, N.C., now, quarantined with her family. She decided to have a celebration with her family, followed by a Zoom move night. 

Not only has Zoom been used by schools to conduct their classes, but is also how many people are staying in touch with their friends and loved ones.

Sophomore Kate Nicholl, 20, has been on some birthday Zoom calls and said she doesn’t particularly like them.

“I’ve had my fill of Zoom,” she said. “It’s awkward because everyone talks over each other.”

Nicholl, who turned 20 on May 15, lives in Ohio City, Colo., with a population of just 40 people. Describing her city as a “ghost town,” she typically spends her birthdays home with a birthday meal of her choice and a grocery cake.

“I love a good grocery cake,” Nicholl said laughing.

Nevertheless, celebrating a birthday in the city was something Nicholl was looking forward to. “I was excited to celebrate my birthday in the city [and] do fun city things,” Nicholl said. 

Another King’s student, sophomore Brent Buterbaugh, who turned 21 on April 14, was also excited to go out and celebrate with his friends. He’s been home in Columbus, Ohio since March 14, quarantined with his parents and five younger siblings. To celebrate him turning 21, his grandparents came by his house and passed him a bottle of red wine through the door.

“I cracked it open with parents, and had a glass,” Buterbaugh said.

Freshman Lydia White turned 20 on April 17, and while she didn’t have any solid plans for celebrating her birthday in the city, she said she was sad to be away from her new home in New York. 

White is currently back in Huggins, Mo., quarantined with her big family. For her birthday, she had an idea of inviting her closest friends over, going out and then having a sleepover. She got to celebrate at home with her family instead.

“My mom made my favorite dessert in the world: gluten free key lime pie and ice cream. I played scrabble with my grandparents and I lost,” White said. 

While she had a great time, White admitted that it was “just really hard.”  

“It wasn’t like my party was bad or anything, it was as good as it could’ve been in quarantine. It was just hard to think about what it could’ve been,” White said. “ It was very surreal to think of my birthday party being affected by something global. I would’ve never thought this would happen to me.”