Happy hmmmm what day is it??? Does anyone else feel that way?! Honestly, #quarantinelife has felt like when it’s summer vacation in a sense: you don’t know what day it is. All the days kind of mush together! So happy “whatever day it is”!

Recently, I saw a post online and couldn’t stop laughing:

Quarantine has taught me that:

1.) I go to restaurants a lot

2.) I go to non-essential businesses a lot

3.) I touch my face a lot

That could not be more true for me lol! Practically every weekend prior to quarantine, Joel and I would be going out to our fav restaurant or trying something new. I also would go shopping practically once a week. AND I guess I touch my face a lot…still working to stop that!

With all of this, I have found myself thinking of fun activities to do at night/on the weekends. I have been googling and pinteresting, “fun quarantine date ideas” or “quarantine night ideas” and I realllyyyy haven’t found anything. After trying to research and talking with a friend (**cough cough** Madeline ** cough cough**), I decided to make a list of at home ideas to fill your quarantine days. All of these ideas are perfect for date nights, family nights, and bestie nights! I guess I mean that you can do them with whoever you are quarantining with….. your quarantine buddies! (You can also do them by yourself and Zoom or FaceTime some buddies and do it with them virtually)

My ideas include food ideas, outdoor activities, and indoor games.

Cooking & Baking A Recipe You’ve Always Wanted To Try

Have you always wanted to make sushi but the long process for making sushi rice has scared you?! DO IT NOW! Do you want to make homemade pasta?! TRY IT! How about making homemade bread or pizza crust?! NOW IS THE TIME. What about ice cream??! No one is stopping you!

Now is the time to try those recipes. You have the time. You don’t have to rush off anywhere. Make it fun night with your quarantine buddies! You’ll have a fun experience of cooking and baking ANNNND you’ll have a *hopefully* yummy result.

Here’s some of the fun recipes Joel and I have tried! Comment if you want any of the recipes!

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**Understandably, you might not have all of the ingredients to make some of these recipes. So, my tip for you is to check Amazon (you can find baking products and nonperishable foods), substitute/improvise orrrrr

Have A Cooking Challenge

Challenge your quarantine buddies to make a meal that only uses a certain number of ingredients, certain types of ingredients, or whatever you have leftover in the fridge/pantry that is about to go bad! Be creative with this 🙂 Maybe you’ll find a new favorite meal! My tip to you is to make sure you write all your ingredients down because HEY, maybe it’ll be the next big thing!

Themed Meals!!

Another way to make your meals exciting and different is to add a theme to them! Cook food from a different country and decorate your eating space to make yourself feel like you’re there. Maybe you want to make some tropical cuisine, so you fry up some fish, grill some pineapple, wear Hawaiian shirts, place bright flowers around the room, and then put an ocean scene on your TV. OR maybe you want to have a Fiesta Night with tacos, homemade queso & tortilla chips, Mariachi music, and brightly colored “Papel Picado” that hang around the ceiling (throw in some margaritas too ;P ).

Joel and I are going to have Disney Movie Themed Dinner this weekend! We are watching Tangled (TYSM @Joel) and we are going to make homemade long linguine pasta with alfredo sauce to match Rapunzel’s hair! We’re also going to make homemade braided bread to go along with her hair too. We definitely will post updates!!! If you have any other ideas for what we could add to our meal that is “Tangled Themed” LMK!!!

If you like this idea, check out this site with other Disney Themed Dinner Ideas!

Ice Cream Bar Crawl

Now, this one you would have to hop in your car to do, but it’s social distancing friendly AND supports local businesses. With your quarantine buddies–or by yourself, no one is judging–map out some of your favorite ice cream/dessert places. Then, try a little bit from each store. Maybe make a goal of finding the best Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream OR try all different flavors at each place. Be creative with your “challenge”.

Now you might be thinking “uhhhhh Claire, you’re suggesting I get ice cream at each place?!”. UH YEAH!!!!! If you’re with your buddies, you can get one ice cream and lots of spoons to share OR just order a little at each place.

PICNIC!

Take your meal from home to-go and go for a picnic! Go to a nearby park, forest preserve, or your backyard!! It hasn’t been the NICEST weather in the Midwest (it freaking snowed yesterday!!), so maybe your picnic can be in the trunk of your car. Picnicking is a sneaky way to make it feel like you’re eating out! BUT you’re doing it in a safe way with your quarantine buddies.

Sooo maybe enough about food… here are some ways you can get outside!

Driving Scavenger Hunt

Hop in your car and travel around your local community for a scavenger hunt. With your quarantine buddies, you can drive to places that start with every letter of the alphabet or find things that start with every letter:

A- Arby’s

B- Baker’s Square

C- Costco

…..T- Trash Can

Just some ideas… 😉 Take a picture when you’re there and make a fun book or gallery!

There are also a TON of “On the Road” Scavenger Hunts on Google. Check them out and give this a try!! And if you do it, please let me know how it goes! This is a fun idea to get out of the house.

Go On A Walk/Hike

With your quarantine buddies, venture to a new forest preserve or hiking location and just explore. Joel and I enjoy morning walks, afternoon walks, and night walks. We have been loving walking around our lake and my neighborhood, but we are ready for a change of scenery. You can look at some different areas to explore, but obviously staying #sixfeetapart.

Campfire!! And Make Fun S’mores!!

Have a campfire in your backyard! I think this would be a fun idea for us chilly midwesterners. Share stories, sing campfire songs, and make some fun s’mores. You can go with your classic graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow, ORRR you can make some of these courtesy of Pinterest:

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In addition, if you’re feeling something sugar free and guilt-free, check out one of my past blog posts. I made sugar free graham crackers and marshmallows AND used sugar free chocolate to make this oh so yummy s’more!!

Now, my next couple of ideas are indoor activities!

Puzzle

What a classic!! Order some jigsaw puzzles on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Target. Spend a night finishing one of these or doing it over the course of a couple of nights. ORRRR if you’re feeling adventurous, order a customized puzzle on Shutterfly! You can pick your own picture–family picture, couple’s picture, or your family’s dog and then complete the puzzle. You’ll have a fun activity to do and then something decorative to put on your wall.

Game Night! Board Game or Video Game Olympics!

Spend some time with your quarantine buddies and make it a Game Night! Raid your game closet and make it a tournament. See who is the ultimate champion of Monopoly, Wii Sports, Mario Kart, Yahtzee, and Go Fish! These quarantine nights are the time to pull out those long strategy games that take forever (don’t tell Joel I said that).

You can also play some of these virtually! I know Joel has played Settlers of Catan with my brother and friends on a site called Steam. You pay $5 and you have access to play online multi-player games. It was so funny watching!! Joel was talking to everybody on the phone and then used his computer to play the game!

Joel and I recently order a subscription box called “Hunt a Killer”… we also got one for my brother and his fiancé! This box is filled with clues, where you are the detective solving a murder mystery case! I am so excited for it to arrive! Try it out!!

Virtual Trivia

THIS HAS BEEN ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!!!!!!! ONLINE VIRTUAL TRIVIA!!! My brother has a friend that usually hosts trivia in Indianapolis, but with the quarantining, they have moved this online. At 7:30pm Central Time Monday-Friday, you can play Hambone’s Trivia! Here is their Facebook Page and YouTube Link (subscribe). They also have a Family Friendly Trivia at 11:30 Central Time Monday-Friday! PLEASE give them a try…and if you do, chat “Dan” on the YouTube live Chat and tell him Claire sent ya 😉 They have their live stream or you can watch previous trivia games!

We have probably done this about 12901029 times since they started doing their trivia online! It is FREE (they have a paid-sponsored themed trivia on Friday nights at 5:30 Central Time BEFORE their free one at 7:30pm. Some examples of the sponsored-themed trivia have been NBA & The Office… they are having Friends this Friday). When we do the trivia, we have zoomed friends and family!

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I hope these Quarantine Ideas find you well and help you make some great memories with your family and quarantine buddies. Please let me know if you have other ideas because we are all #BetterTogether.

I wish you safety, health, and happiness to you and your family!!!!

I am Miss DeClaireing Happiness and I am deCLAIREing some happy quarantine ideas that have kept me busy and joyful!

XOXO,

Claire