Any safe way to socialize this winter?

[pinkmomagain]

We are going to try to keep things outdoors for as long as possible with heaters, fire pits and winter clothing. When that doesn't cut it, we'll stop socializing for a couple of months. I'm thinking January and February will be the tough months for us here in NY.

[Kestrel]

We do have a neighbor who is using a projector to show a movie against the side of their barn. They are inviting people to bring their own snacks and line up the truck beds with blankets and pillows for a kind of drive-in theater. Lining up trucks, backed in, eight feet apart. I think it's going to be fun and about as safe as can be right now.

[georgiegirl]

We won’t have adult friends over. Kids will be limited to a few trusted friends and then masks inside. DS1 had a friend over this weekend with masks on inside. (It was cold and rainy). It worked out well.

[ang79]

We do have a neighbor who is using a projector to show a movie against the side of their barn. They are inviting people to bring their own snacks and line up the truck beds with blankets and pillows for a kind of drive-in theater. Lining up trucks, backed in, eight feet apart. I think it's going to be fun and about as safe as can be right now.

That is a fun idea! I told DH we should get a projector and use it outside on our shed. He did not see the point when we can watch movies inside. Outside would be nice with friends.

Other than meeting up with friends to walk or hike at a park, I'm not sure what else we will do. We met friends over the summer for ice cream outside, but now that temps. are going to be in the 60's, I'm not really wanting outside ice cream. My in-laws see more people than we do and are attending inside church services so I am not comfortable doing inside visits with them. My family lives in a place where they don't have many cases so no one other than my mom and step-dad (who both have several serious pre-existing conditions making them very high-risk) wears masks and they think its odd that I only want to do outside activities. We are going to my niece's outdoor wedding next weekend and I know I will get grief from people about not visiting inside at their homes. The crazy thing (to me) is they should be most worried about my family being asymptomatic carriers because we are coming from a county with way more cases. My kids have some friends that the families are being pretty careful (all are cyber schooling their kids as well instead of doing in person school, most parents working from home, very little travel or visiting family), so we have chosen to see those families throughout the summer but I think we are all of the same mindset that meeting outside is better than inside. Luckily DH, DD2, and myself are pretty content just living in our own little bubble. 14 yr. old DD1 is the most social one and she will struggle once her cross country season ends and she doesn't see friends at running practice every afternoon after school. I have been trying to think of different things we can do to make the winter more fun (maybe skiing which we have never done, or snow tubing at a local resort, or do an Air BnB away for a few days since we are all working/schooling remotely). Considering inviting friends over for an outdoor costumed candy scavenger hunt for Halloween. We are starting up in person Girl Scout meetings and DD1 also wants to attend youth group meetings twice a month. These are indoor meetings but everyone will be wearing masks and spaced apart, so hopefully that is safe enough to give the girls some social exposure.

[jgenie]

We do have a neighbor who is using a projector to show a movie against the side of their barn. They are inviting people to bring their own snacks and line up the truck beds with blankets and pillows for a kind of drive-in theater. Lining up trucks, backed in, eight feet apart. I think it's going to be fun and about as safe as can be right now.

We bought a projector this summer. It has been a great way to have friends over outside. We order pizza, show a movie then the kids would swim afterwards. It was almost like a regular summer except we limited the number of friends.

[MSWR0319]

No, unfortunately I don’t think we can safely socialize in winter. There are a couple of kids my older son has been socializing with whose families are doing what we are doing - very limited activities and only socializing outside. We are in the minority. Shopping centers and restaurant parking lots are full. Entire families are out shopping and eating in restaurants. People here are socializing same as pre-pandemic. I’m still listening to a family member complain about how everyone else is traveling and eating out and that I’m crazy for not joining in. There isn’t a meal I’m willing to risk my health for.

This is where I am at. No one in my community/area is taking this seriously. We have one set of friends that I think would be willing to visit wearing masks indoors, but that is it. Everyone else thinks we're crazy. There's no way to form a pod because everyone is going to work and then out with friends, to restaurants, etc. I wish people took it more seriously.

[marinkitty]

So, I think the bubble idea is a nice theory, but almost always falls apart in practice. Maybe it works for families with very young children who are 100% within the immediate family orbit, but with teens I think it's wishful thinking. In our current mix, we have a middle schooler playing soccer and in hybrid school, a high schooler playing hockey and two high schoolers about to go back on a hybrid basis. If every family in your bubble has kids similarly involved in activities, that's a ton of contacts even before you add in the occasional risky interaction (carpooling, dining out, sitting too close to folks at a game, adults playing paddle or pick up sports on weekends, people pulling their masks off when they shouldn't, etc) even if people are being relatively careful. Once you go indoors, if you aren't fully masked and distancing, it's a whole new ball game for risk.

Short answer is socializing indoors is probably not safe.

We are focusing right now on extending our outdoor season - we have a fire pit on our patio and just ordered a solo stove for the deck and two propane heaters (to augment the fire heat) and had three cords of firewood delivered. I just inventoried our outdoor clothing and am making sure we have lots of layers we can wear if we want to hang out outdoors. I also pulled out our large coffee dispenser that I can use with hot drinks, paired with a sanitizer for hands. We have insulated mugs and wine glasses galore. I also added a few more outdoor-friendly throw blankets to our inventory and plan to keep a basket full by the back door and can just launder them as needed. That should get us through into early December here in Chicago, although there will be less days where outdoor hangouts will be possible so we will have to plan based on the weather a lot more than we did this summer.

Not sure what we will do after that I don't see anyone hanging around outside in January or February around here no matter what set up people have - I think it will be a constant risk tolerance exercise - weighing the need for interaction with the relative safety of different social events and we will see the impact in the numbers.

We've done a few other things in anticipation of being able to do a lot less socializing - we got a treadmill in addition to the Peloton bike we got last spring, the extra firewood is also for having more fires inside, we added a few more games, got a Roku for the TV and are getting two kittens. Hopefully all that will keep us sane!

[carolinacool]

So, I think the bubble idea is a nice theory, but almost always falls apart in practice. Maybe it works for families with very young children who are 100% within the immediate family orbit, but with teens I think it's wishful thinking. In our current mix, we have a middle schooler playing soccer and in hybrid school, a high schooler playing hockey and two high schoolers about to go back on a hybrid basis. If every family in your bubble has kids similarly involved in activities, that's a ton of contacts even before you add in the occasional risky interaction (carpooling, dining out, sitting too close to folks at a game, adults playing paddle or pick up sports on weekends, people pulling their masks off when they shouldn't, etc) even if people are being relatively careful. Once you go indoors, if you aren't fully masked and distancing, it's a whole new ball game for risk.

Yes. DS is scheduled to go back to school at the end of October if numbers continue to hold steady here. We've also decided to let him play fall/winter basketball, again if the numbers hold steady. I've been upfront with my two good friends who've I've gotten together with a few times this summer. They are fine with it and said we can meet outdoors as long as we can and then re-evaluate. My friend's daughter is returning to dance, and the last time I was at her house, that same daughter was at a friend's house. Her kids are in a different school system, but they might be going back in person as well.

[JustMe]

Most likely no. Unless you are okay with bundling up outside or make the bubble thing work; either of those could work. Here our cases are higher than ever and we may go back to phase one. My teens and I are not really socializing. We have seen 2 families we are friends with, one of whom has a son who is dd's age, and that is it (we have only seen them together as a family, meaning my kids have not been off with other kids unsupervised). I would have seen more people with outside social distancing, but I am not comfortable with their risk-taking. I know outside with masks is still likely safe, but I don't want to get into the slippery slope thing with people who are not taking this seriously. I do think it is possible to do a "bubble" but have not really found anyone who we would be a good fit with who would be committed to that.

[jgenie]

So, I think the bubble idea is a nice theory, but almost always falls apart in practice. Maybe it works for families with very young children who are 100% within the immediate family orbit, but with teens I think it's wishful thinking. In our current mix, we have a middle schooler playing soccer and in hybrid school, a high schooler playing hockey and two high schoolers about to go back on a hybrid basis. If every family in your bubble has kids similarly involved in activities, that's a ton of contacts even before you add in the occasional risky interaction (carpooling, dining out, sitting too close to folks at a game, adults playing paddle or pick up sports on weekends, people pulling their masks off when they shouldn't, etc) even if people are being relatively careful. Once you go indoors, if you aren't fully masked and distancing, it's a whole new ball game for risk.

Short answer is socializing indoors is probably not safe.

We are focusing right now on extending our outdoor season - we have a fire pit on our patio and just ordered a solo stove for the deck and two propane heaters (to augment the fire heat) and had three cords of firewood delivered. I just inventoried our outdoor clothing and am making sure we have lots of layers we can wear if we want to hang out outdoors. I also pulled out our large coffee dispenser that I can use with hot drinks, paired with a sanitizer for hands. We have insulated mugs and wine glasses galore. I also added a few more outdoor-friendly throw blankets to our inventory and plan to keep a basket full by the back door and can just launder them as needed. That should get us through into early December here in Chicago, although there will be less days where outdoor hangouts will be possible so we will have to plan based on the weather a lot more than we did this summer.

Not sure what we will do after that I don't see anyone hanging around outside in January or February around here no matter what set up people have - I think it will be a constant risk tolerance exercise - weighing the need for interaction with the relative safety of different social events and we will see the impact in the numbers.

We've done a few other things in anticipation of being able to do a lot less socializing - we got a treadmill in addition to the Peloton bike we got last spring, the extra firewood is also for having more fires inside, we added a few more games, got a Roku for the TV and are getting two kittens. Hopefully all that will keep us sane!

Would you mind linking to the outdoor blankets and insulated mugs please?