Making the Best of It

We all know these are hard and trying times for everyone, and we are not all in the same boat. With everything closed down at the moment, I thought I would pass along a few ideas to help you pass the time:

Just Chat – While social distancing may keep us apart, I find it to be enjoyable to still be able to connect with friends and family through a variety of virtual chatting platforms such as Google Meet, Zoom or FaceTime. During lockdown I have been able to join in at birthday parties, virtual happy hours, game nights and more! One thing to keep in mind that if you do plan to host a gathering, make sure you share your link and password privately for security purposes.

Board Games – My family is really big into board games and I had posted a blog post some time back on some of my recommendations for the beach. Since then, I have a few more games we can add to the list along with a link where you can read more info about them:

Cartographers (1-Any # players) – About the game
Tsuro (2-6 players) – About the game
Azul (2-4 players) – About the game
Codenames (2-8 players) – About the game
Arboretum (2-4 players) – About the game
Just One (3-7 players) – About the game
Fluxx (2-6 players) – About the game
The Mind (2-4 players) – About the game
 
I have played both Codenames and Cartographers virtually and it works well when one player has the physical copy and everyone else can play by looking at the monitor.  I have heard that Just One has also been successful with other people as well.

One other option, is playing online through platforms such as Tabletop Simulator (which I recommend going through Steam to get), Tabletopia or Board Game Arena.

Paint Night – There are many places that now do one night classes where you attend with a few friends and follow along with an instructor and everyone paints the same thing. I’ve done my own version of one of these and it is fairly easily set something like this up at home! The host could simply email a supply list and photo to the attendees and everyone would just join in through a virtual meeting  to talk, laugh and paint together! At the end, everyone can show each other their results.

Journal – One thing I have heard many people are doing is documenting this monumental point in history. Keeping a journal can not only be a great stress reliever, but would definitely be something interesting to look back on over years and reflect on the time we are living in at this moment.

Exercise – With all the restrictions in place and stay home orders, it’s still important to get your body moving. Some may prefer a home gym, but if you don’t have access to equipment, get out and at least take a walk outside each day. Add a little extra by taking some nature photos along the way!

I hope some of these things might spark some interest in you during these difficult times, but with any luck, hopefully things will resume back to normal soon! If you have any of your own ideas to pass the time, we’d love to hear them! Feel free to post them to the Sawgrass South Facebook page!