Practical Techie: Virtual Father’s Day ideas to celebrate online
Father’s Day is observed in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, and other countries of the western world as a sequel to the celebration of mothers, a month before. This a day to pay homage to fatherhood, which is always on the third Sunday of June.
The year 2020 gave humanity ample experience in virtuality ad practice when it comes to socially distant gatherings, so how about some digital revelry to this year’s Father’s Day celebrations.
As New York Magazine states in the recent edition, even as many of us are lucky enough to be slowly emerging from quarantine, it may still be difficult to see family in person this Father’s Day. One silver lining of the past 15 months is that we have all gotten much more accustomed to doing things virtually, with its list of digitalized gifts.
If not an online gift, then a together-apart venue with the old man. Most of it, all about videoconferencing. Let’s examine some ideas.
How about listening to old records together via live streaming. Have him dust off his old tracks and have other family members do likewise and enjoy memorable music via the Web. Laugh, cry and poke fun at each other.
Host a virtual wine tasting. Send father a bottle of wine and order the same for yourself. Then both taste the vino on a FaceTime call. Or maybe have a Facetime picnic together at a distance.
Or take good old dad on a virtual tour of a famous museum anywhere in the world. GoogleArts & Culture teamed up with more than 2,500 museums and galleries around the world to bring anyone and everyone virtual tours and online exhibits of some of the most famous museums around the world.
Be even more footloose. Give Dad an experience that is out of this world! Head on over to the NASA website to take a virtual walk on Mars.
What about inviting papa on a virtual tour to some adventurous tour of a European or US national park. The page will give a visitor the different options.
Another site, countrylife.com suggests a vintage bingo game with dad and the siblings. For old times’ sake.
Each family member must have their cards, of course, and dad can call the numbers via Zoom, Meet, Skype or Facetime.
Or invite pop to fix up a bag of popcorn and send him an email with a list of at least 40 of the greatest Father’s Day movies to watch. All these flicks will make him laugh and cry, and make you feel truly thankful. Let him choose one from the streaming services after checking out the trailers on this site.
Nostalgia is always good for the old man. If your dad is an unapologetic vintager, have him travel virtually to his younger days by sending him to this site which offers a long list or many pages full of nostalgic items of yore. Old movies to old cars to historic events of the past 100 years.
Consider, on the other hand, a family T-shirt reunion. Have each family member print a love message for the father and flash him with it via Facetime, Zoom, etc.
Maybe share old pictures together online with the whole family.
If the abuelo has a green thumb, do a Facetime session with all the grandkids during which he explains the tricks of his gardening, or his describes his vegetables plot. It will make him feel appreciated.
Lastly, if your family is more on the spiritual side, go virtually with dad to a religious service. Many religions have online church services every Sunday such as Echo.Church, in English. Many Puerto Rico churches offer services in Spanish via YouTube on Father’s Day, or every Sunday for that matter via their own web pages. The entire family can assist virtually together.
