Quarantine Drive-by Bucket Dump

My son was turning 11 in the middle of heightened social distancing restrictions. We wanted to find a way to make the day memorable for him, while still protecting the health of our family and friends. A birthday dive by was a nice idea, but we wanted to make the event more interactive and more enjoyable for our guests as well. We came up with the idea of a mystery bucket dump. We laid a plastic table cloth on our driveway, constructed a platform to hold three buckets above the bday boy's head, decorated with a slime colored balloon arch, and then seated our birthday boy on a folding chair decked out in goggles (his idea) and a clear poncho. My older two sons stood behind the platform ready to slime their brother with all manner of messy concoctions. When our friends drove by, they could shout out a bucket number and enjoy watching the bday kid take a shower of baked beans, jello, oatmeal, etc. It was a huge hit with the kids and had us all laughing. We also set up a party favor table near the end of the driveway with individually boxed, store-bought cakes to send home with our guests! We rigged up a basked on a long pole so we could hand out goodies and still maintain proper distancing from our friends. Many of our guests also brought along birthday gifts, which they were able to place in the basket as they retrieved their party favor. At the end of the event, my son took a shower while we cleaned up the driveway, then we recorded him opening his presents and shared that video, along with a message of gratitude with the party guests online. Our bday boy had a lot of fun, and it will definitely be a birthday celebration we will remember for quite some time!

• What People Ate

  Cake to go

• What People Drank

  No beverages served

• Desserts

  Fudge or coconut cake

• Party Favors

  Cakes to go

• Activities / Games

  Mystery bucket dump!