Spice up your evenings, social-distancing-style!

While professional sports may be temporarily on hold, that doesn't mean that your social life needs to be as well. While big tailgates may be impossible under current social distancing rules, there are a couple of ways that you can recreate the fun parts of a party from the safety of your own home. Here are a few ways to capture the energy of tailgating from a distance.

Balcony Barbecues

More and more people are turning to their balconies for a way of socially distanced interaction, so why not add some grilling to the equation? 

Scheduling time for your neighbors to all hang out on balconies and grill some food is a great way to pass the time. Although social distancing makes sharing tricky, it's a great way to flex those barbecuing skills by competing to see who can produce the most delicious-smelling smoke. Just toss in some music, add a couple of beers, and you've got a dozen little parties orbiting one big communal one. 

Plenty of balcony barbecues have gone viral for live music performances. If you plan on bringing the guitar, make sure you know how to play "Wonderwall" and "Freebird" before people start heckling. 

Driveway Block Party

Even if you're discouraged from getting close to people, you can still have a block party if you're willing to spread the block out a bit. Driveway block parties have become a popular means of socializing in suburbs that don't mind a bit of noise. Think of an event like this as a chance to turn your driveway into a miniature party pad. Party games like JackBox still work when people are remote. Just like before, this is a great chance to make people jealous by grilling something on your front porch and taunting them with the smells. 

Dance parties and bingo also work remotely, as long as the volume is loud enough! Even better, turning bingo into a drinking game by breaking out the beers for winning cards is an option. Just make sure that every neighbor on your street is on board with the idea or you might find yourself with a more profanity-laden soundtrack to the festivities. 

Zoom Karaoke

"Karaoke" is the Japanese word for "get really drunk and sing Hey Ya at 1:30 a.m." Although a lot of the appeal of karaoke parties is the energy that comes from audience reactions, it's possible to recreate much of it from the comfort of your own home. 

Zoom is an increasingly popular video call app for hosting events, meetings, and gatherings. The ability to display dozens of people on the screen lets you really milk those audience reactions, even if your friends aren't physically present. To host the actual song component of karaoke, we recommend Watch2Gether, a free online service that lets you create lobbies where you can synch up videos. Just send a link to everyone, search for karaoke versions of your favorite songs, and go wild!

We suggest that only the singer keep their microphone unmuted for the event, but like all rules with karaoke, this is subject to change if audience heckling gets too loud or the song "Lose Yourself" starts playing. 

Do you have any other fun suggestions for getting together with friends while still maintaining that social distance? Tell us in the comments!