How to make the most of the bank holiday while social distancing

Couple setting a dining table with bowls, glasses, candles and flowers with a kitchen in the background and a Hive Thermostat sitting on a black drawer unit to the right hand side

Remember when the only thing that could spoil a bank holiday was the weather? Remember what the inside of a pub looks like? Let’s not write the long weekend off just yet though. Here’s a smorgasbord of fun activities to make the most of the time off. And none of them involve another virtual quiz…


If you've got kids

Go glamping in your garden

Just because you can’t spend half a day packing up the car and the rest of it sitting in a traffic jam, doesn’t mean you can’t get away from it all over the bank holiday. Instead, pitch a tent in your back garden or sitting room for a fantastic family adventure. 

The great thing about camping so close to home is that you can still have all your creature comforts around you and you can always carry people in at the end of the night. Even better, no communal toilets.

Spend some time making it super cosy with duvets and pillows. Get the kids involved with making bunting and building a campfire. If you decide to be inside, use Hive Lights to create a soft, cosy atmosphere. Either way, don’t forget the marshmallows.

Host your own family Olympics

Tokyo may be on hold but the long weekend is a great opportunity to rally the gang together for a little healthy competition.

Pick challenges that will work for everyone from the youngest to the oldest. We’re thinking who can eat a strawberry shoelace the fastest. Or the sock game (where you have to try and steal a sock off your opponent’s foot before they get one from you).

You could even fill some of the home schooling slots with Olympic activities in the week leading up to it. Explore the history of the games with older kids. And help younger children make Olympic rings. Just dip plastic cups in the right paint colour and press down on a sheet of paper.


If you live on your own

Host a digital dinner party

Just like a real dinner party this takes a bit of planning.

First up, think about who to invite. Try and keep it to between four and six guests. Large enough to get some fun banter going but small enough that you won’t all end up talking over the top of each other all evening.

Next, decide what to eat. You can either ask everyone to rustle up the same thing. Or, to make it feel like more of special occasion, lots of restaurants now offer a time-co-ordinated, multi-home delivery service. So you can all eat the same thing at exactly the same time.

To really feel like you’re all sitting down together, create a playlist and share it with your guests so everyone can listen to the same tunes.

Just before you dial in, use your Hive Lights to make the perfect party backdrop. A warm white glow will make sure you look your best on camera and help create a comfortable, inviting atmosphere.

Then sit back and enjoy the fact you’ve only got to worry about washing up for one.

Get green-fingered

There are some bank holiday staples that even corona can’t put a dampener on. With B&Q now open again and summer on the way, it’s the perfect time to try your hand at a spot of gardening.

The Royal Horticultural Society website has lots of ideas of what to grow. And if you don’t have any outside space, or just want to start small, window boxes are a great way to go.


If you live with friends

Organise a bar crawl

If you live with friends you’re likely to have a few rooms, so why not turn each of them into a different bar for the evening? Each flat mate picks a theme and designs their bar around that.

You could transform the sitting room into an elegant cocktail bar. The bathroom into Copacabana beach. Or if you want to get really inventive, a Prohibition style Speakeasy in the kitchen, complete with cocktails in teapots.

Battle it out over a board game

Get your game face on for some light-hearted competition with one of the following:

You could keep it old school and dig out Monopoly from the back of the cupboard. It’s a long game but we’ve all got plenty of time right now.

An oldie but a goodie. Battleships is a fun way to while away an hour or two as you try and outsmart the enemy. Although most people are familiar with the board game, it’s just as easy to create your own grid to play on. Follow this guide from The Activity Village.

In the last few years, Catan has developed a bit of a cult following. Players take on the role of settlers and battle to build their own civilisation in order to win the game.

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