The local businesses helping us celebrate our birthdays in lockdown
Chances are, we’ve all had to plan a lockdown celebration by now, whether it’s a birthday, anniversary or graduation. However, many will agree that January celebrations have caught the rough end of the bargain. Far from the summer lockdown which allowed for outdoor activities, the winter lockdown leaves us even more restricted and makes it even more important to ensure our loved ones have the best day possible.
That is why The Property Maintenance People have put together the ultimate guide to the Lockdown Celebration. Whatever the occasion, here’s everything you need to make it special, from cake and décor to gifts and activities. And in true PMP style, this guide contains some of our favourite local businesses who have been our birthday heroes this year, so keep it bookmarked for future celebrations!
Food
The Cake
If ever there was a year to get your dream cake, this is the one! Surprise your loved ones with a bespoke cake by And Eat It that captures all of their favourite things or pick one of Blue Orchid Bakery’s ‘Dream Cakes’ for an indulgent treat.
Blue Orchid Bakery Dream Cakes – price on enquiry
Not really a cake person? Why not get an ultimate personalised biscuit from Savery’s Sweet Treats? Their smaller biscuits also make excellent party favours that can be delivered and enjoyed during virtual celebrations – all completely personalised to be all about the birthday boy or girl!
Savery Sweet Treats – Price on enquiry
Go ahead and indulge – you only get one lockdown birthday (hopefully)!
Snacks and graze boxes
Whatever you are doing to celebrate your momentous occasion, you need some luxury snacks to go with it! From the luxury chocolate strawberries by Strawberrylicious to the Pancake Grazing platters and delicious brownie stacks provided by Robyn’s Nest, make sure your loved one is spoilt from breakfast til dinner. Having a movie night? Two Sisters Café can provide the ultimate Cinema Graze Box. They also do savoury boxes for those without a sweet tooth!
Two Sisters Café Cinema Box – £25
Dining
Whether it’s a 16th or 60th Birthday, a 1st anniversary or 50th anniversary, our celebrations would usually involve a sit down meal at our favourite restaurant. Luckily, we have been blessed with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to bring us our favourite cuisine, but if you’re looking for something a bit more special for your celebratory meal, look no further than At Home with Ryan Ltd. This talented private chef uses local quality ingredients to bring you delicious cuisine in the comfort of your own home. All you have to do is reheat or add finishing touches.
You can have your own bespoke menu or you can choose one of Ryan’s set menus, like this mouth-watering four course Valentine’s Day menu below. Why not go all out with table cloths, candles and a great playlist to create the ultimate ambience?
At Home with Ryan Valentine’s Day menu – £80 per couple
Décor
A birthday spent inside is a great excuse to go all out with the décor! CC Balloons have such a wide variety of fabulous and unique balloon creations that make the perfect accompaniment to any birthday celebration. Based in Bracknell, they are available for collection or local delivery.
CC Balloons – Price on enquiry
Gifts
Gift a Subscription
Quite literally, the gift that keeps on giving! With subscriptions available for stationery, cosmetics, candles, socks, tea, coffee, gin and much, much more, there’s a monthly gift package for everyone. With many subscriptions, you can choose to gift a one time box or a three, six or twelve month subscription, meaning that your gift will continue to bring joy to your loved one month after month.
Our personal favourite is The Jam Jar cocktail club subscription… because who doesn’t want to pretend they’re in a fancy bar instead of their living room once a month?! Each month you will receive the ingredients for two off-menu cocktails, with enough for a total of four servings!
The Jam Jar Cocktail Club subscription service – £27.95 a month
Flower delivery
Flowers are always a great way to let someone know you are thinking about them on their special day. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, graduation or just because, there’s a whole host of local flower companies that supply carefully curated bouquets for any occasion. We love Funky Flowers By Kate Thomas, who also offer a fabulous subscription service called funkyflorals!
Funky Flowers by Kate Thomas – bouquets from £35
Self-care kit
Self-care kits make great gifts for our heroic key workers who deserve some TLC. The Brown Box Gift Company provide wonderful boxes filled with a range of products made by other small businesses, from candles and bath salts to hot chocolate, tea and coffee! They also offer vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free boxes, catering to everyone.
Little Luv Box on Instagram also do affordable self-care boxes for women filled with cosy socks, face masks and favourite sweets and chocolate – a lovely way to tell someone special that you are thinking of them.
Hamper
Forget Fortnum and Mason, why not make your loved one a personalised hamper supporting local businesses? Get some natural body butter from Liv Eco Friendly, a bespoke soy wax candle from CosyMomentsUK, some Hot Chocolate Bombs by Amelia and of course, their favourite bottle of fizz and you have yourself a beautiful bespoke birthday gift basket – at half the price of your traditional luxury hampers!
Hot Chocolate Bombs by Amelia – 4 for £12
Liv Eco Friendly Mandarin and Bergamot Body Butter – £8.50
Cosy Moments UK bespoke soy wax candles – Small £6.00, Medium £9.50, Large (pictured) £12.50
Activities
Hot tub hire
A little pricier, but a wonderful way to do something extra special for a big anniversary or birthday. Thames Valley Tubs have a range of different hot tub sizes for hire with a number of different packages, such as hot tub pizza parties or cinema nights. They also offer bell tents and domes for a glamping or festival theme!
The service involves contactless set up with delivery on Thursday and collection on Monday, so you can really make a weekend of it!
Spa day
Spoil your little one with an at home spa day – after all, it will be a long time before they can join you at a real spa! Put on some relaxing music, make smoothies, paint fingers and toes and treat them to a natural face mask to make them feel completely pampered. Then settle down to watch their favourite movie – perfect!
Family fancy dress
For this activity, you will need some willing and imaginative family members and a fancy dress box. Whether you organise this with your household or with the extended family over zoom, you’re guaranteed to have a laugh with a themed fancy dress night. It will also make your little one feel special to see their family dressed up as their favourite characters!
You could even do a red carpet theme so that everyone can don their best clothes after a year of cancelled events and wearing loungewear.
Cocktail Night
Cocktail or mocktail? Whatever your preference, we could all do with something sweet right now. Recreate the atmosphere of a fancy cocktail bar in the comfort of your own home by serving up some of your favourite drinks. A great idea for 18 year olds missing out on the experience of their first legal drink (on the plus side, you can control the strength of their drinks!) and also to include younger members of the family by making your own alcohol free concoctions.
With a wide range of cocktails to choose from, The Jam Jar Cocktail Club offer boxes of one, two or three different flavoured cocktails with enough servings for the whole family. Sorted!
The Jam Jar Cocktail Club gift boxes – one cocktail flavour £22.95, two cocktail flavours £33.95, three cocktail flavours £44.95
Pottery
Whether you have young children who like to get messy or you are looking to spend a therapeutic afternoon painting some new homeware, pottery painting can be enjoyed by all ages, and with a huge range of ceramics available for delivery or collection from The Ugly Duckling, it can also be enjoyed in your own home. From ceramic mermaids and dragons to three tier cake stands, there’s something for everyone to paint.
Why not make it into a virtual party by inviting your child’s friends to paint a plate or bowl along with them on zoom? With items available for same day click and collect, organising is a cinch and reasonably priced, too.
Or you could gather some friends for a virtual ‘wine and pottery night’ – a great way for everyone to unwind, have a catch up and get creative while doing it.
The Ugly Duckling products – pottery painting to go kit £4.50, ceramics bought separately for £2.99+
Here at The Property Maintenance People, we know that it is more important than ever that you feel safe and comfortable in your home, which is why we are continuing to operate throughout national restrictions and are following strict safety measures to protect our clients and staff. Contact us today for any emergency or general maintenance work – and make sure you get it done in time for your lockdown celebration!