Celebrating birthdays quarantine style
Around this time last year, many teens were celebrating their birthdays with hopes of making this year’s celebration better than the last.
Getting to celebrate your birthday with family and friends is a tradition everyone looks forward to, especially milestone birthdays like turning 16 or 18.
Unfortunately this tradition has been put on hold for a while, due to the coronavirus outbreak. Many teens are disappointed that they have to spend important birthdays in the confines of their houses.
This is especially true for high school senior Mary Harty. “It was my entrance into ‘adulthood,’” said Harty as she talked about her upcoming birthday.
During this time of quarantine many teenagers are being made to stay inside as much as possible. While normally teens are excited to get some time off from school, taking away their ability to go virtually makes this situation less than ideal. Especially for the teens having to spend milestone birthdays inside, like turning 16 or 18 years old.
“I was going to go out to dinner at an expensive restaurant with my family and friends, but I went to the park with my parents instead,” stated Harty.
Along with Harty, Callie Frangella, 16, had to spend her birthday inside, with not much else to do.
“It was important because it was my 16th birthday. The worst part was that there wasn’t much to do except get takeout,” said Frangella.
Teenage girls aren’t the only people upset by having to spend their birthdays inside. Tristian Faulterman, a sophomore at Destrehan High School, also spent his birthday within the confines of his own house.
He said, “The fact that I couldn’t see my friends and celebrate with them was definitely the worst part.”
Despite everyone having to spend these milestone birthdays indoors, most teens have plans for more elaborate celebrations once they are able to meet up with their friends again.
“I will just celebrate at my house because a lot of people couldn’t come because of coronavirus,” stated Frangella.
Harty also explained her plans for a future birthday festivity. Although Hartys’ plans differ from Frangellas’ plans, it does not mean they will be any less meaningful to her.
“I will be going out to dinner and hopefully have a party after this quarantine is over,” said Harty.
Not everyone is planning on having a celebration when quarantine is over. Faulterman had a different view on what was going to happen since he couldn’t spend the day with his friends to celebrate.
Faulterman expressed, “I’m not going to celebrate when quarantine is over. I already celebrated with my family.”
Although not all teens are satisfied with how their birthday has been so far, they have plans to make sure they are happy with how their birthday celebrations will go, if they aren’t already pleased with how they spent their birthday.
