Festive Floral Framing for Holiday Zoom Celebrations
Let’s face it. This holiday season will be spent in more intimate family events because of the pandemic, rather than large gatherings. While we all crave connection, entertainment, and our beloved traditions during the holidays, large social celebrations will be unlikely for most, especially with the recent recurring waves of infection. If you are lucky to live in a warmer climate, you will be able to gather together outside, socially distanced, in a small group of family members or friends in your social pod. But for most, we will be forced to video conference and Zoom into this holiday season for social connection, celebration, and treasured traditions like family game nights. Creating decorative tablescapes for your video conference can transform the experience into a fun and festive engagement as seen in the gallery below:
At the start of the pandemic, Zoom, FaceTime, and other video conferencing platforms were a lifeline and a novel way to connect with colleagues, family, and friends. But by now, it is the last thing anyone wants to do after a long online day at work or school. One way I have tried to make the Zoom experience more interesting and special is to include a beautiful flower arrangement, centerpiece or seasonal decorative frame to enhance my video capture for the meeting. Picking a quick bouquet from the garden, holding an artfully crafted cocktail, or celebrating someone’s birthday with a party hat and slice of cake makes the experience unique, festive, and memorable. [See the gallery below for some of my festive floral frames for a variety of events.]
I have incorporated these techniques for a variety of video gatherings including book groups, cocktail hours, and holiday celebrations. I’ve used these techniques even when attending special virtual events like the DeYoung Museum’s annual Bouquet to Art, an annual event that showcases the work by the most renowned floral designers and the art that inspires their arrangements and installations. I created several bouquets for the many events and one floral arrangement inspired by a work of art in my own home to participate in the activity and feel more connected during this virtual event.
Setting the scene for your video event gives the viewer a glimpse into your world with a sense of whimsy and creativity which is an appreciated departure from the standard Zoom backgrounds. Your creativity and efforts can also provide a great icebreaker for new groups. Recently, I attended a 50th birthday Zoom celebration only to realize that I hardly knew any of the other 20+ attendees. Having a fun birthday hat along with a delicious slice of cake, complete with a candle to blow out, made me feel connected to the virtual party and also gave me something fun to talk about with a group I did not know well.
Follow these 8 festive framing tips and suggestions for your next virtual holiday event so that you can creatively connect with your family and friends and make your video experience feel more festive, special, and memorable:
If you are not tech-savvy, enlist the help of those family members who can't get off their screens to do the invite scheduling and video set-up. Make them your technical expert to manage the video chat and any issues like unmuting or starting the video instruction.
Plan the placement of your electronic device laptop, tablet, or phone to capture your holiday setting in advance (at least the day before), being especially attentive to framing you and your participants with festive florals or decorations while also making sure any power cables, adaptors, or camera cables are secure with painter's tape, zip ties, or other secure method.
Pay close attention to lighting. Set up the conference early so that you can make sure your face and items are evenly lit. Webcams don’t have the same light sensitivity or range that good photography cameras do, so they’ll usually take a bit of extra tweaking, but the effort can pay off handsomely. This doesn’t mean you need expensive lights, just moving a table lamp nearby can help immensely.
Share a meal with your guests by giving your Zoom audience a seat at your table by placing your laptop, tablet, or cell at the head of the table.
Create festive framing or backgrounds for your video capture with a seasonal floral centerpiece, a candle lit Menorah, twinkling Christmas Tree, or even a roaring fireplace or garden landscape in the background. This can be far more effective and interesting than a stock image background.
Include props like a floral arrangement, artful cocktails, seasonal decorations, or party hats. Details like this create a rich visual presentation. For New Year’s Eve you can set your scene with glasses of bubbly, a champagne bucket, colorful confetti, noisemakers and balloons.
Take your video event to the next level by coordinating special deliveries or activities to all attendees. Here are some suggestions:
Send ahead a favorite family recipe with ingredients for all to make step-by-step together online. A favorite dessert could also be delivered for all to enjoy together.
Coordinate cookie decorating by sending a gift box filled with cookies and the trimmings to decorate together. Or, for the adults, send a box with ingredients to create seasonal craft cocktails together.
Put a new twist on family game night with the following online 11 easy to Zoom games curated by Good House Keeping including Pictionary, Scattergories and even the ever popular with mature audiences, Cards Against Humanity.
Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and celebrations filled with an abundance of flowers and grapes!
