Local legend, Cassie Barton loves celebrating birthdays with her friends and family and is determined not to let COVID-19 stop her from enjoying these special occasions with her community.
“I was lying in bed the other night feeling a little sad about all of the kids who have had to cancel their upcoming birthday parties, and remembered a post I saw on a mothers group about a lady overseas who had organised ‘drive-by birthday parties’ for those in her community’.
Remembering this, Cassie was quick to bring the initiative to life in her own community, here in Newman. She’s set up the Facebook group, ‘Birthdays During the Covid-19 pandemic’, where you can post your street name, your child’s first name and age, and what time you’d like people to drive past. So far, they’ve had seven ‘drive-by parties’, with friends, family and neighbours making signs, attaching balloons to cars, and calling out well wishes to the special birthday boy or girl – all from the safety of their own cars.
“The other day, we had a young girls grandparents drive past her house with a beautiful poster signed ‘love Grammy and Poppy. It had me in tears! It’s so lovely to see everyone coming together to spread the joy”, Cassie said.
The group is growing fast, with the Newman community keen to jump onboard the fun, with over 200 people in the Facebook group, and over 30 upcoming parties scheduled. And it’s not just kids either, Cassie said that they had their first adult birthday party the other day too!
If you’d like to register your child’s birthday (or your own), get involved by joining the group here!
Want to keep track of this fantastic initiative and find out other creative ways the Newman community is supporting one another? Join the Newman Futures | Stronger Together COVID-19 and get involved in the conversation!
Please note: The ‘Birthdays During the Covid-19 pandemic’ take all precautions to ensure the safety of children and confidential of information. The group remains private with access is only permitted to friends of existing members, or those that have been screened by the admin. Last names of children are not permitted to be shared, and all posts with personal information are deleted once their drive by party has been completed.
