Virtual hangout ideas you haven’t thought of yet

I’m an introvert. I assumed quarantine wouldn’t really affect me, but, lo and behold, even introverts are feeling the burn. I started to miss hanging out with my only two friends. So we experimented with our video calls to see if we could replicate our pre-pandemic hang sesh. Read on for how we broke the quar doldrums through our virtual hangout innovations.

Karaoke sessions

Every Friday night, my friends and I would meet up at our usual karaoke place and sing our frustrations from the week. That place is permanently closed now. And it’s not like we can just casually go out and look for a new place, so we tried karaoke sessions on Google Meet by projecting instrumentals from YouTube. NGL, it’s fun! But it only works well on days with great internet connection. Otherwise, we can’t sing a proper verse without lagging.

Remote photoshoot

I don’t like posing for the camera but I like capturing my friends. I’ve always been their designated photographer whenever we go out. So we tried a Zoom photoshoot. The results aren’t as high quality as those captured via in-person photoshoots but it’s actually a nice way to kill time with my friends.

Quiz night

Oh, to be the geeks we were back in college. The first time we tried doing a virtual quiz night, it was a mess. I had to use two different devices—one for the quiz presentation and another for the video call itself. The questions ranged from which animal can’t jump to where to find the largest commercially available pizza in the world. (If you’re curious, elephants are the only animals that can’t jump and the largest commercially available pizza can be found in Texas.)

Mobile gaming

My friends and I don’t play Mobile Legends or PUBG. We love Uno and Song Association though! Those are also considered mobile games... right?

Movie party

Virtual movie marathons became our regular Saturday night routine. We usually do it via Kosmi, an application that offers a watch party option while video calling. From horror movies to the latest Filipino films (legally) uploaded on YouTube, my friends and I watch it all until the wee hours.

Originally published in Shopmag Online

Header photo courtesy of Sigmund on Unsplash