Who’s tired of being home so much, stressed out financially or from the kids being home most of the time? Who’s ready for a girls night? Starting a craft night with your friends is a lot like starting a Zoom Book Club, but with a few differences. Here are some tips for starting a Zoom craft night with your friends.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Which friends do you have that are makers, or just want an excuse to hang out online and do something fun?
Do you enjoy crafting? Or, do you have a specific hobby like knitting or crocheting that you do? Think about the kind(s) of creations you’d like to make. Maybe you already have experience and need an excuse to work on a project regularly, or maybe you want to try something new. There are so many options.
Here Are Some Craft Ideas to Make With Your Adult Friends:
- General crafting (maybe a different craft every month)
- Knitting or Crocheting
- Cake or cupcake decorating
- Painting
- Candle making
- Stained glass
- Decoupage
- No-sew crafts
- Wood burning
- Pottery (make it at home with air-dry clay projects)
- Jewelry making
- Baking
- Quilting or sewing
- Soap making
- Origami
- Macrame
- Wood pallet crafts
- Floral arranging
- Cheese making
- Cooking
- Paper crafts
- Embroidery or Cross-Stitch
- Card making
Narrow Down Your List
Decide on 1 to 3 types of crafts you’d prefer to make, and talk to your friends to find out who else wants to get-together with you. That way, if you can’t find many friends that love your favorite craft, maybe they like one of the other options.
Why do I think you should choose the main type of crafts you’ll create? If you’re putting together a Zoom craft night, you’re probably going to be the official organizer. And if you’re going to be the organizer of craft night, it will take some occasional work. And why do that if you poll 10 of your friends and the majority want to crochet, but you dislike crocheting?
If Your Tribe Is Small, That’s Okay
If there’s a craft you want to do and you can only find 1 or 2 other friends that want to join you, that’s fine! You found your tribe. You can always re-invite friends later, maybe they’ll decide they want to learn how to do your craft. Or, maybe the other friends in the group have friends they can invite.
It is possible to have more than one craft group that you get together with. Maybe you Zoom with a general crafting group one week, and a knitting group the next.
Even though I personally think it’s more fun when everyone in your group works on the same project together, you could definitely all work on different projects while you video conference.
Choose How Often Your Zoom Craft Night Will Meet
Deciding how often your group will meet not only depends on the availability of your friends, but also the kind of crafts you’re making. If your group makes fiber arts, they will probably have the supplies they need often.
If your craft group makes a different craft each time, purchasing supplies may be time-consuming, not to mention expensive, and not something they can do every week. That alone may dictate how often you meet.
After considering those topics, ask your friends how an when they want to meet.
Decide How to Communicate and Meet
Will your group remember to meet every first Monday of the month at 7 pm? Or, every Thursday at 8 pm? Or, do you need an online location to make plans and post details where your friends can also find info about the next Zoom craft night.
If you and your friends are already on Facebook, you can create a private group for discussions and to post details.
Figure Out How to Choose Which Project(s) to Work On
If your friends are all going to work on the same project together, do they submit ideas for crafts? If they do, where do they submit ideas?
If you have a Facebook group, someone in your group can easily create a post where people can submit ideas. Or, maybe they message you their ideas?
If you use Facebook Groups, you can create a poll for your friends to vote on, once you have a list of possible projects. Or, you can create a free straw poll online.
Alternatively, your friends could take turns deciding on the group craft project instead of voting.
Make sure to decide on the project(s) a few weeks ahead of time so you can give your friends the details and a list of supplies they will need.
How will you video conference?
Zoom is a popular choice for video conferencing right now. If someone has a subscription, that makes it really easy. If they don’t, you can use Zoom for free for up to 40 minutes. You could always take a 10 minute break after 40 minutes to let everyone use the bathroom and get something to drink, then start the call again.
Facebook Groups has video calling capability if you make a Facebook Group. Or, Google Hangouts has free video conferencing too.
Webex allows you to host one free video call per month, for up to 50 minutes. But, they also have a pretty reasonably priced subscription service to hold much longer video conferences if you don’t want to keep hanging up.
Remind Your Friends About Zoom Craft Night
Send a reminder to the group a few days before, and again on the day of, your video conference or meeting.
What to Include in the Reminder:
- Date of the meeting
- Time (including timezone if any of your friends live in a different timezone)
- Name of the book
- How far to read (the entire book, or a certain number of chapters?)
- Any apps or software they will need to download and/or sign-up for, such as Zoom. Including links to the app or software is even better!
- Suggest they bring a good beverage and maybe some snacks with them
- Consider recommending that they ask their partner to watch the kids or dogs during your book club meeting, even if you’re meeting through video conference from your homes. Interuptions can hinder your discussion and make it less fun for the friend who’s being interruped often by their family. (If you have busy moms in the group, alone time with their friends is good self care and gives them a break and time to relax. So, that can be an encouraging point to make.)
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