Virtual Watch Parties: Connecting with Friends and Family from Afar

When you live a busy lifestyle, it can often get in the way of your social interactions. If you work or study far from your hometown, getting together with your friends and family becomes even more challenging.  But that’s where you can use the benefits of the digital age to your own advantage. With virtual watch parties, you can find an entertaining, enriching, and socially rewarding way to connect with your loved ones throughout the world. To help you get the hang of these solutions, here is how to hold virtual watch parties like a pro.

Discuss what everyone wants to watch

Thanks to technologies that are driving the entertainment industry, virtual watch parties can be held for TV shows, movies, games, sporting events, and other specialized programs. But even though they take place online, virtual watch parties still require you to make sure that every participant agrees to watch the same thing. By discussing different options with your family and friends, you can decide what exactly you want to watch together. 

Confirm that everyone is available 

Similar to getting together in person, virtual watch parties also call for everyone’s availability at the same time. Whether you plan to watch live online auctions or the entire season of a prestige TV series, you should ensure that all members of your friend or family group will be online with you. This makes sure that you are planning with everyone’s schedule in mind and not turning the fun party into a stressful meeting. 

Use specialized apps for ease 

When you are watching something with your loved ones, you may want to share real-time commentary with each other. By using solutions such as a watch party app, you can ensure that you can easily text one another on the same screen as your video stream. This adds a significant level of comfort to your online watch party and makes it more enthralling. Most features on these solutions are available for free, which helps you enjoy them without extra costs. 

Blend in some fun through virtual invites

Once you have your event, your schedule, and your watch party platform all sorted out, you can think about adding even more fun to the activity. If you want to be more tongue-in-cheek, you can use some of the best meeting scheduling apps to remind everyone about your watch party. If you want to share your joy more clearly, you can create specialized digital invitations through online apps. These steps get everyone more excited about your watch parties. 

Get everyone to buy the same snacks

To ensure that your virtual watch parties do not fall behind in-person get-togethers, you can also introduce the concept of every member of your party having the same types of snacks at hand. With classic options such as caramel popcorn, candy, and wine, you can ensure that everyone meets this fun requirement no matter where they are. This leads to a more interconnected experience that helps everyone feel like they are sitting right next to each other. 

Create group chats to discuss

One of the most important aspects of watching something with your loved ones is sharing your views with each other afterwards. To make sure that you can fulfill this expectation without any compromise, you can create special group chats with the members of your watch party. You can also do this while prioritizing your comfort. For instance, if you use WhatsApp, you can learn how to use WhatsApp Web and then chat with everyone from your computer. 

Plan ahead for live events and big releases

Coming back to the point about availability, it gets a bit challenging when you cannot shift the date of your watch party due to live events or series finales. That is where you can use a personal scheduling app to keep everyone on the same page a few weeks before your watch party. This gives your friends and family enough notice to ensure their online availability without burdening them with extensive stress. 

With these tips, you can easily hold fun watch parties with your friends and family. This helps you remain connected with the people you value the most, regardless of your physical distance.