Bas Mitzvah during Covid times

amother

Sun, Jan 24 2021, 6:31 pm

My daughter turned Bas Mitzvah 2 weeks before Purim last February, literally right before Covid lockdowns began.
We had decided in January to wait until May to have a celebration for her so that we wouldn't have to worry about the weather and relatives traveling. Obviously, we didn't know covid was coming and would alter those plans.
We really hoped we'd be able to have something in person, but things started opening up again and locking back down, and here we are.....right before her 13th birthday!
Together, with my daughter's input, we decided to do a Zoom with just her friends and another with family. (We can't combine the two as there are some anti-frum relatives on my husband's side and we are nervous what they will say on a Zoom session!)

Logistically, we can't make both before her 13th birthday (her Hebrew birthday is 29th Shevat). So we decided to do the friends' Zoom now and the family in March. For her local friends we are thinking of doing a Walk-By dessert after the Zoom celebration so they can pick up nosh and favors.) DD is Ok with this arrangement. I think she just wants one celebration while she's still 12!

The catch: I have a daughter in seminary and none of the dates (really only 2 Sundays left) work with her school schedule. She has Shabbatons both those weekends and can't come home. DD12 wants her to be home. DD in seminary feels bad, but doesn't want to miss the seminary Shabbatons. We discussed her logging into Zoom with everyone, which she could do, but DD12 is really sad.

I feel so stuck and terrible! I wish we could have made this in-person months ago, or even now...and it just seems like we can't find a way to make this nice for DD12 no matter how hard we try!

Advice please..... Thank you!