Our Lockdown Jewellery Challenge

Although we may have some easing of the lockdown restrictions we are all going to be spending more time at home and away from our wider friendship group, for some time to come; whether restrictions are put back in place or relaxed further in the future remains to be seen.  In light of this we thought up a fun jewellery challenge you can do with friends and family via video chat.

There's no limit on the number of people you can have in a group, as long as the video chat service you use can cope with that number of users, although the more people you include the longer it will last.  Once you have determined who will be involved, set a time each day, or each week (whatever works for your group) where you will dial in. 

On the first call, everyone should wear and show two of their favourite pieces of jewellery.  Most of us will have been wearing a lot less jewellery every day because we're not going out to work or socialise, so this is a nice way of reconnecting with your most cherished pieces and finding out what's most adored by your friends and family.  Sharing sentimental stories like this is something we've all been missing and it can really help connect us with our relatives and with good memories.

Each subsequent call should have a theme.  We like the idea of picking a colour for each call, and every member of the group has to dress and accessorise according to that colour scheme.  How tight you make the rules depends on your group – you might allow people to interpret the colour any way they like, for example a purple theme could be interpreted as a mix of red and blue pieces. 

You don't have to stick to colours; you could theme it around anything you like.  Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Animals – this could include face paint, animal print clothes or just the colour of the animal (so a monochrome look inspired by zebras)
• Social events – business meeting, tea with the Queen, school disco, the choices are endless
• Trends and eras – punk, hippy, mod, art deco... there are loads of style eras to choose from

It's a nice idea to allow everyone a turn to pick a theme, although if you have a hyper-organised person in your group, they might be able to create a whole schedule you can stick to.

We think voting for a winner adds a bit of fun, but you can choose your judging criteria according to what suits your group.  You might decide to score out of ten in the spirit Come Dine with Me, with the scores added up to determine the winner each time, alternatively you might want to add special mention categories, such as most effort, most creative interpretation of the theme or best presentation.

This is an idea that can be extended past lockdown, especially if you have friends and family overseas and would like to have more contact with them.  You will get the chance to let your creativity run riot, to wear some pieces of jewellery you might have forgotten about, and to get inspiration from your nearest and dearest for new pieces of jewellery to add to your collection.