Many students and families at Millard West are putting their health first by social distancing from other people. Staying home gives many families the opportunity to bond more. While some families go on walks, play board games or binge-watch movies and TV shows, junior Milina Mike and her family are bonding in a more creative way. 

The Mike family has been holding a family night every Friday with a twist: it is themed. They sat down together and brainstormed a bunch of ideas they could use for themes on Fridays. So far they’ve held red carpet, Trolls, Goth and 50s inspired nights. The family of five spends their afternoon putting on makeup, doing creative hairdos and getting in costume for the night of themed events ahead of them. 

“We decided to do family theme nights because we are always looking for ways to bring our family closer,” Milina Mike said. “I had seen some people do it on TikTok and we wanted to do something similar.”

Lindsay Mike, Milina’s mom, prepares a dinner that she feels goes along with the theme each week, such as bow-tie alfredo and garlic bread with broccoli as well as using the fancy silverware and glasses for the red carpet theme. Then they make a TikTok and take family pictures and selfies. To end the night the Mike family watches a movie that ties in with the theme.

“We watched Karate Kid for goth night, mostly because my dad was super into goth/new wave in the 80’s and he loves Karate Kid,” Milina Mike said. “We also had limited options because I have a nine-year-old sister.”

Milina posts pictures of the themed nights on social media for friends and family members to see and possibly have a laugh. 

“I always love seeing her family’s posts and videos because they all look so happy,” junior Kody Horrocks said. “From an outside perspective, it’s really cool seeing families that are able to bond together while in this horrible time.”

Themed nights have brought the Mike family closer together in a time of uncertainty. They have been able to find joy with each other in ways that are out of the norm of family bonding.   

“It really gives us something to look forward to all week. I’d say we bond over planning each one,” Lindsay Mike said. “It has really helped us all work together and through some of our differences. “It’s also brought a ton of laughter during such an unknown time. I love seeing each person’s creativity come out.”

The family creates many memories and positive moments at home while they are brought closer together through their social distancing attempts. 

“My favorite memories so far are honestly just all the laughs we get and how each of us puts our own personal flair on the theme,” Milina Mike said. “I think it gives us something to remember in terms of COVID-19 as a whole. It will be something that as a family we can go back and watch and see how we made such a positive in a time of such uncertainty.”

The nights have created and will continue to create memories for the Mike family as they continue to dress up each Friday until Milina’s parents have to go back to work. Finding joy and curing boredom is especially difficult right now, but the Mike family makes it a priority during the week.