She’s turned social distancing into social hour.
Theresa Smythe figured out a fun — and safe — way to keep the party rolling despite lockdown orders and club closures: a village of 6-foot-tall plastic pods.
After spending months cooped up in her apartment, the Hamilton Heights resident had the bright idea to use the clear, bubble-like enclosures as individual party tents.
“I was talking with my husband about how I wanted to build something outside so my friends and I could all sit together, but still be socially distant,” said Smythe, 49. “It was almost like Google heard me, because a few minutes later, this pod from Dick’s Sporting Goods popped onto my laptop screen.
“I was like, ‘Bingo! I’m going to re-create my living room in the pods,’” the child care assistant recalled. “I initially ordered three of them for $99 each and put them out on my block.”
Smythe tricked each tent out with amenities, including a director’s chair, folding table, water dispenser, LED lights, a fan, portable radio and a garbage can, and lined the floor with a grass tarp.
“I invited my co-workers for some girl time, and we watched music videos and movies on the side of a building from a projector I brought,” she said of her first pod party on 149th Street and Convent Avenue. “We loved it so much.
“It was so nice to just laugh with everyone again.”
The night was such a hit that she ordered 11 more pods to host an even bigger gathering right before Memorial Day.
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