Cal Day is an annual celebration for not only incoming students to learn about what UC Berkeley has to offer, but for current students to celebrate how much we love being Golden Bears. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cal Day has been tragically canceled this year and moved online. How else will we be spending April 18? Although it won’t be the same, we want to make sure that you’re still having the best Cal Day you can from home. We can’t let the magic of Cal Day slip away, especially for our seniors. Here are some surefire ways to make it feel like Cal Day in your home.

Wear UC Berkeley merch

This could be something as simple as a UC Berkeley T-shirt or as elaborate as layering on all the UC Berkeley merch you own. Either way, adorning yourself and your family in blue and gold will surely make you feel how you would when you’re normally swarmed by students on Cal Day. If you have a small family, try dressing up chairs around your house that you can bump into on accident like you would when shoveling through a crowd on Cal Day. Extra points if you assign each member of your family a typical Cal Day persona: srat girl, frat boy, lost underclassman and others.

Can we get a “Go Bears”?

Throughout the day, yell “Go!” around your house and wait patiently for a returned yell of “Bears!” If your family is not used to this UC Berkeley mannerism, try training them. You could even make a game of it, giving people a point for responding first — competition always makes things a lot more interesting and truly plays into the reputation of UC Berkeley.

TikTok time

Join TikTok and follow all #Cal and #UCBerkeley hashtags. Maybe create a #CalDay hashtag to make your stay-at-home Cal Day a bit more interactive. With the different effects offered, you can make it seem like you’re living your best life at a frat party or Cal Day kickback — all in the comfort of your own home!

Alternate between frat party music and Cal Band songs

Depending on what you’re doing or the overall vibe of the moment, keep frat party music or Cal Band songs on a loop throughout the entire day. You could carry around speakers wherever you go or have an “AirPods in, world out” moment. To get the full effect of Cal Day, you should set up speakers all around your house to get a surround-sound effect. 

Have bids for each room

Nothing screams Cal Day more than a wrist full of bids. Take this into your home by having bids for each room in your house. Want to go to the bathroom? Let’s see your bid. Want to go into the kitchen? What brother do you know here? You could be the gatekeeper yourself or assign a different brother to each room.

Oski masks

What would Cal Day be without everyone’s favorite Golden Bear? Although you won’t be able to see Oski in real life, you could print out masks to wear around your house. Teach your family how to skip like Oski and maybe throw on some gloves to make things a little more realistic. If you’re missing our favorite Bear a lot these days, try looking up videos of him on YouTube. Here’s a video of Oski and Cal Band literally just vibing. Honestly, there’s nothing better than this video.

Zoom

Zoom with your pals and add some fun and fresh Cal Day backgrounds! Zoom can provide you and your friends with a perfect way to experience Cal Day together while staying safe. There’s a lot that Zoom has to offer for your virtual, stay-at-home Cal Day experience. You could take virtual tours of campus through screen sharing, upload different backgrounds to make it look like you’re all at the same frat party and play virtual drinking games. The possibilities are endless! 

We know that Cal Day being canceled this year was honestly heart-shattering. This stay-at-home, virtual Cal Day could never compare to what our real-life Cal Day would have been like, but there are bigger problems at hand than not being able to get day-drunk with your friends. Make the best of the situation and try out some of these hacks to make this year’s Cal Day one to remember.