People around the world are getting all dressed up to take out the bins

With most of the world staying home to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, opportunities to dress up have become limited. A fun social media trend has now sprung up worldwide, where people are dressing up to put the bins out.

The idea began with Danielle Askew from Queensland, who started the Facebook page, Bin Isolation Outing. It went viral and now has over 850k members. "I started the page as a fun opportunity to make my group of friends laugh," Danielle tells Lonely Planet.

"My friend put a meme on her Facebook page saying she was excited that it was bin night so she would get to go out. I dared her to dress up to do so and she agreed. I also dressed up and took my photo, then made the page for her to dress up too. I couldn’t believe the response I got and am still amazed now."

While the initiative started in Australia, it quickly spread around the world and on to other forms of social media. One participant, Lou Featherstone, took part wearing an outfit she had originally planned to wear to Featherfest, a family camping dance festival that she runs in Portland, Oregon. "I had so much fun," she says.

Many people dressed in costume or fancy dress, including Claire Eden from Melbourne, her partner Hannah and three-year-old daughter LJ, who dressed up as the characters from the Netflix hit, Tiger King. "We have been self-isolating for over a month and are always looking for creative ways to entertain LJ," she tells Lonely Planet. "When I spotted her tiger costume, I just knew we had to recreate Tiger King. It was so much fun, and we all laughed a lot."

Irish make up artist and marriage celebrant, Rhona Cullinan, went viral a couple of weeks ago when her TikTok video received over 1.2m views on Facebook and 225k hits on TikTok. "I was doing my hair and make-up for a tutorial, and said to my partner that I'd love to be going out," she says. "He replied, 'Actually will you put the bins out?' I hadn't heard of of anyone else doing it before, but I had great fun - even if the neighbours think I'm mad"

Many people are missing going to work, and Australian DJ and showgirl, Miss Victoria Anthony, used taking the trash out as a fun opportunity to dress up. "I bought this dress before we went into lockdown," she says. "I thought taking the bin out would be a great opportunity to finally get to wear it.”

There was a lot of style on display, with people like Australian politician Tim Crakanthorp and English photographer Paul Heath donning tuxedos to glam up the tedious household chore. "I live in Norfolk and the motivation for doing this was to bring some humour to the monotony of lockdown and hopefully to make a few people smile," Paul explains.

For Susan Hurrey, dressing up as a bunny brought a smile to people in her neighborhood in Burlington, North Carolina. "I heard about people in Australia doing this and thought it would be funny," she says. "I also rode my bike in the neighborhood dressed like this, which was super fun. People's reactions were great and made it well worth the effort. I have another costume lined up for next week. This is what happens when you have nothing but time to think about things!"

To see many other innovative costumes and creations, check out the Bin Isolation Outing Facebook page here.

Keep up to date with Lonely Planet's latest travel-related COVID-19 news here.

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