I used to think about offerings as making a sacrifice for the gods, i.e., giving something up for them. However, after doing more research and contemplating the topic, I came to the conclusion that it makes more sense to me, and it is seemingly closer to historical Roman practices, to think of it as sharing something with the gods.
I think this shift helped me in many ways but most importantly, I don’t feel like I need to "suffer" to please the gods. Instead I can share stuff with the gods.
With this framing, I feel like you can get a little creative with your offerings as long as you keep the core in mind and follow some general traditions, like offering part of a meal or drink first before you consume it, saying some sort of prayer with it, etc. If we count in the need for solitary practice and the general unavailability of open fire, many traditional Roman ways of giving offerings are just not really doable anymore. As a revivalist, I feel we can substitute and get a little creative as long as we keep the underlying standards.
So, for example, while I mostly do libations of water or alcohol, sometimes I offer part of some other drink I'm drinking. If I'm outside or somewhere with a sink, I pour out some (if that is safe), or offer the first sip I drink. This doesn't necessarily need to be one of the standard liquids that are offered, I just like sharing my little fruity drink with the gods and thanking them for their blessings.
On the topic of electronic offerings, I find myself unhappy with the "offering" part of the term. Making an electronic "offering", I'm thinking mainly of the moodboard/Pinterest board kind, is more of a contemplative activity, a sort of meditation. For the ones I've done, in the form of "moodboards", I felt compelled to think deeply about the imagery and symbolism that I associate with a certain deity and how to incorporate elements particular to my request. So I think they're perfectly okay to do as long as we understand that they're not really "offerings" per se, and they're more done for our sake. They should be supplemented with at least a prayer, and ideally a physical offering or libation.
In conclusion, as long as we keep the general structure, remember what the purpose of giving offerings is, we can somewhat adapt giving offerings to our situations and lifestyles. But offerings should always come with some amount of effort, a moment of prayer or silent contemplation. Offerings have a purpose, and while we don't always need to be extremely formal and structured with them if we don't feel the need to, they are meant to honour the gods. And nothing honours the gods less than carelessness.
With that being said, I also didn't address other kinds of offerings in this post (I just focused on libations and electronic offerings for uhhh... reasons), so keep in mind that there are more ways to give offerings than what I've outlined here.
