Christmas is an expensive time of year. What with buying presents for the whole family and various friends, and going on big nights out because there are so many of them being organised by different groups of people that you know, it can feel like your bank account is haemorrhaging.
So, ring the changes and plan a few nights in with your friends instead of going out all the time. But you’ll
need to have a focus to make sure everyone has fun. Here are a few suggestions of what you could do.
An at-home bingo night //
Everyone loves playing bingo – it’s a simple game where the outcome is down to chance. There’s nothing that gives anyone a particular ‘edge’ in playing – you’ll either win or you won’t. And it’s that random nature of the game that makes it lots of fun to play in a group. If you get people to bring over their mobiles (hardly difficult to organise), you can all login to the same sites and enjoy the same games together.
Most of the big online bingo brands like Costa, Tombola and Gala bingo have big jackpot games in the evening, when lots of players are likely to be online. And at www.costabingo.com there’s even a free game on a Friday Night called Costa Crazy when there’s a prize fund of £10,000 up for grabs. Playing bingo is never expensive, even if you’re paying to play, the online games cost pennies at a time to join in, so you can have plenty of games during an evening without spending much at all. And who knows? You may even win!
A sing-along //
If you’ve got a gregarious group of friends, stage your own karaoke night. Clear the living room by pushing the furniture back against the walls, rig up the internet so you can get Youtube onto your TV and you’ll have hit after hit available in the instrumental versions with the lyrics printed along the bottom of the screen. Get everyone to bring some drinks and snacks with them, and voilà, you have a home-made karaoke party.
Have a movie marathon //
Get your nearest and dearest forever friends over an evening stroll down memory lane, watching the movies you all loved as teens. Issue a sleepover invite for anyone who wants to stay over and set a dress code of onesies. Of course, it depends on how old you are, but you might want to see all those 80s Brat Pack movies like St Elmo’s Fire, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science with older and wiser heads on your shoulders, or perhaps your vintage is more 90s, with movies such as Clueless, Mean Girls, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and 10 Things I Hate About You. Whatever your movie preferences; sitting having a movie marathon is a great thing to do with your friends and it will hardly cost a thing!
Helen x
ps. Check out these blogs: Abracadabra Girl, A Dash of Ginger and Adventures of an Anglophile.
*collab