If being confined to your house (and only your house) for the past few months in effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 has, albeit helping the greater good, resulted in boredom and an overwhelming desire to catch up with friends, brace yourselves for our extensive list of activities for you and your pals to conquer (hopefully) as soon as possible.
From boozy pottery nights in, to jazz nights out on the town, we’ve got you covered.
1. Boozy Pottery Night In
Rivaling the beloved -yet severely overdone- girls’ night out, this crafty girls night in ensures you’ve got a majestic (or questionable, depending on your creative capabilities) piece of art in one hand, glass of wine in the other.
Perfect for groups of friends who aren't quite ready to hit the town just yet after lockdown, all you need for this boozy activity is your pals, craft tools and a couple bottles of wine (or cocktails if you’re feeling extra fancy). Set up shop in your living room (or garden! Or park!), pop on some tunes, fill up your glasses and get crafting - our favourites include water colour painting and embroidery, but if you have the space and don’t mind getting your hands a little messy, pottery is having somewhat of a renaissance and there are plenty of easy at home kits on the web to get around.
2. Go on a Virtual Night Out
Can’t wait until restrictions have eased to hang out with the gang? Not to fear, as the wondrous world wide web provides plenty of opportunities to catch up with everyone virtually - and we’re not just talking run of the mill Zoom chats, either. In swift (and genuinely honourable) response to stay at home laws, companies and individuals alike have been left with no choice but to design innovative and creative ways to maintain social connections virtually, and they’re not nearly as uninspiring as you may believe.
AmazingCo has curated a number of virtual experiences to keep friends and families connected, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they’re about 40 times more enjoyable than usual video calls. Instead, you and your pals will be videoing in for some seriously fun Wine Tasting at Home, Online Murder Mystery experiences and Virtual Bar Crawls. Sound like your type of thing? Of course it does. Check out our full blog on Virtual and Stay At Home activities here, or check them out for yourself on the website here.
3. Jazz It Up
There’s something inherently trendy and nonchalant, yet elegant and very grown up about jazz bars. Be it the dark staircase often leading patrons to the basement bar below, impressive ‘scat-a-ta-ta’ skilfully mastered by the soulful singer that you couldn’t emulate if you tried, or the sparkling, illuminated glass bottles stacked high behind the bar, jazz screams sophistication and a jolly good night out.
Thankfully, the popularity of the venues mean that you and your friends don’t need to transform back to 1950’s downtown New York - jazz bars can be found in pretty much all major cities and we guarantee you there’ll be one near you. We recommend scouring local establishments for your city’s most fancy and popular jazz watering hole, getting dressed up with your ladies, and meeting at the venue for some tasty bites, classic cocktails and seriously groovy music.
4. Paint the Town Red
While a seemingly impossible thought now, partying it up and and having a boogie until the early hours of the morning will once again be possible someday in the future, so don’t throw out your dancing shoes and fancy top just yet - the time will come.
When that time does come, you and the girls will have lots of catching up to do, and the city is your oyster. While you’ll all no doubt want to hit your trusty, favourite wine bar once again, try keeping an eye out for places that have newly opened or recently refurbished during lockdown - there’ll be plenty of venues just starting out and needing your support.
5. Drink Discovery Walk
What do you get when you cross a bar crawl with a scavenger hunt? A Drink Discovery Walk, that’s what. After restrictions ease and nightlife once again awakens, you and your ladies are going to want to hit up the bar scene fast, and while there’s no better way to visit multiple watering holes in one night than by bar hopping, why not treat yourselves to something a little more exciting? Lord knows you’ve deserved it.
AmazingCo’s Drink Discovery Walk puts the mystery back in bar crawls by giving you and your pals a number of clues and riddles to solve, each leading you to your next secret bar (and by secret we mean secret, you’ll have no idea where you’re going until you’ve cracked the clues). At the venues, you’ll get to kick back and relax with prepaid drinks, but if you’re feeling extra thirsty, go back to your favourites for seconds after the crawl is over.
6. Wine and Dumpling Night Out
If you can’t wait to get some dumplings into your belly post lockdown, may as well make a real event out of it when the occasion presents itself. It is of news to absolutely no one that heading to Chinatown (or your favourite local Asian eatery) with the gang often results in top tier nights out that very rarely involve just dumplings. To make the most of the night, gather your pals and buy some cheap wine (most dumpling houses are BYO) before heading to the restaurant and chowing down on some delicious, cheap, fluffy dumplings.
Feeling extra celebratory? After filling your bellies, make your way to a local bar and keep the good times rolling there, or scour the area for some dessert (and dumplings followed by ice cream? Surprisingly satisfying).
7. After Dark Art and Vino
If you and your gang love a bit of culture, nothing beats an after hours museum night out, with plenty of artwork and wine to go around.
Many museums and art galleries offer special, after dark events in which you not only get to wander the emptier, late night halls, but also often get to check out the newest exhibitions before they open to the general public . Moreover, these special events often serve wine and have live music, meaning you and the girls can enjoy some vino while listening to some funky tunes before heading in to see the artwork (and if the wine at the gallery bar is too expensive, you can always meet at someone’s house for a tipple beforehand).
