You have no weekend plans, so you search up “best things to do on a Friday night in Chicago” and up comes a thousand results from TimeOut Chicago, Chicago Reader, Metromix, etc. You find bars, cabarets, concerts– because, of course, it’s the city and it’s full of potential adventures. But, alas, as you open each prospective event, “21+” glares at you from the corner of the screen. You begin to accept your fate of attending another awful house party with a cooler of jungle juice in a smoky apartment.
Sick of sitting around with a Solo cup in my hand every weekend, I desperately looked for under-21 nightlife opportunities in our city. Below I give you a list of things to do in Chicago for the under 21 crowd aside from the obvious activities (Second City, Navy Pier, the movies) that have lost their charm.
1. Sluggers World Class Sports Bar // 3540 N Clark St.
There’s a bar downstairs but if you bypass that and go up the stairs you enter the all ages-friendly zone of old-fashioned video games and batting cages! This place is great because it’s in the middle of the Wrigley night scene but brings back the nostalgia of childhood. Pre-game before hand and then spend the night playing for the air-hockey championship. Try not to let losing the championship ruin your relationship.
2. JC Martini Club // 3124 N Central Ave
This place is a legitimate 18+ club that gives you an excuse to squeeze into that tube dress and dance! There are two rooms of music, one is Latin oriented and the other is your general mix of electro-rap and whatnot. Check their Facebook for weekly deals, usually everyone is free before 10pm. I recommend this place for girls who want to dance with their friends, not for ladies looking to find a soulmate– a lot of the guys are sleazy. It’s easier to avoid being dry-humped if you’re surrounded by a group. Club Volkan in Little Village has a similar vibe and is 18+ as well. Free parking.
3. SPIN- A Ping- Pong Social Club // 344 N. State St.
This place is in the Loop, right next to the House of Blues (also 18+ friendly) and Trump Tower, so it’s super easy to get to by public transportation. It’s basically rows and rows of ping pong tables in a bar-like setting. They even have the little details figured out- like you get a bucket of ping pong balls so you don’t have to go chasing the ball every time it bounces off the table into the abyss. It’s 21+ after 9pm., so hit the place early.
4. Whirlyball // 1825 W Webster Ave.
Whirlyball is insanely fun. Get a group of friends together and go ride in bumper cars, smashing into each other and trying to score points in a lacrosse-style game. Half of the fun is smashing into each other and smacking your friends while you go for the ball. They also have laser tag and bowling, if bumper car battle-royale isn’t enough for you. Their food isn’t too shabby either.
5. Concert Halls: The Metro, Bottom Lounge, Subterranean, Aragon Ballroom, etc.
There are tons of concerts every night in this city, and at least 50% of them are 18+. Concert halls are generally pretty good at advertising the age requirement for each show. Every venue is amazing, and even sucky shows are fun when you go with the right people. For a complete list of every single indie concert in the city on every day of the week, visit chicago.ohmyrockness.com.
6. Facebook Groups
If you find the right groups, you can fight the right things to do in Chicago. University pages, like UIC’s “UIC Parties” are a good place to find big parties, like fraternity sponsored parties at the Throop warehouse. Other groups, like “Sh*t To Do@Chi” (spelled just like that) and “EDM Chicago” have a wide variety of less-advertised parties and concerts in Chicago. Not all are 18+, but they’re worth browsing through.
7. Summer Street Festivals
If you survive the frigid winter of Chicago, you are rewarded with an abundance of street festivals every weekend of the summer. There are the classic ones, such as Taste of Chicago, but each neighborhood is its own jewel for festivities. I recommend Wicker Park Fest for all things hipster or Little Italy’s Festa Italiana for a good time. However, events like Taste of Greektown are not to be overlooked for a great scene.
8. Music Festivals
Of course you’ve heard of Lollapalooza, but what about North Coast or Pitchfork Music Festival? There are an abundance of music-focused festivals that are a mix between outdoors club and concert. These festivals extend past summer, with mega concerts like Freaky Deaky Halloween.