Week six of the (BA) Creative Mind series, brings to you a guide on two different ways that you can have a cheap and creative night in as a university student. These ideas are inspired by various games that friends of mine have played, as well as the interactive social media platform TikTok. Recreations of fancy dress cocktails and ‘Bring a Board’ nights are constantly flooding my For You page, so I thought I’d talk you all through my spin on them and hopefully inspire you to make your own…
I’ll start with my personal favourite and in my opinion, the most imaginative activity out of the two: Fancy dress cocktails! The more the merrier is the standard for all of these activities, but they can be done with as many or as few friends as you like. Picture this: dress a drink up as your ex-partner – I’m envisioning playing-card garnishes on the sides of your glasses for ‘the big player’, red cocktail umbrellas for ‘the red flag’, baby bottles as glasses with jelly shots for ‘the childish ones’ and so many more! The idea is that everyone makes their own round of a specific cocktail, hence if you can gather a big group of people, you’ll be drunk enough to forget your ex’s name by the end. Unless of course your drink revolves around the ex you just can’t let go of… I’ve not seen this done before, so I’ll let you get imaginative on that one. There are so many possibilities for this theme, so allow me to run you through some of the best I’ve seen: green apple sourz and test tube glasses for the ‘toxic waste of space’, giant sharer pitchers or fishbowls for the ones that were ‘for everyone’, and basketball themed for ‘the rebounds’. Who needs £30 bottomless brunches when you can club together your funds to split cheap spirits and get creative with the rest? Of course, if your student loan isn’t really ‘student loaning’, you could play the ‘no exes’ card and bring nothing to the table at all! If you want to take the antics a step further, I’d advise putting together your own costume to match your drink… the best outfit wins a prize while the worst must let someone else text their ex! The theme variations of this activity are endless: movies, job / employment role, personalities, celebrities and whatever else you can think of. Whatever you do, don’t forget to film a Tik Tok at the end to look back on your creations!
The second activity I want to talk about is called ‘Bring a Board’. This one is great for more chilled entertainment, especially if there are members of the group who don’t fancy an alcoholic drink. Quite simply, each participant is allocated a different cuisine for their board and must bring a selection of different foods arranged on a sharing board that fit this category. Make sure to nominate a few people for starters and dessert themed boards, whilst everyone else contributes to the mains. For example, Mexican boards may include nachos and quesadillas, French boards may take the form of a cheese board, Italian could boast homemade pizzas or doughballs of course, and so on! The idea is that when put together, the boards will collectively create a multicultural, global-cuisine style buffet. As a foodie, I enjoy all three courses equally, but I have to say I’ve seen some impressive dessert boards – bowls of melted chocolate surrounded by fruit and marshmallows, homemade churros with caramel sauce, ramekins filled with all different confectionaries, and so much more. In terms of pricing, this challenge is once again cheap and affordable, as the ingredients you buy only need to cover a portion size for one or two people.
Creativity takes form wherever you are willing to look for it and is not always directly related to artistic mediums or places. This article provides insight for students on how to unleash their creative side through food and drinks, as well as giving ideas for cheap and wholesome nights in!
Written by: Ella Gale
Edited by: Eloise Barnes