This week, Jaz creates ‘A Guide to Having Fun at Uni Without Participating in Drinking Culture’, sharing her favourite alcohol-free activities to do alone, or with her friends.
Going to university when you aren’t the biggest drinker, or you do not drink at all, can be quite a daunting experience. It is very easy to feel pressured into participating in drinking culture, however, many people at university do not drink and will also be looking for other things to do! For me, I personally do like going out clubbing and drinking. However, my friends and I have felt that we want to do other fun activities that don’t include completely destroying our livers… or bank accounts. Whilst a weekly spoons trip is good fun, I’ve set out a guide to save you money and have fun at the same time!
Now, for me, food is probably 80% of my social life, so I have included a few options revolving around that! But I have attempted to suggest a variety of things to cater to everyone!
Sushi Making
This one is for the die-hard sushi lovers! I’m not the biggest fan of sushi, but mainly because it is insanely expensive if you buy it out. By making it, you and your friends can adapt it to what everyone individually likes, whilst also learning how to make it. For an easy recipe for uni students, I have attached a ‘simple sushi’ recipe from BBC Good Food just because it is easy to follow for people like me who are useless at cooking! Of course, you can definitely find a more advanced and authentic recipe somewhere else. To make life easier, I’ve searched these ingredients on Tesco to find out roughly how much it will cost. Depending on what you already have in your cupboard and where you shop, it will probably cost a bit over £10 but it says it makes for 6, so with friends, it will probably cost around £2 each.
The main basic ingredients:
- Sushi rice (£1.70)
- Rice wine vinegar (£1.50-£2)
- Soy sauce (0.65p)
- Nori (seaweed sheets) (£3 for 28g, the recipe is for 25g)
- Any filling (tuna, duck, crabmeat, avocado, salmon, cucumber etc) (depending on what you go for the price will differ, but most of these fillings you can definitely get cheap!)
Charcuterie Board and a Catch-up
I started to see these all over TikTok a while ago and had to give it a mention! A charcuterie board is a platter made up of a selection of meats, fruits, crackers, dips, olives, nuts, and cheese (or anything you want to put on it really, so get creative!) Make the board as aesthetically pleasing as you can and make sure to get a good pic of it for Instagram! Here is my favourite one! This is the perfect kind of night to put some music on and catch up on everything with your friends.
Mocktail Night and a Movie
If you feel like you’re wanting to do a cocktail night but want to make a non-alcoholic version of it, mocktail night is the perfect activity for you! BBC Good Food also has some easy recipes to follow, with drinks ranging from a ‘Virgin Mojito’ to a ‘New York Sour’. My personal favourite is the ‘Virgin Piña Colada’ which is made up of pineapple juice, coconut milk, lime juice and ice. However, you can use these recipes as inspiration, as with the other activities I’ve suggested, get creative and make your own ones up! This activity is great to either do on its own and make as many different ones as you can or make your drinks and pair it with a movie night! I’ve even seen on TikTok people suggesting themes (for example, a colour like purple) and making drinks using that colour and dressing up as that theme!
Pottery/ Art
Now hear me out… doing art or pottery with your friends is a really different but exciting activity to do! If you search on google ‘pottery classes near me’, you might be able to find a place to experiment with creating pottery. Alternatively, you and your friends can buy some cheap canvases and oil paint or watercolour and have some fun painting portraits of each other or a specific object. In Tiger, they do a £1 small canvas (and slightly bigger ones for £3) and paint for £3!
Game Night
This one is pretty self-explanatory! Gather up all the board games you have in your house and have a game night. If you don’t have any physical games, there are lots of apps you can opt for, like ‘Psych’, ‘Photo Roulette’ or even ‘Among us’!
Sunset Walk
Again, slightly self-explanatory but sunset walks are such a great and wholesome thing to do with your friends, so head to your nearest park! The sun usually sets around 4 pm-6 pm, so make sure to leave beforehand just in time to watch it fully set! Another great idea is to take some photos of the sunset and also have a little photoshoot with you and your friends.
Have fun!!