I think that we can all agree that the COVID-19 pandemic is not going away anytime soon, so we must adjust and figure out fun and safe ways to still have fun. These ideas of using our living room to try and have some social normalcy came to me when trying to decide what to do for Halloween. That is the fun thing about college; when living in a house or apartment with just your friends, the possibilities are endless. We decided that to make the most out of our senior year of college, we would do every social event we are missing but just our living room with just us five roommates.
That is what we have done so far; this fall term, we have transformed our living room into a barn dance formal, a game day tailgate, and a Halloween bar crawl. Through this article, I will give you all three ways to transform your living room into any bar, club, or party of your choosing.
- A formal/ themed dance
If you are in Greek life, I am sure you are missing the formals and the date parties and functions. It is not only a fun social event but also a time when you and your friends can get together and dress up and forget about everything you have to do the next day. Well, formals are still possible but just on a smaller and safer scale!
To make our barn dance formal as realistic as possible, I purchased cow print décor and a barn photo backdrop off of amazon.com; I dressed in clothes that I had already had from previous barn dances, and, all in all, the living room barn dance cost about $20.
- Gameday tailgate
We all miss game days, the excitement around Eugene that morning, and the long walks to Autzen. Sadly, we cannot do that this year but that is no reason not to still celebrate with your roommates!
We bought yellow and green décor such as table cloths, balloons, plates, and cups; anything to get us in the duck spirit. We tailgated as usual with drinking games and dressed as if we were actually going to Autzen, and we took photos before the game.
- Halloween/ themed bar crawl
This one is probably my favorite living room party. I live in a 5-bedroom house with 5 roommates, including myself. So, this Halloween, we decided that instead of actually bar-crawling through Eugene, we would make each of our rooms a different theme according to our costume and drink. This was super fun and safe way to celebrate the holiday; and to mix it up by “crawling” between each bedroom.
This does not have to be just a Halloween event! You can do the room crawl with costumes and themes any time of the year. This is college, after all; there are no rules!
I hope that you all found these living room party ideas to be helpful. Please keep in mind to keep your festivities small and just with your roommates if possible. Also remember that these are 21 and over events, so drink responsibly, my fellow 21-year-olds!