The Cheap and Cheerful Guide to Drinkin at Home Part 2: 5 ways you can make drinking at home more like drinking in a bar

Last week Cheap and Cheerful covered five ways that drinking at home can be better than drinking in a bar. Still, staying in often just lacks the glamour of going out. The commotion, the crowds, the new faces... they're usually lacking behind your own walls. While this isn't always a bad thing, there are a few things you can do to turn a somewhat solitary evening into a more social occasion!


The photo "Cocktail" is (c) Fibroblast (2007) and is used under the creative commons license


1)Have some people over (Bonus if you can get them to bring over some additional beverages or bits to eat)

Inviting some of your friends over quickly turns your Long-Island-Iced-tea for one, into a little cocktail party! If your friends have found themselves sailing the same saving-conscious seas as you, they may be only too happy to have the opportunity to be spending an evening (or afternoon, or brunch-hour) outside of the house, that isn't going to require them to drop a lot of this week's hard-earned cash. Good company goes well with good drinks; it also vastly improves the taste of cheap drinks.

2) Get some niffty serving wear

While perhaps not an absolutely necessary expenditure, some swanky bar-ware can make even your nightly cocktail seem like a special occasion. Great glasses aren't always expensive either! Many of the off-price department store outlets like Marshall's, TJ Maxx, and Ross often have attractive home goods at discounted prices. Another great place to search for bar ware is your local thrift store or consignment shop. Depending on the store, you may find an even better deal for wares that are much more unique.

3) Serve some snacks

You don't have to put out a huge spread, but setting out a few things to nibble on can really class up the occasion. It doesn't take much at all! A few handfuls of mixed nuts or even just some cheese and crackers on a plate, lend a great deal of flair to an otherwise totally casual evening at home. Simply using an eye-catching serving dish or plate and placing it on the table before your friends arrive looks like a great deal more than it actually takes!

4) Get dressed like you would if you were going out

If you are the type to dress before you go out, dressing for an evening in with some friends as you for an evening out marks the night as an occasion instead of reminding you that ya'll are sitting in your living room because you're broke.

5) Consider tidying up the joint

Make the place comfortable for you and your friends! Clearing the clutter or at least taking out the trash can really improve the feel of a place, your place included. While it's not really necessary to mop the floors and scrub the toilets, it's generally much more cheerful to drink in a place where you aren't staring down a week's worth of dirty laundry, pizza boxes and junk mail.

Happy Hosting!

The Cheap and Cheerful Guide to Drinking at Home, Part 1: 5 ways drinking at home can be better than drinking in a bar

Ever since the crash, it would seem that those among us lucky enough to be considering their options for social leisures, are trying to stick around the house more a little these days. This can, at times, be kind of a drag. One of the luxuries in life is going out: out to eat, out to drink, out to somewhere, where someone else, is taking care of the details. But this can get expensive. While I would never advocate abstaining entirely from going out to dine or drink, I would like to submit for your consideration, a brief list of reasons that suggests sometimes, it's just better at home.

5 WAYS DRINKING AT HOME CAN BE BETTER THAN DRINKING IN A BAR

1) You have control over the playlist and the atmosphere

In the comfort of your living room, there is generally no crappy Dave Matthews cover-band to be screaming over in order to tell your friends how much you wish this bar would stop booking crappy Dave Matthews cover-bands. If you want to spend the evening (afternoon, whatevs) drinking Maker's and listening to Muddy Waters or early Zeppelin or Ke$ha (hey it's your living room fella), all you have to do, is pour the drinks and drop the needle on the turntable. Or plug in the iPod. It's entirely up to you really. You lucky drinkin' dog you.

2) You can serve and drink whatever libations you like

Drinking at your house means you're not limited to whatever varities or brands of liquor stocked by your usual watering hole. Also, you're free to be creative in your choice of cocktail. Do you want a Dirty Frenchman, but your barman is unfamiliar with the term or refuses to believe it's a real drink? No worries friend, so long as you've got the necessary components in your cabinets, you're free to drink as many as you like. Or as many as you can. Whichever comes first.

3) Drinking at home is often more economical

That's the polite way of saying, it's cheaper bruv. For many, this will be the most compelling reason to keep your drinking on your property.

4) You don't have to worry about driving home later

Driving drunk should be avoided at all costs! What better way to eliminate this risk, than by not beginning your bacchanalia until you've reached your final destination for the evening?

5) You know exactly where all the exits and toilets are located

One of the downsides to drinking at home, is related to many of its advantages; because it is less expensive, and you don't have to worry about driving home at the end of the night, drinking in the comfort of one's abode (or one's friend's abode) makes some people more prone to indulging excessively. There is a point in such excessive indulgence, when certain consequences become highly likely if not inevitable. While Cheap and Cheerful urges you to drink responsibly, we recognize that disgorging at home is much more comfortable and much less embarrassing than doing so in a bar. Especially if you puke on the bar.