If like me you have young children, you’ll know that nights out just aren’t as easy to organise as they used to be. Of course, you have to find a willing relative or friend to watch the kids, or book a babysitter – which adds to the overall cost of your night out – as well as making the effort that goes into organising it. But there are plenty of alternatives to going out that still allow you time to socialise and enjoy some adult company.
Staying In Is The New Going Out
Get the girls round
Instead of you all meeting up in town, you could arrange a night in with your closest friends. True, those coming to you will still have to organise babysitters or get their partners to be in when they’re not, but it’s not impossible to arrange with enough notice. How you spend the time together depends on your personalities; you might want to cook a meal together, or just get everyone to bring some snacking options and some drinks. Getting out old favourite board games like Pictionary can add a focus to the night if you need one.
All by yourself?
Even when you’re on your own, there’s plenty of entertainment that can come straight to you. Just think how lucky we are compared with previous generations having the internet. We have a world of entertainment that we can access whenever we want; on our mobiles, on the pc or laptop or on tablets. As most of us have broadband at home, there’s no extra cost involved in using the connection for entertainment as well as for work. You might spend choose to spend some of those hours after the kids are in bed catching up with what your friends are up to on social media, or playing games like bingo or casino.
Bingo is a popular choice for people who want a bit of socialisation while they game. Bingo sites host chat rooms for people to meet and talk with other players while they’re playing the same games. It’s a value
choice too, as the bingo sites give you free playing credit when you first make a deposit, and each game only costs pennies to play. And when you play bingo at costabingo.com or other sites like Gala and 888 bingo, there are also free games included on the schedule. At Costa, the best free game is the Costa Crazy game where there’s a guaranteed jackpot of £10,000 to play for every Friday night.
Get crafting
When you’re at home and the kids are asleep, you may not want to spend the rest of the evening watching TV. There are so many different crafting activities that you can do without needing to leave home and if you don’t know where to start, you’ll find video tutorials on just about anything online. Learn how to paint with watercolours, teach yourself knitting or develop skills in decoupage. Getting busy with your hands can provide a creative outlet and you don’t need to join an evening class to learn how. Again, this is something you can do by yourself, or maybe even set up a group, and have a regular craft-based get-together once a week or month.
These are just a few examples of how you can spend your evenings without having to go out and organise childcare – once you’ve made the break from the easy but boring option of watching TV, there’ll be no stopping you!
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