Party

Don't squander a ripe Friday night with poor planning. It's time to party. Let wikiHow help you learn to pregame and postgame. Let wikiHow help you party. See Step 1 for more information.

Steps

Pre-Gaming

  1. Travel in a group. Go out partying with a group of good friends that you can trust to stick together and who have similar interests. Plan out the places you're going to hit up so you'll all know where to meet if you get separated. Make sure you've got everyone's number to make it easy to get in touch if you can't find them in the sea of dancers at a crowded house party.
    • Make sure you all want to do the same thing. It's less fun going out with someone who wants to hit up the headache fest that is an EDM club when your heart is set on a greasy dive. Party team, assemble.
  2. Travel light. If you're going to turn the night into an expedition into the heart of madness, pack smart. Make sure you have everything you need in your pocket or wallet, including make-up, your keys, protection, some toilet paper, your fully charged cellphone, and plenty of cash for unplanned trips to the taco truck or for splitting a 3am frozen pizza.
    • If you might be staying out all night, bring gum instead of worrying about a toothbrush. Bring a few Tylenol in case you wake up with a headache.
  3. Get dressed in your fines. Parties can be intimidating for some people, so you want to make sure you'll be feeling confident and excited to be there. Shower, wash your coolest outfits, and take some time getting ready and looking your best. Make sure it'll be appropriate for the party, whether it be a night at the club or a house party. You don't want to be the only one in a zoot suit at a toga party.
    • Dress for comfort as much as style. You might think an especially short skirt looks great in your dorm room, but are you going to feel comfortable and confident in it 6 hours from now when it's 13 degrees out?[1]
    • If you're going out in heels, pack some flats in your purse, in case you might be walking around more than you'd anticipated. Even if it seems like you're going to be at someone's house all night, what if you suddenly plan to head elsewhere?
  4. Eat something. Even if you're not planning on drinking, don't find yourself stuck in the middle of a book party or a boring art gallery opening with a raging stomach rumble. Eat a solid dinner (that means more than chips) any time your plans include partying.
    • Eating eggs, milk, and pickles has been shown to be an effective method of preventing hangovers. Milk coats the stomach, while eggs contain cysteine, a compound that breaks down alcohol in the body. Pickles contain salts that replenish electrolytes, so you can hop ahead of the game by loading up on some bread 'n butters.[2]
  5. Make sure you know where you're staying. If you're going out drinking, assign a designated driver to get you home, arrange to stay at the place you're partying, or pre-program the cab service into your phone so you'll be able to make it home safely later.
    • If you're going to a house party, it may be inappropriate for you to assume you'll be able to crash on the couch at the end of the night when you're exhausted and covered in nuclear-orange Doritos snow. 3am is a bad time to have to figure out where you're going to sleep.
  6. Let someone know where you're headed. It's a good idea to let someone like a roommate, or even another person on your dorm floor know where your group is headed. It doesn't have to be a big buddy-system safety precaution. Frame it like you're letting someone know in case they want to come later, just to be on the safe side.

Partying

  1. Pace yourself. Sure, you want to hop right on the dance floor because your jam's on, but it's not cool being drenched in sweat right after you get to the party. You don't have to do all your partying within 15 minutes of getting there. Slow down and survey the scene. See who you want to hang out with and who you'd like to get to know.
    • It takes drinks a while to catch up with you, so it's common for inexperienced partiers to get drunk quickly because they think they're sober. Take it slow. You've got the whole night ahead of you.
  2. Drink responsibly or don't drink at all. If you're barhopping with friends or at a party with drinking, make sure you drink responsibly and know your limitations. Getting wild can be fun, but getting sloppy is a great way to bum everyone out and ruin the party, or get kicked out. Don't hang out with anyone who would pressure you into drinking, and avoid drinking altogether if you just don't feel like it. Partying doesn't have to involve alcohol or other substances.
    • Drink one glass of water for every alcoholic drink you have, and try to avoid energy drinks and sodas, the sugar of which can make hangovers worse and drunkenness more unpredictable.
    • Never leave your drink unattended, and never let anyone you don't know get you a drink in an opened container. Take your drink with you to the bathroom.
  3. Loosen up. Talk to people, mingle, and have fun. A party isn't the time to spend huddling against a wall with your best friend updating your Twitter feed on your phone and worrying about the way your hair looks. Be in the moment and enjoy yourself.
    • Set a rule for yourself before you go out if you tend toward shyness. Say that you'll talk to one person you don't know, or that you'll definitely take center stage on the dance floor when a certain song comes on. Be spontaneous.
  4. Take over the DJ responsibilities. Maybe you're at a great party and having a fun time hanging and meeting people, but some joker is keeping you locked in an eternal Dave Matthews doom loop. For shame. Keep an iPod handy or make the decision to take over the stereo with someone everyone will be able to stomach.
  5. Have an exit strategy. Especially at a house party, you don't want to overstay your welcome. If your group becomes all separated, make sure you know what the game plan is. What happens if someone wants to head to another party but someone else really wants to head home and all you want is to find the bathroom? Discuss contingencies beforehand.
    • Come up with a good excuse when you first get to the party in case it ends up being a lame event you want to ditch. If you say, "Yeah, I think we're going to drop by for a little while, but I've got some studying to do and can't stay very late" you won't need to feel guilty if you feel like leaving after a few minutes because you're bored to tears.

Recovering

  1. Get home safely. Make sure that everyone you came with has got a safe route home, either with you or with someone else trustworthy. When you get home, check in with everyone via text. Never leave a good partier behind.
    • If you're walking late at night, always walk in a group.
    • Never, under any circumstances, drive after drinking.
  2. Get plenty of sleep. After a hard night of partying, you've earned a good pass out. Make sure you drink some water to keep yourself hydrated and aim for a good 8 or 10 hours in pass-out land.
  3. Get cleaned up. Partying can bring with it a whole gnarly host of mutant funks. Take a hot shower to help you sweat out the toxins of too much fun and get the smell of that hippie's clove cigarettes out of your hair.
  4. Attend to any hangover symptoms. If you wake up feeling groggy, get some electrolytes in your system with Gatorade or other sports drinks, get something on your stomach, and sleep it off as best you can.
    • Try a bullseye, which is a mixture of fresh-squeezed (the fresh is important) orange juice and a raw egg. Kick your hangover rocky style.
    • Taking Ibuprofen when you've still got alcohol on your stomach may help to decrease the hangover symptoms, but it's incredibly bad for your stomach lining and is a bad habit to get into. Try to avoid taking any kind of pills.
  5. Eat a good greasy breakfast. Pre-gaming with eggs is a good idea and so is post-gaming. Go all out. Get some hashbrowns, pancakes, scrambled eggs, etc. It's the best time to get something good in your stomach, even if you don't feel like it.
    • If you don't have an appetite, try to eat some toast. The blandness of some dry toast will be easy to get down, and the bread has absorption qualities that'll help sop up any stray booze in your system.
  6. If you feel up to it, get some exercise. Working out, going for a jog, or even doing some light physical exercise can help you start feeling better more quickly. Just getting out of the house and going for a walk can make you feel much better if you're feeling partied out. It may seem like sitting inside with the shades drawn is the only way to cure it, but getting your muscles moving and sweating some will help your body process the toxins and get it out more quickly.

Tips

  • You don't have to drink to have a good time.
  • Hang out with your close friends and just go with the flow. Partying is about celebrating and having a good time, there isn't a schedule you have to follow.

Warnings

  • Do not drink and drive.
  • Don't over drink. You could get alcohol poisoning and spend the night in the hospital. Make sure you know your limit.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Partying_safely_tips_for_teenagers?open
  2. ↑ http://well.wvu.edu/articles/party_smart_tips
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