Bar vs. House party

Perhaps the most common concern for any group of friends when getting together to drink is deciding whether or not they plan on on going out to a bar or staying in and having a house party.

We all enjoy going to bars, gettin' our fist pumps on and tearing up a dance floor. Personally, I love going out, but after a conversation about weighing out what makes more sense, it provoked some pretty interesting discussion between a few friends and myself over a hung over breakfast at Benny's.

It seems although we ALL LOVE going out, it really does make more sense to have more house parties than go to a bar. Here are my reasons why:

1) The company you keep (and the air that you breathe)

When at someone's house for a predrink or house party, you are (for the most part) surrounded by people you WANT to be around. You don't have to worry about bumping people's drinks and feeling bad about it, or feeling compelled to buy them a new one. You also don't have to worry about possibly getting into a fight with a steroid popping jackass. Remember, it's not where you are, it is WHO YOU ARE WITH that makes it count.

2) LET'S F*CKIN' RAGE!

If you're at a friend's house, although you may have to clean up in the morning, you tend not to shy away from being outrageous and letting loose. Although some things might break or there may be a ton of alcohol spilled in the process, you do NOT need to worry about:

• Being on your "better" behaviour because you're in a public place
• Getting tossed from a bar/club by someone significantly bigger AND stronger than you
• Having to pay for a cab by yourself because you were the only one that got kicked out

3) $MONEY$

I'll be the first to admit that I do not mind spending money at the bar (as my bank account would attest to) but, really, what are we paying for? We bring booze to our pre drink and spend money there, and unlike Laurier, where I went to school, Toronto is a hell of a lot bigger, so there's cab fare, and cover, and then I'm expected to pay $7 a drink while waiting in a ridiculous line, slowly inching my way up to the bar and making sure some douchebag doesn't cut in front of me?

...I could have just had three beers in the time it took me to write that...kinda see what I'm gettin' at?

4) MOST IMPORTANT: Drinking games...obviously...stupid...

I mentioned above that it's about the people you are with. That was just to get you to keep reading. The real reason house parties are becoming my new favourite are because of the ample amount of drinking games you can play that are much harder to get away with unless you're at an all inclusive resort in Cuba. Whether it's learning something embarrassing about a new friend in Never Have I Ever, or rubbing in the sheer humiliation of being the weakest link on your team in Flip Cup or Beer Baseball, drinking games are the BEST ways to "bond" with friends!

All in all, I'm saying that although I do love going out with the people that mean the most to me, I think I would rather party in a place where we can still have a lot of music, I can save a bit of money, I don't have to scream for a conversation, and we can achieve our original goal of the night...that is...to GET F*CKED UP and LIVE.IT.UP.