cheap thrills: things to do for under $10 (item four)
have a mini-party! make having friends come over to hang out feel like an occasion!
call up a very small handful of friends who all enjoy each other's company and have them over for a low-key dessert and games night! what you'll need:
dessert--you can bake a cake for under $10, no problem. i like to make my favorite faux-healthy chocolate cake and have someone else bring the ice-cream, but you can make it even easier with a cake mix or even a grocery store bakery selection.
music--i let the internet be the dj. radio paradise streams tunes a couple beats livelier than "adult contemporary" without ever playing anything too unusual (lately they really like bruce "the boss" springsteen and niko case). or, customize your own station at pandora by entering a "root" song and letting them pick songs with similar elements. you can steer the direction by giving each subsequent selection the thumbs up or thumbs down, which influences the next songs played. and, if you log in, you can save stations you've built and return to them again and again.
table games--throw in a couple rounds of boggle, yahtzee or dominoes and you've found a good way to sit around the table and chat after the cake and ice cream are all gone. if you open it up to friends of friends and end up with a few too many players you can always get a couple rounds of games going.
one of the best things about this is that you can keep it mellow enough for a week night, you can keep it brief enough for a warm up to a friday night out, or you can wile away a long rainy afternoon, all while incorporating a sense of celebration. plus, by keeping it simple there's little prep or clean up, and it works great as a last minute plan.