New Years for the NEW CHEAP

New Year’s is upon us folks, let the planning begin! The credit cards are getting maxed out, and group chats are getting lengthy planning for this year’s event. Ladies, you’ve taken dozens of pictures inside dressing rooms of every store in the city. You’re  not even considering a club if it isn’t VIP, because you have to start off 2015 VIP!!!  Ladies and gentlemen allow me to offer you an alternative to blowing hundreds of dollars to get all dressed up and spending way too much money getting drunk at the club.

As a child my family always had the tradition of spending New Years in church. We would arrive at church at 10pm and stay until midnight. This practice was continued into my adult life until I moved away from my home. The first time I spent NYE away from my hometown and not spending New Years in church, I got all cleaned up and went out in the city. I did all of the wasteful things I mentioned.  I bought a brand new suit and paid for the VIP tickets (VIP was just a table with a party city table cloth over it, nothing fancy). I woke up the next morning looking at my debit card to access the nights spending and became discussed with myself. I literally blew $500 to get drunk and bring in the New Year with strangers.  That $500 could have been used to travel or save money for the house I am planning to buy. It only took me one time to realize that wasn’t how I wanted to spend every New Year’s Eve. I get it, New Years is a big holiday, it’s a chance start fresh. I agree this day holds a symbolic meaning to many, but I don’t agree you should go broke celebrating. So, with that said, we offer a few alternatives for you to consider as you prepare for the New Year’s holiday.

New Year’s Eve Church service:

Many African American churches hold Watch Night service. This stems from a tradition of slaves waiting to see the emancipation proclamation take effect on January 1^st, 1863. While African American’s are no longer awaiting freedom from physical slavery, many still enjoy celebrating the coming of another year with their church family. This is inexpensive, and most churches usually provide a breakfast after the service (the further south you go the better the breakfast gets, trust me). This is a great way to spend NYE, as you get sober reflection time to think about the happenings of the past year and your goals for the coming year.

Host a NYE party
Hosting a New Year’s Eve party is a great way to minimize cost and spend time with friends. Invite all of your friends over and request that they bring their favorite drink and side dish to share during the party. You cook a large serving of meat to serve to the guests like a turkey and chicken. This is a small and more intimate way to spend your New Year’s Eve. Meaningful conversation can be had with the people you care most about, while waiting to ring in the New Year. Let’s be honest, how can you seriously expect to have a conversation while a DJ is doing that weird horn thing that every DJ loves to do?! Celebrating New Year’s this way will also allow your residence to be the hotel for anyone who’s had too much to drink. Take all of the car keys and encourage people to spend the night, sleeping off any drinks they consumed. The police will be out in full force attempting to combat the drunk drivers on the roads after a night of partying. It would be a shame for one of your guest to be one of those caught during a traffic stop. (Side note: there is never an excuse to drink and drive; there are way too many travel options available that don’t include an idiot driving after drinking). You can make this night as fancy as possible, have everyone dress up, go to the dollar store and grab some decorations for your house, and also score some reasonable party favors.

 

Spend it with your parents

Call your parents and tell them that you want to spend New Year’s with them (make sure you stress to them that you don’t need a loan, so that their not apprehensive all night). If your mother finds out you want to give up a night of raging to sit on the sofa and watch Ryan Seacrest with her and your dad, she may begin to cry with excitement! The benefit of this is, you are the guest of honor, so mom will be willing to cook and make sure you are comfortable and enjoying yourself. Invite your partner over and make it a family gathering. This will be a great way for your parents to finally start seeing you as an adult or taking your relationship seriously. Stay the night and let mom cook you breakfast, then you and dad go take out the tree while mom puts away the Christmas decorations. Not a dollar spent and a great, safe time ringing in the New Year.

 

Whatever you decided, please be safe! As said above, there is no reason for you to drive drunk! If you plan on drinking please secure your transportation prior to the start of the night. It is much cheaper to pay for a taxi than the fees for a DUI.  A sleeping friend would much rather pick your drunk ass up, than attend your funeral to start the year off.