When it came to house parties, my roommates and I pulled out all the stops. We wanted our soirees to stand out and be memorable so we always chose a theme. We threw a bat mitzvah party (homemade t-shirts and some chair lifts and all) for my non Jewish roommate’s 19th birthday. We had a costume parties. We had a Jell-o wrestling tournament. And when winter set in, we asked everyone to pull out their finest dresses and ties and come over for a cocktail party.

It was a classy affair with brie, wine and champagne.  Everyone looked fabulous as we mingled to the sounds of Frank Sinatra playing from my laptop.

As with most college parties, our friends brought their friends – people we didn’t know – but we welcomed them with open arms and strong vodka cocktails. Read More »

College. Sigh. It’s unlike any other time in your life. It has its own set of rules, its own unique circumstances. And it’s not always easy to navigate. Enter…me!

Every week I’ll be tackling your questions about college. From classes to keggers, I’ll do my best to respond and be your Pez dispenser of collegiate wisdom. Got questions? Hit me up in the comments or shoot me an email at melanie@collegecandy.com

I’m broke. Wah! What can I do?
Get. A. Job. Seriously, there’s no excuse for not working while you’re in classes. In fact, it looks great on a resume and will give you some extra cash in your pocket on the weekends. You don’t need a high power internship (although those are pretty nice), but do something to earn money. Babysitting is a great option if you want cold hard cash with none of those silly taxes. If you’re a shopaholic, work at your favorite clothing store to snag the discount. I did the J.Crew thing for a semester and got a fantastic discount and although most of my paycheck went to clothes it still alleviated some of my financial woes. Even if you just pick up five hours a week at a coffee house, it’s better than nothing. Make it rain!

My roomie snores. What should I do?
Buy earplugs. Or leave her a hint by picking some of those breathe-easy nose strips and putting them on her pillow.

I want to throw a rager, any tips for success?
If you’re going the theme party route, do something original. One of my favorite parties that me and my bestie/roomie of the moment threw was a Hollywood themed party. People came dressed as their favorite celebs and had a blast. Believe me, there’s nothing funnier than watching Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Mary Kate Olsen, Kurt Cobain and Heath Ledger all duking it out at the flip cup table. Hide your valuables, buy lots of Solo cups and cheap beer. The rest will be history, captured on Facebook. Read More »

You start off with a few rum and Diets at home before heading to the house party. You couldn’t possibly walk in sober and who knows how much access you’ll have to booze once you get inside? You’re sipping on your last pre-drink when your friends are finally ready to go, so you chug it and follow them out.

Upon arriving, you say your hellos and shove your way through the crowd to the keg parked in the backyard. You fill your blue Solo cup (“What? They make these things in blue!?”) then meet back up with your friends. You sip, you chat, then you wave your hand violently in the air when the party host asks who’s up for a game of flip cup.

You take your spot at the table, strategically placing yourself next to the very cute boy who lives there. You do a few practice flips, wet the table in front of you a bit for more cup traction and get ready for the game to start.

Seven rounds later, your team is victorious, you and your boy-toy are hugging it out and you’re feeling less than steady. Ok, so you’re drunk, but it’s good drunk. Perfect drunk. The kind that will easily take you through the rest of the night but still leave you feeling a-OK in the morning.

As you begin to walk away from the table to find your friends, the cute boy grabs you.

“Wanna take a shot?” He asks.

“Obvi,” you answer, smitten. Read More »

After four outfit changes, 3 drinks and two near faceplants on the sidewalk (thank you, heels), you finally make it to the party. You’ve got a good buzz going, and an even greater cleavage situation thanks to Victoria and her secrets.

You push your way through the throngs of people, looking for some booze your friends. You stop and do the “Heeyyyyy!” with some people you know along the way, but keep things moving in the direction of the keg calling your name in the corner of the kitchen.

You grab a cup (of the red Solo variety) and get in line. The guy ahead of you is filling three cups – and also happens to be quite attractive – so you offer to help him out a bit. Soon you’re pumping the tap as he fills his cups, sharing a laugh at the drunk girl grinding against the fridge’s expense. He waits with you while you fill your own cup, then the two of you walk together into the living room where his friends are. Read More »

"My name is Lisa Frank and I live at 222 North Wells Street and I was born on...."

You’re totally over the stinky, sweaty frat party scene, and the lines for the bathroom, keg, and beer pong table at house parties is starting to piss you off. You need something new for your weekend festivities… something like, the bar.

Ok, so you’re not 21, but you know as well as anyone that the bar on the corner of campus would let in anyone not still attached to their umbilical cord. All you need is a little fakey fake ID. If you’re lucky, you have an older sister who looks just like you who ceremoniously passes it down to you the minute you hit campus. If you’re not so lucky, you’re the oldest sibling/the only girl/have an older sister who is a giant bitch and won’t give you her ID because “I never had anyone to give it to me.”

But that’s OK too, because everyone knows that Howie with the sideburns on the 4^th floor of the dorm does more than sell weed out of his room. He also has a pretty sweet printer and only charges $100 for an ID that he claims can even scan (!!). So you scrounge up some cash and get yourself a pretty good Fake. The picture is a little blurry and it says you are 22 and an organ donor, but it looks better than some of the other IDs you’ve seen around campus. Overall, money well spent. Read More »

The summer after I graduated from high school I was excited to finally be free from compulsory family vacays to celebrate the 4^th of July. So to celebrate both America’s and my own newfound independence, I went big, I went all out – I went to a house party.

It was the kind of party I look back fondly on in remembrance of high school days. There was cheap vodka, a backup keg, and plenty of top shelf liquor plucked from the generous hostesses’ parents liquor cabinet. The night started out innocently enough, with keg stands, red and blue shots (white didn’t work out the way we’d planned), and plenty of high schoolers bragging about just how wasted they were.

As a mature, soon-to-be-freshman, I was so over the same un-graduated attendees that had been plaguing house parties for the last 4 years of my life. As I lamented the lack of “real men” with my equally sophisticated best friends, the college guys showed up. Read More »

I’m starting to get sick of the bars but I’m not sick of going out so I jumped at the chance to go to a house party on Saturday.

I used to go to them all the time freshman year. We would wander the streets and walk into any house with music playing in hopes that it would be a raging party. 78% of the time it was a couple of seniors sitting around who charged us $10 to share 4 Natty Lights between 8 of us. But once in a while it would be a real house party with music blasting and a basement full of strangers.

Sophomore year I got my fake ID, eventually upgraded to a real ID and began spending my nights out going to the bars. I average 1.5 house parties a year now and they’ve become almost mythological in my mind. While my roommates put on tiny dresses and heels for the bars, I acted like “house party” was a really fun theme party. I threw on a grungy gym t-shirt that totally clashed with my sneakers. I debrushed my hair, and smeared make-up on only parts of my face. My friend who had actually been invited to the party told me I was being offensive; I claimed offensive often gets confused with enthusiasm.

In an effort to save money and be super thrifty I made a vodka-oj water bottle and headed out with my dredded-head held high. We arrived at the party and the sophomore bouncers at the door charged us $4 because there was a live band and unlimited beer. My friends grumbled at the price and discussed just going to the bars. But my outfit said house party and there was no way I was going to give up my dream of a sikk movie-like house party (also I paid less since I had my own drink). Read More »

[It doesn’t matter what school you go to, what state it is in, how big it is, whether it is public or private, all girls or coed…there are experiences that all college students share.

No matter how crazy you think your personal situation is, it is not just you. So, let’s bring it all out in the open. Right here. Because you are not alone - we’ve all been there before.]

There are many moments in a college student’s existence that are shared by other students around the globe, but none more common than the All Nighter.

You know on the first day of class that there will be a 12-page paper due this Friday. You highlighted it, and put it in your planner. But as the weeks went by – and you sorta stopped showing up for class – you kept pushing the paper off. “I’ll start it this weekend,” you tell yourself a week before it’s due.

But the weekend comes, and with it comes an impromptu house party at your place Friday night, a long recap/hangover session on Saturday, a birthday party Saturday night and work on Sunday. No time for a paper.

You assure yourself that you will do it a little each night this week, but it takes you until Wednesday to realize that heading to the library with the girls and a bag of Baked Lays is not the best way to be productive. Read More »

You’ve finally moved out of the dorms, and it just so happens that your new diggs are the perfect place to throw a party. No RA’s, no quiet hours, no cramming 50 people into your tiny dorm and trying to have a dance party. Sweet!

Throwing a party might seem like a no-brainer. Still, you have make sure all of your bases are covered, or you’ll find people trickling out before midnight, hoping to catch another bigger, better party before the sun comes up and the night is a complete bust.

If you want to throw the party of the year–the one people are still talking about at graduation, the one people are still talking about at the reunion–just take heed of these simple cardinal rules. Read More »

[It doesn’t matter what school you go to, what state it is in, how big it is, whether it is public or private, all girls or coed…there are experiences that all college students share. No matter how crazy you think your personal situation is, it is not just you.

So, let’s bring it all out in the open. Right here. Because you are not alone - we’ve all been there before.]

The Phone in the Toilet:

You put on your cutest (and tightest) jeans for the partayyy. When you arrive at the house, you drop your jacket in your friend’s room, take a few shots and head out to the living room to mingle. Your best friend is coming late/the boy you want always texts you late-night, so you keep your phone on vibrate in your back pocket so you can feel it when it rings.

You take more shots. And more. And drink a lot of beer. You laugh, you party, you begin to feel really drunk.

And, OMG, you have to pee so badly.

You head upstairs to use the bathroom; it’s gotta be cleaner than the one on the main floor, not to mention the line is probably shorter. Ugh – it’s not. You pull your phone out of your pocket in hopes that your boy-toy has sent you a “where you at?” text message, then shove the phone back into your pocket when the door opens and two people (looking particularly happy) walk out.

You run into the bathroom, lock the door, and stumble as you attempt to pull your jeans down. Just before you get them below your knees you hear a plunk and, HolySh*tNoEffingWayOhMyGodOhMyGod, your phone is in the toilet. Read More »