That being said, it can sometimes be pretty obvious when someone is at a bar for the first time. No matter how hard you might be trying to fit in, that’s probably exactly what’s making you stand out. And trust me, you don’t want to be that girl. Sometimes, no matter how much everyone drinks, there are some things people just don’t forget.

Here are a few handy little tips on how to handle yourself the first time you make an appearance at a bar — from one bar veteran to a bar virgin, trust me on these.

Dress appropriately. I can’t stress this enough. You might think you’ve finally found a place to wear that skin-tight, super-short, leopard print dress you got at Too Cute, but consider your surroundings first. Most bars are relatively casual, especially local ones. I can’t tell you how many bars I’ve been to where everyone is in jeans and a cute top, and in walks an 18-year-old girl in a tiny dress and sky-high heels looking completely out of place and completely 18. Those outfits are usually better suited for a club. Not that you can’t look cute at a bar — you should. But I would say it’s definitely more of a casual environment.

Maybe don’t get on top of the bar. Everyone has those blackout drunk nights that end in waking up in the morning and seeing a hundred pictures of themselves dancing on top of a bar tagged on Facebook. All of my friends, myself included, have found ourselves up there at one point of another. But you probably don’t want to get the reputation as the girl who’s always slutting it up there. You know, the girl who goes up there in one of those really short little dresses so that everyone can see her underwear (or lack thereof), and clumsily pours shots down guys’ throats and shirts and then proceeds to dance like she thinks she’s J-Lo. It’s not the best look…for anyone.

Not everyone cares how drunk you are. You don’t need to loudly proclaim how wasted you are to everyone in your vicinity every five minutes. I can guarantee that no one cares, except for maybe that creepy guy in the corner who’s been watching you. In other words, keep the screeching to a minimum. Nothing is worse than a group of underage girls shrieking about how much they drank and how they don’t know how they’re going to get home.

Keep your friends close. Yes, what your mom has always told you is true – you should definitely use the buddy system when you’re out at a bar. You’ll have to deal with a lot of creepy guys — guys who don’t know what the word ‘no’ means, those guys that just hang around looking at you and muttering under their breath. Or maybe you’re not sober enough to realize the guy you’re eagerly chatting up is actually NOT cute (this is where a friend comes in). Or maybe you’ll get lucky and find a cute guy who needs someone to entertain his friend — hello wing-woman! Also, you just shouldn’t sit alone in a bar. It’s sad.

Try not to spend the night in the bathroom. Don’t get so wasted that you’re leaning over a disgusting bar toilet bowl for hours on end. This one is helpful for you and your girls — none of your friends want their night out wasted by having to hold your hair back as you puke. And you don’t need to be seen looking like the definition of a hot mess when you walk out at the end of the night, dried vomit on your cute shirt, your hair stringy, and looking like you’re about to hook up with death.

Tip generously. Especially if you plan on returning. You will learn that building a friendship with your bartender will be one of the most important relationships of your college career. No, but seriously, being buddy-buddy with the bartenders can only be a good thing. Not only will they make your drinks extra strong, but you’ll usually get free drinks and shots out of it, and they’ll also notice you even when it’s super crowded. Not to mention they make for some pretty great conversation at the end of the night.

Zits.

Yes, thanks to the mixture of all that costume (or sexy) makeup, smoke, sweat, and no-time-to-wash-your-face-before-you-get-it-on sexy time, your skin takes a serious beating. So just because it’s a holiday doesn’t mean you should skip out on your skincare routine. In fact, you should be even more committed to it! Otherwise, you’ll just end up covering those imperfections up with more makeup, which only makes the cycle start over again.

So, ladies, before you head out for your final night of Halloween festivities, I’ve got some tips on how to care for your skin after a big night!

As always, if you’ve got something you want me to cover, post it in the comments below. And don’t forget to check out my other videos right here!

1. Toilet Paper. I don’t know about you but I have had to pop my fair share of squats in the woods on the way home from God knows where. Not to mention, we’ve all been to one too many frat parties where the bathroom looked like something out of a horror movie and, of course, there’s never any toilet paper.

2. Flip flops. Heels make an outfit right?  After several hours out, however, standing (or dancing) on those heels, our little piggies need a break. Throw a pair of comfy flip flops in your bag and, if your feet are throbbing, change ‘em up. You’ll be thanking me latah.

3. Bottle of Water. No one likes a drunk, sloppy puking mess, so bringing a bottle of water to sip in between drinks is a great way to pace yourself and spread out your drinks.

4. Band Aid. You have no idea how many times me or my girl friends have either fallen, sliced a finger, ripped a hang nail, etc. Throwing one in your wallet will save you and your friends tons of trouble.

5. Shout Pen. White shirt. One too many cranberry vodkas. Nuff said.

6. Hair tie. Again, lots of drinks, way to many shots, and the spins. You’re going to need to pull your hair back to keep from getting the goo in your hairdo.

7. Small purse. Do not bring your entire giant collection of pens, lip gloss, loose change, and planner with you when you go out.  Reserve a “going out” purse that is small enough to fit only what you really need: ID, some cash, cell phone, and the aforementioned items. Do not bring your credit cards to the toga party. They will get lost.

What are your must-haves for a night out?

Is it true though? Or are the tabloids just running exaggerated fantasies to harpoon mass appeal? It’s hard to know because these grandiose lifestyles are perpetuated by the attention drawn to them (unless the celebrity is actually talented). Case in point — the Kardashian sex tape.

Bad publicity is good publicity, I suppose… especially for the venues that become associated with celebrity attendance (who doesn’t want to go to places where you might see a rockstar in a bar fight or catch Paris Hilton stripping down to… well… a slightly more naked version of her usual self?).

When talking about club publicity, nothing turns up the temp on a particular venue more than the drug habits of the celebrities. The scandalous behaviors of one Miss Britney Spears has made headlines for a variety of clubs in New York including an all time personal favorite, Marquee. Yes, she has been caught using drugs in the public bathrooms all around town and she’s not the only one. The question then becomes, of course, how many drugs are being done in these places? Certainly you run a high risk (pun intended) of being caught abusing drugs if you are a celebrity, but what about us ordinary folk? Are drugs swimming through the clubs as the tabloids would have us believe?

The answer is YES. I would never consider myself a drug abuser, but I know first hand that almost every club I have been to has it’s own underground microcosmic drug scene. Club Stereo was closed last year after several cocaine busts, though this came as no shock as Stereo was known for being “pot friendly” and leaving the club was like opening the Scoobie Doo van (smoke pouring out). Tenjune turns the other cheek when it comes to smoking the reefer in the VIP section and won’t ask why there are so many girls leaving the bathroom with runny noses. The real shocker comes from Le Souk where I witnessed some special k being snorted in the wide open.

I have also witnessed people getting arrested. Again, Club Stereo, you win in this department with flying colors. On two — no three occasions I witnessed drug raids there, but in the end, drug use was far far more frequent than the arrests that were made. This can probably be said true for almost any club and can be said especially true for celebrities. Amongst my celebrity encounters few involved sobriety (or much respect for, I dunno… THE LAW). Indeed, the Studio 54 mentality lives on in places like Bungalow 8 (where you might just order “a rum and coke.. hold the rum”).

These scenes are often under the radar of the public because of tight security. It’s nearly impossible to get in unless you know someone, ARE a celebrity or (at the very least) have your very own assistant. Places rarely have to answer to the law because undercover cops simply do not fit the demographic of these super-dooper (more like super-doper) high-end venues.

This doesn’t mean that the celebrity lives we read about aren’t embellished to perfection, but it certainly adds validity to the stories. The truth of the matter is, we aren’t living lives so separate from those we read about and if anything can be learned from the tabloids, it’s two things: 1) where the drugs are 2) where people get caught doing them.

It’s a question that often goes unanswered and maybe that’s for the best because the only clues you have are rather discerning (ie. waking up in someone elses’ pants or finding a tattoo of betty boop on your ankle or perhaps finding that you have a plane ticket to miami mysteriously scheduled for the following weekend). This past weekend I would discover that these are not exaggerated tales attempting to glorify a night of reckless drinking… they are (and I am living proof) ridiculous truths.

Like so many other New York hot spots, “Pink Elephant” is surrounded by velvet ropes, bouncers that answer to “Gus”, disco balls, teensy girls in teensy skirts, drugs, overpriced drinks and that guy who had one-too-many performing a very public (and very unsolicited) strip show. I came here with some friends and we got in, having mistaken it for another club called “Mansion”… but this was one mistake I would not regret.

The music was not exactly the type that puts me in a jovial booty-shaking trance, where my dancing skills take on a life of their own. Rather, the music was more Euro-style with some Madonna splashed here and there.

Usually, if the music isn’t my type, I’ll be bored… or worse, lose my rhythm and send my arm accidentally sailing into the nose of some cute guy behind me.

Fortunately, this place was filled with so many beautiful people, that I was amused by aesthetics alone. Within minutes, some adorable Polish guy was handing me and my friend glasses of champagne. We danced. We laughed. We drank. It was a grand old time.

But the real glimpse into the highlife came the next morning as I was sipping on my venti cappuccino at my computer. Waiting for me in my inbox was an email from a certain Polish stallion. And what was in that email? A prepaid roundtrip ticket to Miami for the weekend (and a hotel room for my very own self!). How quickly I came to regard my hangover like a damn sweet souvenir from Pink Elephant’s luminous bar.

Alright, so you’re not guaranteed a free vacation when you go to uber-chic clubs like Pink Elephant, but what you are guaranteed is a greater likelihood for meeting someone really rich and really Polish. Cheers!

I would have NEVER ever known what a “MOCKtail” was had it not been for this seven day detox I’m currently on. In fact, I would have never known what it was like to come back to my bed after a night out downtown and still be sober and without a jar of peanut butter in my hand had it not been for this. I did a few things tonight that I haven’t done in since my Christian straight edge high school days and I can’t lie…I feel moderately good about myself.

1. I took the TRAIN home tonight. I can’t remember the last time I took the train home while it was dark. And this has nothing at all to do with safety. I’m just usually drunk when it’s dark and therefore, spending $20 on a cab makes a whole lotta sense. I took the train, I didn’t get lost, and I read my book and listened to Sleater-Kinney on my sober journey back to Astoria.

2. I went downtown and didn’t have a single sip of alcohol. I met up with a group of the writers here at CollegeCandy and I have to admit; the girls were supportive of my war with will power. Instead of binging on my usual wine spritzer (or whatever else a charming bartender graces my tongue with); I binged on fondue. Cheesy, delicious, non-alcoholic fondue. I ate just the right amount and when the thought of grabbing a slice of pizza occurred to me after I left the bar; I had the ability, for once, to think through the decision. Being sober, I could intelligently ascertain that I was, in fact, full, and didn’t need the calories or spent money under my belt.

3. I tried this concoction known as a “mocktail” at the bar. And it was f*&king delicious. Next Thursday, when I can drink again, I plan on getting this drink again. But with vodka.

4. I spent only $20 tonight-TOTAL. Juxtapose this, my dear friends, against my normal $60-80 night out downtown (and that’s just an average).

5. I took ALLLL of my make up off and brushed my teeth before coming to bed to write this. I can’t remember the last time that I was drunk and remembered to do either one of those things.

I’m laying in my bed. My candles are lit. My face and teeth are clean. And FOR ONCE, I’m not busy embarrassing myself in some totally unnecessary AIM conversation with some guy with a girlfriend. Or an ex. Or…well, you get the picture.

I wonder what day 3 will bring…