Secret Tips on How to Plan a Hangout on a Tight Budget

 In most cases, we’re fed up with meeting at our houses for movie nights, takeout, girls' night out, and football. There comes a time when we absolutely need to go out and get some fresh air.

It’s a Good Feeling

Hanging out is always an exciting moment for me because there are so many benefits to it. In fact, I look forward to it when family, or friends, and I fix a date to meet up at a cool place. Although this could be such a rigorous activity for most of us, I feel the need to share some tips that could come in hand the next time you feel like giving it a shot.

Your Social Life Matters

Let me ask you a question: when you're bored or stressed out, what do you do? We work so hard that our social life shouldn’t be an exception. In most cases, we’re fed up with meeting at our houses for movie nights, takeout, girls' night out, and football. There comes a time when we absolutely need to go out and get some fresh air. In this case, two things may likely come to mind: how to plan and money matter, lol! Not to worry, I got you covered with ideas and tips on how to plan a hangout on a budget that won’t break the bank.

What’s a Hangout?

This is simply the work-life-balance attitude of creating a moment from your busy schedule to spend some quality time with someone (family, friend, or colleague) or a group of people in a place. For me, this is absolutely on the top of the to-do list because I get to interact, network, relax, gain knowledge, and forget that Monday is another workday, lol! Have in mind that this doesn’t pass anyone as lazy but it is just a means of keeping your sanity together and as a strong advocate of #worklifebalance, I approve! See, you definitely need to keep your body, soul, and mind in check, trust me. Please note, alone time and business lunch are typically different from a hangout.

Steps to Planning a Hangout on a Budget

What’s your Budget?

This is the overall determining factor. How much or how little do you want to spend? How many are you in number? How far can you go to adjust your budget when you find a good place for a hangout? For this, you would require a venue, food, drinks, and activities (optional).

The W4H Questions

This is where the why what, where, when, and how questions come into play?

Why do you hangout

This could be for any of the following reasons:

•  Healthy Lifestyle

You can’t afford to work yourself to your death bed, don’t you completely agree? When you rest awhile from work, you are building up your body and not stressing it out. So, you hang out for health reasons.

•  Time to connect and network

Trust me, to move up the ladder in life, you need that human interaction and connection. This is certainly what makes the world go around at this moment. So, go out there and interact because you don’t know where the next juicy opportunity may be hiding.

• Strengthen Relationship or ties

Never get too knee-deep in work that you forget to maintain your relationship with family and friends. It is at this time that you spend quality moments with them to go over stuff or pick up from where you left.

• Learn

There is so much to learn when you hang out with people from diverse cultures or perspectives. Even, hangouts are so dynamic these days that you have activities like painting, swimming, sculpture, open mic, standup comedy, seminars, and so much to learn.

• Teach

It is not all about you but about everyone too. You too have something to offer to the next person so don’t hold back any knowledge you have to share.

•  Eat/Drink

This is the fun part. Are you a foodie or a drink tester, explore because this is one moment you shouldn’t overlook.

•   Relaxation/Therapy

A day out from work could be relaxing and therapeutic in nature. Trust me, there is magic in meeting your friends and colleagues out of work to share a drink or food, chat, play, and dance. It relieves you of the weeks’ stress and prepares your body for the work ahead.

•   Celebrations

You’re probably celebrating your birthday, anniversary, wedding, promotion, and you prefer to have guests eat out instead of at home.

     ·       Team Hang Out or Bonding

Here, colleagues and friends choose a day out of work to foster a relationship or get out of the office space. This is a deliberate attempt to build collaboration, communication, and encourage team cooperation in an office.

What do you want /Where do you hangout

Another important thing you should also have in mind are the what and where. A lot of factors come into play here:

1.      Your personality/Temperament.

This would go a long way to determine your preference in terms of ambiance; probably you are introverted or extroverted; a nature lover or metropolitan.

2.      Meal preference

Your meal choice could vary from traditional, continental, or confectioneries, soups, seafood, etc.

3.      Dress Code

The time of the day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) also determine what you wear. Not to forget that some restaurants or hang-out spots have a way that their environment determines their guests' dress code. I remember a breakfast buffet at a hotel one time where they specifically stated what guests should wear.

When you are done considering the above, you could go ahead to settle for any of these:

•         Restaurants

When you want a taste of outdoor food over chat and chuckles.

•      Beach

When you want a close interaction with nature, play games with friends or colleagues and sunbathe or soak in saltwater.

•         Art Gallery/ Museum

 If you are all about arts, history, culture, antiques, and archaeology.

•         Hotels

When luxury is all you want.

•      Poolside

When you just feel like taking a dive.

•        Parks

When you want to picnic and play games and you need the space for it.

•        Clubs

When all you want is to dance and drink with loud music in the background.

•         Cinemas

When you are all about motion pictures.

When you plan to Hang Out

Choose a Date

Having a date in mind assists your plan to a reasonable extent. You don’t want to choose a date that nobody would turn up? Also, it is more preferable to hang out on a weekend if it is not an after-work thingy. When you have a date in mind, you can go ahead and do any of the following for a tight-proof plan.

How to tight proof a Hangout Plan

Research online/Reviews

You don’t just choose a date with a place in mind and on that day, you show up. Nah! Do you know if they are still open or moved the business, the time they open for business, if they have the kind of food you want or if there are terms and conditions to be applied while making a menu choice? So, what do you do in this case? You simply utilize the power of social media or the internet. Go online: Google, Twitter Instagram, or Facebook; most of these hangout spots have an online presence. You would get a good idea of the scenery, their menu, and any other thing you would love to know about them. You can go to the extent of reading reviews about them to get to know other people’s opinions about the place. Obviously, it assists you to plan further on food and drinks, and around the budget, you already have in mind.

Make a Call

This is one area I noticed most restaurants or spots have failed or are still failing: Customer care service. Some do have an online presence but their phones are either switched off or no one responds to chats on their social media platforms. Well, if you are lucky enough to get any, ask questions and seek clarifications.

Secret Tips on how to Plan a Hangout on a Budget

a.       Share a plate

This is one thing some of us overlook. Most spots serve an enormous amount of food that you may not be able to finish. In this case, what do you do? You share a plate. Yeah, I am absolutely real in what I do. Most restaurants serve you your dish with a serving plate. Instead of stuffing yourself with so much food, why don’t you share a plate and save some money?

b.      Cut down on Drinks/Drink at home

See, let’s be realistic, you are taxed on every alcohol taken outdoor or it is simply double the price. So, you know your budget and preference. You can as well cut down on drinks to accommodate food, and drink responsibly at home. Another thing you could do is to look out for a happy hour at restaurants (buy one get one free night).

c.       Look out for freebies

This could come in form of a discount on drinks and food for a certain number of guests; hanging out at the non-peak time of the day or a day in a week. Some spots offer exciting deals at festive periods or once in a while. Also, I hope you are aware that some parks, museums, and galleries are free to enter?

Try a Buffet

If you are a foodie like me, I am sure you would love this; you would spend less on hanging out in groups over a buffet than go to a restaurant. Just think about this: paying just a token to try out all the exciting dishes or treat yourself to whatever you wish or even drink to compare to having to pay so much at a restaurant.

Have fun, drink responsibly, mask up due to Covid-19,  and don’t forget to take lovely pictures!

I hope you enjoyed this read? Kindly leave a comment and share.