Fun get together ideas, especially for the new college students who just moved away from home: two of my fondest memories from my OSU days were the parties we hosted our freshmen year, both without alcohol.

My first semester of freshmen year, everyone in my dorm of course was trying to adjust to a new life, new people, etc…which can be daunting for an 18-year-old. So I had this idea to host a knitting/crocheting party in our common dorm’s lounge/kitchen, and all were welcome. As a knitter, I teamed up with another girl who was a crocheter. And we both agreed to be the instructors for anyone who didn’t know how to knit/crochet but wanted to learn.

People showed up, brought their yarn and needles, some brought snacks, some were already experienced crafters and some were newbies. The experts coached the newbies. We put Titanic on DVD. And we had so much fun just connecting and laughing in a peaceful, low pressure environment. 

And because there was an actual goal to focus on, i.e. create a piece of craft, no one felt the awkward pressure of being a wallflower like at a normal house party. No one felt like they HAD to mingle, and in that lack of pressure to perform, they naturally socialized authentically.

As an extremely introverted hermit who’s sensitive to loud noise and chaos, this was exactly what I needed. And at the end of the night, a few at the party expressed the same sentiments. Some of us remain close friends to this day.

The following summer, a few of us stayed at the dorm to take summer classes, but most went home. The dorm felt eerily quiet and lonely, and the silence was getting too loud even for a hermit like me. Then we came up with the idea to host a “Thanksgiving in July” potluck. 

We each brought our own dish, and we had a Thanksgiving feast in the same dorm kitchen, sans turkey because we were broke college students. We had a good laugh over my mushy pumpkin pie. It was my first attempt at pumpkin pie. Thank goodness I’ve improved significantly on my pie game since then. It was a silly idea but at the end of the evening, we all felt a little bit less lonely, and some of us are still good friends to this day.

Hopefully I’ve given you some good ideas to get together and establish connections and communities, beautiful squash blossoms. You never know, you may meet your lifelong best friends at the next Thanksgiving in July dorm potluck.