Nights in are the absolute best, especially when the temperatures become cooler and the nights get darker earlier.
I sometimes worry that I’ve become a bit boring since getting older and embarking on the parenting journey, as my desire to go out, have a few drinks, and strut my stuff on the dancefloor has waned considerably.
Here are 10 reasons why I find nights in much more appealing:
No pressure to drink
Despite being in my 40s, on the rare occasions that I have been out, I still feel pressure to drink when in a group. Peer pressure is still a very real thing for some people, even in adulthood. If one of your friends suddenly appears with a tray full of shots, then there is still pressure to take one, even if you don’t want to.
Some people may not want to feel like the odd one out if everyone else is drinking, and being the only sober one in a group of people who are drunk or tipsy can make the evening a little less enjoyable, especially if you’re “the quiet one” like me.
And I’ve found that, on the occasions that I do want to drink, it’s still easy to end up overdoing it and having one too many (most of us have made that mistake!), which I’m more likely to do if I’m out in a group.
Nights in completely remove any pressure to drink, and it’s much easier for me to relax after a hard day of adulting and parenting.
No hangover
I’ve always been a lightweight. I’m the quiet one, but give me two glasses of wine, and I never shut up. And if a third is consumed, then you can guarantee that I’ll be spouting nonsense and will have the headache from hell the following morning.
In my 20s, I’d have too many drinks and wake up feeling like death. But that wasn’t the biggest issue. The biggest problem was the way that alcohol would cause a massive spike in my anxiety, and I’d spend the entire following day wondering if I’d said or done something foolish and if whatever I’d said or done was going to end up on Facebook.
And I lost count of the amount of toilet selfies I took (whilst actually sat on the toilet) while under the influence (major cringe).
These days, I much prefer nights in and an early night. I can wake up feeling refreshed, not having to worry about what I’ve said or done the night before, and I know that there will be absolutely no surprise toilet selfies in my camera roll.
It’s a wonderful feeling!
And I no longer wake up feeling like death, which is definitely a good thing when you’re a parent of two children who are impossible to wake up at 7:00 am for school during the week but insist on getting up at 6:30 am at weekends.
Sigh.
Early nights
When I was in my 20s, it wasn’t uncommon for me to go to bed at 1:00 am. The evenings were when I was at my most active – a proper night owl. Now, I can barely make it past 11:00 pm. While nights out can still be enjoyable, I usually start feeling ready to head home by 10:30 pm.
One of the best things about nights in is that I don’t have to worry about getting home, removing my make-up, and all those other things whilst feeling tired.
I can easily have an early night if I feel like it. No need to wait for a taxi or travel home on a bus late at night (never a pleasant experience on a Friday or Saturday evening!).
It saves money
The rising cost of food and drink is one of the main reasons why nights in have become much more appealing. Throw in the cost of transport, and the cost of a new outfit if you haven’t had a night out in what feels like YEARS, and you can easily end up spending a huge amount of money on a night out.
Staying in enables me to save money and spend it on something much more sensible, such as a massive bar of chocolate or a new pair of reading glasses. Prescription glasses don’t come cheap!
God, I’m really getting older, aren’t I?!
More family time
Despite my kids no longer being babies, they still sometimes get a little bit confused when we explain that mum and dad are having a night out.
The kids: “Oooh, can we come?”
Me: “No.”
The kids: “Oh….ok.”
*MUM GUILT TRIGGERED*
But we don’t do it often, and all the nights in that we have enable us to spend more time together as a family. Our kids are now at an age where they can sit and watch a full-length movie without getting restless, so it’s nice to stay in and have a movie night together!
No reminders of my age
I’ll be honest, nights out now make me feel a bit old. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was hitting the dancefloor in my 20s, looking at the older clubgoers strutting their stuff. Now I’m the older clubgoer, doing a few moves on the dancefloor and wondering if “mum dancing” is a thing.
For that reason, nights in are much better! There are absolutely no stark reminders that I’m no longer in my 20s.
No worries about outfits
Nights in mean less worrying about what outfit you’re going to wear. When I hit 40, I attended a few birthday celebrations of friends of the same age, and I’ll be honest, some of the outfits in my wardrobe needed dusting off.
It’s no secret that nights out are rare as a parent. You become stuck in a routine, and there’s far less time to arrange an evening out, especially if most of your friends are parents too. As a result of this massive lifestyle change, most of my clothes probably went out of fashion ten years ago.
Having a night in means that I don’t have to worry about what to wear, and I can easily slip into some comfy pyjamas and leave the make-up off. A terrifying sight for unexpected visitors, but a comfortable experience for me, something which I tend to care more about these days!
Nicer atmosphere for gatherings
Nights in with friends are just as good as, if not better than, nights out with friends. There’s no loud music, so you can actually have long conversations without having to shout or ask each other to repeat a word or sentence.
It’s just a nice, relaxed atmosphere that enables you to have a good catch up with friends, have a games night and moan about the struggles of parenthood.
And if there’s karaoke involved, then at least you’re singing in the comfort of your home in front of people who you know well instead of an entire room full of strangers!
Nights in with friends can be difficult when you have young children, but I find that it’s much easier now that my kids are a little older. They’ll play together upstairs or may even join in the fun and games! Ok, so it takes away the adult time, and all conversations and games will have to be child-friendly, but it’s nice for everyone to bond, and the kids won’t be young forever. It won’t be long before they’re teenagers and can’t wait to get out of the house at the weekends, away from their embarrassing parents! Which means more adult time!
No toilet queues
I definitely don’t miss the queues for the toilet on nights out. I have memories of waiting ages for a toilet to become available. I’m ashamed to admit that I was often a cause of those delays when drunk. I was probably too busy taking toilet selfies or sitting on the toilet floor for ages, getting emotional over random things after consuming way too much wine. We’ve all been there in our youth!
Having a night in gives me instant access to the toilet without worrying about the queues. Well, actually, there will still be a queue. But it’s a much less daunting experience waiting for my kids and husband to come out of the bathroom than waiting in a queue full of rowdy, drunk people…I think.
Cosy movie nights
Undoubtedly one of the absolute best things about nights in. Why go out when it’s cold and rainy when you have access to a whole load of movies in the warmth and comfort of your home?! Admittedly, it takes us ages to decide what movie to watch, but still…
Popcorn, hot chocolate (or just a massive bar of chocolate) and a good movie…you can’t beat it!
I might give these movies a miss, though…
Obviously, everyone is different!
Some people still enjoy nights out in their 30s, 40s and beyond, and that’s fine! My tastes have definitely changed as I’ve got older, though. It’s less about high heels and more about fluffy slippers.
And, despite feeling guilty for not liking nights out as much as some of my friends still do, I’m coming to terms with the fact that it’s just a natural change in preferences that happens to some of us as we get older!
