We missed themed socials at Whoops Wednesday, so we made our own

We knew, coming to Lancs this year, that university would be different to anything we’d experienced before. Whilst it’s certainly easier to make it to our nine am lectures, the sheer absence of people when you do make it to campus is eerie. The townhouse parties that once used to overflow with people are now non-existent, and living off campus makes the journey to any in-person material feel like a surrealist adventure. Of course, there are those things students can get by without, changes that can be made to suit the ever renewing lockdown laws. But nothing hits home quite like the absence of a good night out – themed nights even more so.

It was this very thought that struck us not long ago. Sitting around a cramped kitchen table, gazing at the array of bottles on our makeshift bar, five tired students locked eyes, and a decision was made. 2020 can take the students out of Sugar, but it can’t take Sugar out of the students.

Prep

Memes seemed the obvious choice – what else could get you so far through a global pandemic – and we got to work. So, with the date set, the next challenge came. How would we make Meme Night 2020 a worthy contender to all other socials?

Our sights were set high, themed outfits, decoration, food and drink, and games were all essential parts of the equation. We knew we had to account for our minimal budget, but living with art students has its perks, so DIY became our go-to move for the following week.

Whilst some prep, such as the appropriately adorned sign, was done just for the fun of it, paints became integral to many aspects of our costumes – in particular Stonks guy. As you can see there was a clear division in skill exhibited with each costume, but we’re pretty confident in the end results.

Costumes

The key to a themed Whoops Wednesday social is the costumes. Entire societies swarm the spine head to toe in togas or bin bags, and although some of the themes are a bit questionable, it is one of the greatest parts of Lancaster nightlife.

So we have our theme and five different students, which means five very different costumes. Here we have: Stonks guy, Kermit “But that’s none of my business”, Go Sports! Girl, the Walmart yodelling kid, and a claustrophobic Gemma Collins. Sugar would have adored us.

The Night

Like any good hosts, we understand that no social is complete without an obscene amount of alcohol. Everyone has their preferred drink, and you need no excuse for pitchers full of cocktails, but we were determined to stretch this theme further.

When the night finally came, we knew what we had to do. Honouring meme culture through our choice of food seemed too good an opportunity to miss. As such, each snack was inspired by a different iconic quote to create the perfect meme night ‘feast’. Respectively: “Fuck your chicken strips”, “Hurricane tortilla”, “Who in the hell put the muffins in the freezer”, and  “Fresh avocado”.

In the spirit of any good sports social, we also decided to make the night competitive. We tried out TikTok style party games among other classics like beer pong and ring of fire. Embracing the themed night to the full was a perfect way to attempt to recreate the socials we’ve missed out on, and feud’s between each member were embraced to the full. At times certain players were forced to team-up, tied together as in many past socials students experienced pre-COVID. It got a little messy, and as the night went on less and less of our costumes stayed intact. 

As if a testament to the social-like atmosphere we wished to recreate, amongst all this, it was often the unplanned that became the most memorable. Bringing students together to create chaos under the order of one rule – the theme of the night – is bound to end with stories to tell. Heading back home (or in our cases, finally falling dead in our rooms), stomach full of Sultans,  and the promise of a headache tomorrow – but still buzzing from it all. We strived to recreate this feeling, and though it wasn’t ever going to be quite the same as the Wednesdays past, we’re already planning a second.

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