This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Columbia Barnard chapter.

Baby, it’s cold outside. Especially when you’re home for Winter Break.

And your fling/hook-up/current crush is across the country.

And your second cousin twice-removed won’t stop asking why you’re still single.

Luckily for you, our team has brought you the best dating tips to get you through these next four weeks:

1) Use Tinder

If you kept in touch with your high school lover, then you’ll probably have an awkward encounter or bring back up old icky feelings and need to immediately bounce back with some good Tinder vibes. If you did not keep in touch, or did not have a high school lover, then you’ll probably need some excuse to escape your family, and a Tinder date could be just the one!

2) Reconsider the Facebook poke

If you want to remind said high school lover that you still exist, utilize the under-utilized but oh-so-clear method of the Facebook post to say “hey, don’t forget about me! I’m just as down as when people actually used Facebook pokes.”

3) Give your mom’s best friend’s son who’s home from Yale a chance

This winter break, consider actually going on a coffee date with your mom’s best friend’s son who’s home from Yale. It’s not like you’re doing anything productive at home, and god knows he couldn’t be worse than Columbia boys. If the sparks aren’t there, you can always fall back on talking about how uncomfortable you felt when your moms’ read Fifty Shades of Grey for book club.

4) Netflix

Netflix is a great alternative to dating over winter break.

5) Look cold outside

Stand outside the local haunts (movie theater, coffee shop, public library, J.Crew) looking really cold. According to popular media, chivalrous boys are really into helping girls who look really cold. Odds are you’ll end up with a loose fitting pea coat at worst and a winter boyfriend at best!

6) Use all the holidays as “check-in points”

The best thing about winter break is all the holidays. Not for gifts or for all the cheese platters — oh no. But for the copious number of excuses to message your crush with a happy holiday message. They don’t respond on Christmas Eve? Hit ’em with a “Merry Christmas Day!” Still doesn’t work? That’s what Kwanzaa’s for! Since there’s always the possibility that it was just a mass text, holiday greetings are the only acceptable way to contact a near stranger. Who knows? You might end up exchanging Hanukkah shrub Snapchats.

7) Just “think things over”

Remember when you told your train wreck of an ex that you just needed time to “think things over”? Turns out, that classic phrase can be useful for something other than an easy exit. Perhaps you’re coming out of something really serious or something really tortured or something really complicated or something that was none of those things, but in your head you made it all three of those things. Never fear, break is here! What better time than being cooped up in your home with your entire extended family (and Netflix!) than to just take a break and “think things over.”

Stay strong these next four weeks, HCB readers. We’ll see you on the other side.

Winter Break Dating Tips