As I’ve gotten older, I watch less and less TV in my free time. With the exception of watching soccer and football, the only thing I consistently make an effort to watch are the shows “The Bachelor” and “Survivor,” my favorite reality TV shows of all time. Half the fun of watching these shows is getting together with a group of friends to hang out and watch it together. In my freshman year of college, I actually met one of my best friends at a “Bachelor” watch party, and since then, I like to think I’ve mastered the art of hosting watch parties.
When I first got to college as a freshman, I had to go through the typical not-knowing anyone phase and find creative ways to meet new people. As a lifelong watcher of “The Bachelor,” one of these ideas was to connect with other girls who watched it as well and find a group to watch it with weekly. Back at home, I’m used to “Bachelor” nights being girl time and having a big social hour with my family and friends when it’s on. So coming to college and not having anyone to watch it with, nonetheless anywhere to watch it at all, was sort of depressing.
I eventually found my group of people to watch “The Bachelor” with on Snapchat. Yup, I still can’t believe it either. Somebody had posted on the public story of our dorm that they were watching the show if anyone else wanted to join, so of course, I was going to jump on that opportunity. From then on, every week, we’d sit on the couch together, watching Hannah Brown and Peter Weber find love in the public lounge of our freshman dorm. One of the girls I met through our watch party group ended up becoming one of my best friends, someone who will likely be a bridesmaid in my future wedding.
From all the years I’ve spent watching reality tv and sports, I’ve gotten pretty good at hosting watch parties. It’s a great idea to prepare some food or drinks ahead of time so that everyone can snack throughout the evening, or you could do a potluck and ask each of the guests to bring something to contribute, which may be a better option for us college students so that you don’t have to carry the burden of providing everything by yourself.
Whether it’s a good football game or a reality tv show, watch parties are a great way to mingle and spend time with friends while enjoying something you all have in common. To me, it’s a lot more fun being with other people and sharing the experience of hanging out and watching it together. So if you couldn’t tell already, I highly recommend getting a group of people together for watch parties. If you have the space, even ask some of your friends to bring any of their other friends, and you’ll get to make some cool new connections.