KELSEY PHARIS

Once again it is that time of year when the fear of not having anyone to take to a family holiday party or just not having a significant other can truly ruin the holiday spirit. When you feel like the pressure of being single is just too much to put you in the typical jolly spirit of the holidays just check out this list because I assure you that one of these things on will help you.

1. BE NICE!
   1. I know this may sound dumb or obvious, but trust me when I tell you that being nice to someone will make them want to spend more time with you thus making it so you can pounce on the best opportunity to invite them over for the holidays. Being nice is also hard because nobody is truly in a good mood currently with finals looming in the not so distant future.
2. Be their study partner.
   1. If they are in one of your classes and you talk to them occasionally, asking them to be your study partner for finals is a direct in. You could just invite yourself over to their house to “study,” meet their family and have it so it would be awkward as hell if you weren’t invited back before the holidays or even invited for their holiday party. Now this may seem hard to some, but basically just flirt with them a ton when their family is in the room so they think that you and the person have something.
3. Invite them to coffee at Starbucks or maybe even a local coffee place and make them pay and then talk about how it is a date because they paid.
   1. The best is to talk to them about how sweet you think it is that they paid for you and that they are such a great person to paying for you. Then you have to slip in that next time you two do this (get coffee) you will pay (but you won’t). Then you can act like you feel bad so then invite them over to your house for your holiday party.
4. Guilt trip them into thinking they have to go so they aren’t bad people.
   1. With the right amount of emotion and poise in your words it will be easy to convince anyone to be your date to the holiday dinner. My favorite line to use in this particular situation is “Won’t you do this for me… think about all the things I’ve done for you… I promise it will be worth it.” With the right emphasis on the right words this is an automatic in no matter who you are trying to convince.
5. If worst comes to worst a little bribe goes a long way.
   1. If the first four ideas didn’t do the trick in getting a date, the last and final option is to bribe them. No matter how macho or awesome someone thinks they are, a bribe will always win someone over. Now you have to know the person you are bribing, for example if they love Starbucks a gift card there would be a great idea. If they love music maybe an iTunes gift card. If you don’t know the person well enough just cash will usually do the job as long as it doesn’t come off as creepy when you ask someone to go with you to a dinner party and you pay them. With the cash part also make sure you aren’t paying too much. Is it really worth $50 to have a date or would you rather just explain why you’re single? The choice is yours.