Everyone who has ever been martyr enough to host a soiree at their humble abode is familiar with the set of emotions generally experienced the morning after. It’s a lethal combination of “what the f— happened last night”, “why do I feel like a truck just ran over my face” and “what the hell do I do with all this leftover stuff?!”.

 

Well, I can’t really help you recollect what pesky things you did that night, and for that headache, different things work for different people so I really hope that you have a personal favorite remedy. That leftover stuff, though? That, I can definitely help you with. Once you’ve cleaned up the stereotypical mess of red cups, broken chips embedded in the carpet and half empty beer cans, have a look at what you have left. Maybe it’s nothing, but in most cases, people overestimate their friends’ capacity to eat and drink.

Just recently, one of my friends had a chill kickback at her house, and looking at the multiple of cases of beer provided, she asked me,

“Surmayee, what am I going to do with these?”

 

Collectively, about half the case was finished. She had another 2 in the back. In case you haven’t realized, that is a LOT of leftover beer, not to mention the pizza kindly provided by one of our other friends. We figured out that we were most likely not the only ones to face this dilemma, and thus, this article was born.

Now, there’s the obvious choice. Pizza makes a great leftover (okay, it doesn’t really but as college students, we cant afford to be picky). Beer can be kept for a while before it needs to be had, and chips (as long as you close them properly) stay fairly good for a few more days.

But those are pretty standard uses, and if there’s one thing the Caliber staff is not, it’s boring. So here’s how we would deal with the spoilage from the night before:

Decorations:

Did you know that beer bottles (with their gorgeous colored glass) make great impromptu vases? Or here’s an idea, stick some white fairy lights into a beer bottle and put on your side table (plugged in obviously) and voila, there’s some creative ambient lighting to make your room a little more interesting. Another suggestion was stringing up some beer bottles in a row at different lengths to make some very different looking wind chimes. And with these decorations, you’re even being environmentally friendly!

Food:

I definitely haven’t cooked this before, but beer-battered chicken is a favorite amongst many people. Check out this recipe if you have some leftover beer, and you may just discover that you have some culinary skills you didn’t even know you possessed – and you get to impress your friends with your creativity.

Those leftover Doritos you have? Use them as a crust instead of breadcrumbs. You’d be surprised at how well that flavor translates into your food. How about crushing them up and adding them to a normally boring salad? Or just make your own nachos by adding cheese, freshly chopped tomatoes and onions and a healthy dose of sour cream and guac – leftover chips problem solved, and you wont even feel bad about devouring the whole bag.

 

Health and Beauty

Believe it or not, beer is a really good conditioner for your hair. So ladies, next time you have some left over flat beer you really don’t want to drink, mix in a little with your regular shampoo for a shiny and sleek mane. Add a teaspoon of jojoba oil to some warm beer to condition your hair. Your face feeling neglected? Not to worry, add some beer to a lot of yogurt, sweet almond oil, olive oil, lemon juice and an egg white for a very interesting face mask. (Ladies brave enough to try this out, please let me know how the results turned out!)

Artistic and Somewhat Clever

Something clever our president does whenever she washes her party cups is have a competition with her friends to see who can build the biggest pyramid of cups without them falling over. The victor then proudly displays his or her pyramid for a period of time (before, I assume, someone “accidentally” knocks it over). A good friend of mine used her standard Ikea side table, to create a handy-dandy functional piece of art. She simply covered the top in various beer bottle caps. It is sheer awesomeness. Channel your inner fifth grade science geek and use the cans and some string to create an extremely rustic telephone. Use those empty beer or soda cans to create your very own sculpture… think of how, um, impressed your friends will be!

Recycle and Donate

This goes without saying but recycle your bottles and cans (to fund your next escapades perhaps?) and if you really, really hate your pizza cold, there is definitely someone out there who would be incredibly grateful to get food. Score some karma points for yourself and do some good in the world.

 

So there you have it, folks. After you answer “what the f—- happened last night”, after you deal with the truck that was running over your head, you know what to do with everything your grateful party guests left behind. Let your creativity go wild (but make sure your roommates are okay with it first!)!

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