World Class Spring Break on a College Student's Budget // Giveaway

Life’s tough when you’re a broke college student. While usually it feels as if you’re getting the full, envied “college experience” stopping at Starbucks with sisters between classes, proudly sporting your letters on campus, and running around in a tutu and feather boa during Greek Week, reality hits you full force when Spring Break rolls around and you realize...you don’t have plans or the cash to any.

If this sounds vaguely (or completely) familiar to you, your FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out) is probably raging as you begin to see your Instagram feed full of sandy snapshots and bikini-clad girls throwing what they know on the ocean’s shore. Luckily for you, whether you’re in your hometown for Spring Break or still near campus for the week, there are multiple fun options which can help you chase away your Winter blues and enjoy your long-awaited break to the fullest!

1. Day Trip to a Hometown Favorite

So maybe you’re hometown isn’t all that exciting - we can’t all live in NYC or LA! But more likely than not, your area probably has a few hidden jewels which are perfect for a spare day on break. Maybe you’ve been there a thousand times before - an interesting museum, a cool tourist town with great shopping, a kid’s amusement park - but chances are that some of your friends or sisters have never been there before! Treat them to something new and re-live some of your favorite childhood or hometown memories with some of your favorite girls (or guys)!

2. Pamper Yourself with a Girls’ Day

Between the stress of writing your senior thesis and the ridiculous amount of work you were assigned for your foreign language class, a day of relaxation is beginning to sound just as great as a night out. Take advantage of the free time and book an appointment at your favorite spa, a nail salon, or take a trip to the mall. All work and no play makes for a cranky college student, so treat yourself and indulge! You deserve it!

3. Book a Hotel Room

Remember the glorious feeling you would get when you would walk through the doors of a hotel and smell the chlorine of the indoor pool? Nothing else quite screams vacation more! But you don’t need to travel cross-country or get to the coastline to enjoy your own little vacation! Check your local hotels and see if they have any spare rooms for cheap (most hotels would rather give you a low price than have empty rooms for the night!) and gather a few sisters for a night of lounging by the pool and watching Netflix in those cozy white robes the hotel provides you with! The “vacation” probably won't cost you more than $50 and will satisfy the travel-bug in you (for now, at least)!

4. Take Advantage of that Beach House or Cottage!

There’s a pretty good chance that your or one of your sister’s families owns a beach home or a cottage somewhere in your area, and an even better chance that it’ll be vacant for the week of your Spring Break! Whether you live in a warm climate where you can soak up the sun, or enjoy your break in fuzzy earmuffs with hot cocoa in hand, there are so many options when you have a fun place to be with your sisters or hometown friends!

5. Attend an Event!

So maybe you and your sisters have a strangely-serious obsession with Ariana Grande. Or maybe you want to re-live your childhood and see the circus while it’s in town. Or maybe you want to cheer on your city’s hockey team. Or maybe a DJ you like is playing at a local venue. Check StubHub, Ticketmaster, and your school’s Student Activities office (they usually have great deals on tickets for local events!) and plan a night out for the event! Get dressed up, have a fun dinner in the city, and enjoy the show!

6. Explore Your City to the Fullest

Your city might seem boring to you, but that’s only because you’re so well-acquainted with it! Although you know every crook and corner like the back of your hand, that probably means you’re also it’s best tour guide! Gather some friends and explore your city’s hidden treasures - from your favorite Mexican restaurant, to the best vintage store in the area, to the building with the best view of the city, and show them what a great city you live in!

7. Take a Food Tour

Maybe I’m biased because my sister founded a food tour business (shameless plug for Chew Philly Food Tours), but one of my favorite things to do is explore new places to eat! While this can certainly get expensive, food tours gives you the option to experience the best eateries in town for a fraction of the price while exploring all of the cuisine your area is famous for! This is perfect for a day out with friends and sisters (because we all know how much sorority girls love to eat). Book a tour and get the “Food Network” experience you know you’ve secretly been dying to have.

8. Visit a Sister in Her Hometown!

Okay, your city might not be the most exciting place on Earth, but things can get a whole lot more exciting very fast if you have a sorority sister who lives somewhere interesting! Whether your best friend lives in a big city, across the country, or on a farm, think about finally taking her up on her offer and see where she’s from! Her family will probably welcome you into their home with open arms and she’ll be more than thrilled to show you around her hometown! And what a better way to bond with a sister you’ve already grown so close with?

9. Visit Another Chapter

We say it all the time, but really, isn’t one of the most exciting, inspiring parts of belonging to a sorority the fact that there around 150,000 women across the world who share your sisterhood? Take advantage of it! Most chapters love visitors and meeting sisters from other chapters (I get excited when another sister even follows me on Tumblr!) and if it’s a chapter with a house, they’ll probably be more than happy to have you as a guest for the week!

  10. Enter This Giveaway

With the above tips you can surely have a world class spring break, but to make it sweeter you can enter to win an adorable tumbler filled with all the spring break essentials. This cup from Crafts by TK will be filled with a custom 2015 spring break necklace, koozies, a pair of kroakies, a $15 gift card to Chilpotle, a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble, and several other goodies! All you have to do to enter is complete the RaffleCopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway