Welcome back, everyone! We hope that you spread the St. Patrick’s Day cheer this weekend and enjoyed all types of celebrations. For us, we made our way down to the Chicago River to bask in its green glory and spent the afternoon with friends! No matter how your weekend looked, there’s no doubt that with daylight savings comes a renewed desire to take advantage of your ‘5-9’ schedule post-work hours. So, are you looking to engage in personal activities and FUN now that your days are filled with extra hours of sunlight? Keep reading below to find out everything you need to know here!

Taking Advantage of Daylight Savings Sunlight:

• Sports! No matter where you live, you’re likely within a few dozen (or fewer!) miles from your city’s sports arena. This might look like hockey, football, basketball, baseball, soccer, or more, but regardless of which sport you prefer, finding a friend and attending a professional sports game is a great treat. You can often find tickets as soon as a few minutes before and at a discounted price (using apps like Gametime!)! So, if you’re looking to hype up your week and get your energy levels flowing, this is a perfect activity to get you started.
  • Extra Tip: Looking to gather a large group? Finding bleacher or group seating ticket bundles for professional sports games is a perfect way to account for groups greater than ~8 people under a shared interest!
• Cooking Class: In the interest of expanding skill sets and increasing our talent repertoire, we encourage you to locate your nearest cooking class, or even a free YouTube video to learn a new recipe tonight. As simple as a soup and as complex as a steak dinner, there are millions of resources across social media platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook, sitting at your fingertips to help train you on new cooking methods and skills. And if you’re looking to indulge even more, find a cooking class near you and learn live, in person from a true expert.
• Painting Class: If you’re interested in getting in tune with your creative side, a painting class is a great way to kick off another new hobby in the new year – so what’s stopping you in 2023? Grab a friend, coworker, mentor, partner, or roommate, or connect with someone you haven’t seen in a while over painting/crafting so as to get involved in an activity while spending quality time with someone you enjoy.
• Concert, Open Mike Night, Comedy Show: These three activities are highly similar in the way that they provide entertainment, help introduce you to new music or comedy, and are a great venue to bring a whole bunch of friends. Many comedy shows are relatively inexpensive, and it’s easier than you’d think to track down a smaller concert venue (sometimes even within a regular bar!), especially on weeknights to find new music to love and follow. So, try out something new that you might not normally attend by locating a neighborhood theater and seeing a show this week.
• Walks! Walking opportunities are endless in any city. Whether you now have the ability to walk home from the office with the extra sunshine, find your way to a nearby outdoor path or lake, or find a new friend to get to know over a leisure exercise, this is an invaluable activity to increase positive mental health, physical health, and a great way to pack in socialization to the work day.
• Picnic Dinner: Maybe a bit early in anticipation of the Spring, but if you’re reading this from somewhere warm, one of our favorite activities is as simple as grabbing a blanket and finding your nearest park, lake shore, field, or outdoor spot to hunker down for a casual dinner. Packing something to bring would make this activity essentially free, but grabbing or trying a new spot on the way is also a fun way to try something new this week.
• Intramural Leagues: Ultimately, with more daylight comes increased safety and joy of being outside. So, as we gear up for some warmer months coming near, we encourage you to look into your local intramural leagues. Chicago Sport & Social Club promotes many sports leagues for you to get involved in as soon as TODAY! Check out pickleball, volleyball, basketball, bowling, kickball, softball, and MORE! This is one of our favorite ways to connect a wide variety of people in any city and work together toward a shared goal. You can even do this solo and ensure that the organization places you with a surprise-partner and potential new friend!