Once upon a time, not too long ago, the clock striking 5 pm was like school bell dismissal and permission to go party for the young working adult. You worked all day just to flip off that corporate blazer, let down your hair, and grab a drink with your girls. The end of the work day was the highlight of the day and the appetizers and cocktails that cost ridiculously too much were well earned and much deserved. The weekends, Friday nights especially, were like happy hour on steroids.

Gone are those days. Hang up your dancing shoes and hop right into present time where young, working, millennials are too inundated with their start-up businesses, YouTube side hobbies, and prefer snuggling up with a book, a glass of wine, and an aromatherapy candle when they are away from their 9-to-5s. Young people are becoming much more savvy, chic, and smart with their coins. Instead of a $100 tab and a night that will most likely be forgotten, the it-girls and socialites are choosing to spend their money on cozy home decor and skin care essentials that would double up as a perfect girls-night-in-chat-over-wine hosting must-haves if they felt the need to be social.

Skipping the night out and staying in is becoming one of the biggest trends in 2017. Technology makes it so easy to click a button to order food, wine, or whatever else you need. Amazon Prime and Uber Eats might be at fault for couches getting a little more sit time in this generation.  Aside from the fact that, young people are more conscious than ever of their health and wellness and are not as interested in drinking until they pass out like they were ten years ago, social media sites like Pinterest, Instagram, and Houzz, are making sprucing homes up easier; to stay in and invite people over is a special way to show off.

Photo: Instagram Linda Lomelino

Digital television like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Apple TV  make entertaining much less expensive than spending your entire check on AMC movie tickets and snacks. Binge watching one of the never ending popular shows is becoming a social acceptance qualification. If you haven’t seen THAT show you are not in the know, so you had better stay in and catch up before you go out and why not do it with your girls.

More and more couples are jumping on the to Stay-At-Home bandwagon. In the years prior to the Social Media crazed world we live in today, the thing called a “Carpet Date”, where you stayed in and watched a movie, was frowned upon especially if you were just getting to know a person.  Today, you still might want to stay away from chilling at home with strangers but it’s much more acceptable to order some Blue Apron or Hello Fresh and Cook  dinner for two.

Who would’ve thought that Introverts would be amongst the popular crowd. Restaurants and a night on the town will forever be deemed as special but to stay home is the new norm.

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