The weather in Pittsburgh is very indecisive, going up to about 70 degrees this past weekend. However, this coming weekend the average temperature is about 40 degrees, and it is only going to get colder. The winter weather in Pittsburgh, especially in December, January and February, is very brutal, making it hard to explore this beautiful city. Hopefully this is a good guide for fun things to do indoors either by yourself or with your friends without having to go outside.

My roommate and I love decorating our apartment during this time of year, especially with the holidays coming up. Even if you do not celebrate certain holidays during this time, you can always put up fun fall decorations to spice up your dorm or apartment. We like to put on fun music or a Christmas movie and hang up lights around our living room and put out our mini Christmas tree on our coffee table. We also love lighting candles in our apartment, so we bring out festive ones, but if you live in a dorm you can purchase a scented air freshener which will give you the same cozy feel.

If you enjoy food but do not want to either walk in the cold to Forbes Avenue or get on a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus, you can always Doordash a meal from your favorite restaurant. I love Nicky’s Thai Kitchen on Penn Avenue, but taking an Uber or bus there can be very time consuming and troublesome when cold out, so I tend to Doordash it to my apartment. I love a nice, warm meal when it is chilly out, especially when I don’t have to go out to get it.

Another fun thing to do is recreate your favorite meal at home either by yourself or with a few friends. Cooking with friends is always a great way to spend time together, especially if everyone is open to trying new foods. You can Instacart some groceries wherever you live so that you do not have to go out, which can be very convenient even on a normal day when you do not want to take public transportation. Everyone can cook different cuisines or meals, and you can have a big potluck with various types of food. My friends and I do this frequently even when it is not cold out because we love putting together different meals and trying new things together. If you do not want to cook an entire meal, you can always bake a treat and enjoy that as well. There are many festive desserts to try and make, and you can find so many different recipes on the internet. My favorite holiday desserts are white chocolate cranberry cookies and pecan pie.

If you are looking to do an activity with friends during this time of year, I think a great way to catch up and spend quality time together is making gingerbread houses. You can even make it a little competitive and split up into teams and have a competition for who made the best one. Put some music on in the background and this is a great activity to do indoors.

One activity to do indoors that will not cost you any extra money — because being a college student can be hard at times — is simply staying in and binge watching your favorite show. My current favorites are “Love is Blind” and “Peaky Blinders” on Netflix, and “Friends” on HBO Max. If you have not gotten the chance to watch these yet, I highly recommend them! A few of my favorite movies recently are “Endless Love,” “The Good Nurse” and the classic “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” all of which are on Netflix. Obviously, if you are in a more festive mood with the holidays coming up, you can put on your favorite Christmas movie as well.

All of these activities are a great way to spend time with your friends before everyone leaves for the holidays. Even if you are doing these things alone I think it is an excellent way to spend some alone time and wind down especially after midterms and finals.

Shriya writes about some things she enjoys doing indoors with friends or alone when it is cold out. Talk to them at [email protected].