I know, I know, winter in Alaska is all about the glory of snow sports. But not for me. In my opinion, some of the best wintertime fun in Alaska actually happens indoors. And if you’re a little bored with book clubs, craft nights and potlucks, let me tell you – there is so much more.
As part of our new series Alaska Survival Kit, I talked with Alaskans who know how to have a good time, and ended up with four main takeaways.
1. Pretty much anything can inspire a party
For Megan Pacer, it was a few seconds from a decades-old movie. To kick off the party, she played the scene from the 2005 version of “Pride and Prejudice.” Friends crowded around.
“What excellent boiled potatoes,” a man in a neckerchief deadpanned.
Pacer and her friends burst into cheers.
I’m at a “Pride and Prejudice and potatoes potluck.” It’s exactly what it sounds like – Jane Austen and potato-based dishes. Super niche.
For potato host Pacer, that’s part of the delight.
“I feel like I can get stuck in forgetting how to have fun, and just the grind of being an adult,” she said. “And so if I can just get a bunch of my friends to come over and participate in this really silly, specific party, I don't know, I find a lot of joy and value in that.”
The silliness is very much the point, she said.
The sky’s the limit on this one. You could show off a bathroom remodel with a cocktail hour, or turn old Halloween costumes into an excuse for a party or what about a get-together to celebrate your pet hamster’s half birthday? Yes, it’s absurd. But remember, that’s the point.
2. Don’t sleep on the public events
No matter where you are, there are likely all sorts of public events to enjoy. Maybe they’re not exactly your thing, but take a chance! You can always leave.
In Anchorage, Bosco’s is a real hub – it’s a comics and games store that hosts events pretty much every single night.
On a recent Wednesday night, there were dozens of people crowded around tables, laughing and snacking and strategizing, all playing Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D. It’s a game where participants create complicated characters and then go on adventures called “campaigns.”
Joseph Hunt has been playing D&D at Bosco’s for years. In his current campaign, his character is what he described as a “bug bear sorcerer.” His name is Dicer.
Hunt’s friend Carl is playing “Slicer” – so Slicer and Dicer. In the game, they’re adopted brothers. In real life, they’re friends who met at Bosco’s years ago. Now they try to keep their storylines linked in each new campaign.
Hunt said a good two-thirds of his social circle is made up of people he’s met at Bosco’s over the years.
That’s one of the reasons he likes playing at public D&D events, he said. He meets new people every single time, and some of them become friends.
3. Add fun to your chores
That’s what my neighbor Tara Loyd does – she works out with friends from the block.
She told me she definitely wouldn’t be exercising if it were just up to her. She knows that because she has a long track record of coming up with excuses not to work out. Excuses, she said, that were always defensible in the moment.
“And then you look back,” she said, “and you're like, ‘Oh, wow, am I a person taking care of my mental and physical health? Not really!’”
But she wanted to take care of herself. So after months of hearing her neighbors talk about their high energy exercise class, she decided maybe she’d try too. She started getting up at 5:30 a.m. to join them.
“Now, when I talk about it, I sound like an evangelist,” she said. “I'm like, ‘Oh my God, if you just exercise with your neighbors, it's so great because you're accountable to people, and if you don't get up and scrape your car off and warm it up and pick them up, that is really rude.’”
But I wondered – is it actually fun?
Loyd assured me it is.
She said yeah, it is hard to get up that early. But once she’s there, she’s swallowed by the pumping music and the camaraderie, everyone fist bumping and congratulating each other for showing up. It feels like a party.
It’s like she’s cracked a secret code, she said, making a thing she doesn’t want to do into something she really does enjoy.
I’m still unconvinced by group exercise, but as a busy single mom, this takeaway is my favorite. There are so many ways to do it. For instance, say you have a pile of holey sweaters mocking you from a basket in the corner. Why not invite people over for a mending night? Or turn food prep for the week into a friendly Sunday afternoon assembly line. Or, what has become my go-to: When you have to get groceries with your kids, bring their friends along too. Inefficient? Yes. But add a pal and it's a carnival all the way to the checkout.
4. Add some competition
Some friendly competition can really energize a party with a little smack talking. And it can inspire more effort. That’s what happened at the Pride and Prejudice and potatoes potluck.
Zakiya McCummings had been to the potluck before. But she’d never really put much thought into her contributions.
“The first year, I think I just made mashed potatoes,” she said. “The second year, I think I just brought, like, a bag of chips. And this year, I went all out and I made an ube cake.”
Ube is a kind of purple sweet potato from the Philippines. McCummings couldn’t find a recipe for an ube cake – or any other kind of potato cake – so she had to wing it. She experimented with ube jam and ube extract and ube frosting, eventually creating a vibrant lavender layer cake.
She said she put a fair amount of time in – a couple hours a day over the course of a few days. But she was having fun and she was optimistic about her experiment after she sampled some of the crumbs from the bottom of the pan. And she liked how it looked. When she finished, she said, she did a little photoshoot.
“There's supposedly an award for best dessert tonight,” she said. “So...wish me luck.”
She did walk away with a prize that night: most creative use of potato.
This story is part of a new, ongoing series at Alaska Public Media called Alaska Survival Kit, your guide to making the most out of life in the 49th state.
We want to hear from you: What other topics should our team tackle? Email news@alaskapublic.org or fill out the form below.
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