It’s finally that time of year! Spring? Yes, but the weather’s still meh. Graduation? Please don’t remind us. Interview season? Oh god.

We’re talking about bar crawl season.

There’s no better way to cap off another school year, or your college experience, than celebrating with a bar tour. Here are a few tips for how to get you started with your quest for the best day of the semester.

Get Your Group Together

There’s nothing better about a bar crawl than celebrating with your favorite people around campus. Whether it’s a bunch of folks from your club, org, or major, or just a select group of friends, assemble some people that will make the day special and memorable.

Pick A Theme

Picking a theme is one of the most fun and creative parts of getting your bar tour off the ground. Does your group have something in common that unites you? Do you guys have any memorable quotes that keep you together? Is there a joke or pop culture icon you can’t get enough of? Truly anything can work for a great bar tour theme.

As long as it’s something that will help you stand out and keep track of each other, the theme is doing its job.

Make Your List Of Bars

Taking a look at a list of bars in State College and start picking where you would want to take your group for the day. Generally you want a list of 5-10 bars for the day and work from there.

After picking your bars, figure out where you want to start and what route you want to take. A lot of people start at Cafe because its somewhat secluded on the west side of downtown. Mad Mex is usually a solid choice for early on in the tour because of the outdoor ambiance. You also might want to consider what time deals are or if a place would potentially have cover later in the night, then schedule accordingly. Don’t forget to include places where you can get a decent bite to eat in between drinks, too.

Design Shirts

Once you have all of the above in order, then you can finally get your shirts ordered. Try to get everything settled well ahead of the bar tour so you have time to get the shirts created and shipped.

On the shirts, put your theme or a logo. Also find a spot, usually the back, for a place to put all the bars you plan on stopping at. Find yourself a good deal to get your shirts (obviously, the more people you have, the cheaper it will be).