Five Ways to Find Things to Do

One of the challenges I have found in trying to do more and buy less is literally the act of finding things to do. Sadly no one has created a website of entertaining, crafty and/or slightly childish things to do in London. Right now I'm using a mix of resources to find my inspiration.

1. Event Websites/Newspapers
For Toronto I use to look at BlogTO. For London there is Timeout London or the Londonist. I actually prefer the weekly publication of Timeout to the websites. The website overwhelms me. You can try to search by neighbourhood or by interest, but even that sometimes just gives you way too many results. The weekly publication, however, can be flipped through at your leisure.

Best For: When you feel uninspired on what to do
Downside: featured events can get quickly booked up because of wide readership

2. Adverts on the Tube (and elswhere)
I've noticed that ads for museums and shows probably make up 30% of all advertising boards here. Almost all the big theatre, dance, music and museum events have ad space. Jot down anything you see that might be interesting so you can look up the details later.

Best For: Hearing about the latest shows
Downside: Only the big spaces can afford this sort of advertising

3. General Event Spaces
My two favourite so far are DrinkShopDo and Doodle Bar. I originally found both of these in Timeout. But now I watch their event pages for interesting things to do. These are both venues that hold a wide variety of events from crafting nights to drinks and dancing to film screening and everything in between.

Best For: Interesting workshops and wacky nights out
Downside: Hard to find and events often book-up so you need to plan ahead

4. Musuem and University Public Events
Grab monthly to-do guides or check website pages. There are usually a list of talks or gallery tours or late-night event. Some art galleries do art classes and some museums plan very lively events around certain collections or shows. You will be both culturally enlightened and amused.

Best for: Talks and Tours
Downside: Often really big events, not the best if your goal is to meet new people

5. Twitter
A bit of strategic following can put you in the loop about events, epecially small ones. I follow a lot of people involved in ethical fashion and a lot of them re-tweet events. Look for people with your interests and who live more or less in your area to hear about the best options.

Best for: last minute plans
Downside: be prepared to get disappointed sometimes because something is posted last minute but you already had other plans.

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