New Years Eve is a time to welcome in the New Year and celebrate with your favorite people. The day comes with a lot of expectations and high hopes for how the night is going to go, and always ends up going a different way. Here are the expectations versus the reality of New Years Eve

1. The New Years Kiss

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Everyone expects the New Years kiss to be this magical moment. You build it up all night long in your head because the movies have told you that everyone who’s anyone gets a New Years kiss and potentially finds the love of their life as a result. As a result of this unfortunate expectation, you spend the entire night scouting the room for the lucky man/woman to win your affection – the moment finally comes, the clock strikes 12 and they are kissing someone else. You are either left alone in a corner being creepy by yourself, or making out with some ratchet boy who has half his tongue down your throat and has spilled his drink on you. Great.

2. Making it to midnight

Watching the ball drop is a super crucial moment – it’s so built up, and the countdown to welcoming in the New Years followed by poppers and applause is one of my personal favorite moment of New Years Eve… if you make it that long. As we all know, this particular holiday holds some extra emphasis on heavy drinking and partying. Often people get a little too excited over the excuse to go absolutely crazy welcoming in the New Year, and as a result don’t even really get a chance to do so. It happens. Accept every year that it may be a possibility, and you will be much happier, regardless of the outcome.

3. The Outfit

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Every girl in the country has her New Years Eve dress picked out. It’s probably gold or silver, and has an obnoxious amount of sequins on it. It has to sparkle just the right way, and you have to look damn good – this is after all going to be your first look of the next year. The dress is also crucial to getting the kiss – misguided logic suggests that banging dress = banging New Years kiss. Results may vary. Wanting to look good isn’t the issue. It becomes a nearly impossible and overly hyped event that leaves far too many self-conscious and stressed throughout the night. You probably aren’t going to find the perfect sequin dress that will blind the basics around you, and you have to accept that. Live your life and love what you’re wearing – whatever that may be.

4. The Plan

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The single most stressful part of New Years Eve is making the perfect plans to celebrate the event. Rather it be a bar crawl or a house party, there is an extreme amount of pressure centered on creating a night full of fun and lasting memories. Surrounding yourself with good vibes and good people to welcome in the New Year is crucial. If you are under 21, finding a bomb event to attend can be hard because the bar scene is usually unavailable – while finding a fun house party is a challenging endeavor all its own. Pick a quality squad, and the New Year celebrations will be fabulous regardless the setting.

5. New Years Day

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You expect to wake up, make up still looking amazing and hair totally not with puke chunks in it. Sadly, this is rarely ever the case. Go back to bed, and enjoy your first day of the new year as everyone else is – hibernating with takeout.