Are you an introvert who dreads the moment your friends start making plans for the evening? Or are you an extrovert who just wants some time by himself? Are you the ditcher of your group? Or maybe you’re just not in the mood for catching up with your mates. Whatever the case, we’ve got you covered. The only way to convince your friends that you will not show up is to come up with clever, believable excuses that ensure no suspicion from their end. So how do you conceive such elaborate excuses? Well, read on to find out.
1. Sick Note
How about a tried and tested strategy to begin with? The good ol’ “I’m sick” routine that you have been pulling since your childhood to get out of school? If it was good enough to fool your mother, it most certainly will be good enough to convince your pals. You have plenty of sick options to choose from: the flu, a stomach bug, a headache, a sore back. The more agonizing you make an ache sound, the more convincing it will be. And the more contagious you make a cold sound, the less likely one of your friends will pop in to check up on you. Win-win situation, right?
2. Pending Homework
As far as believable excuses go, this one is also something from your childhood, albeit an inverted version. While most of the school would have been spent not doing any homework, this situation would demand the exact opposite. Tell your buddies that you have lots of work from the office to catch up on and you will be carrying it to your home as well, and so you will not be able to make it to whatever they were planning to do. This excuse has a high success rate because if your friends also work in a demanding workplace, they can relate to your dilemma.
3. Family Visit
This excuse is nearly 100% guaranteed to get your friends off your back. Just tell them your parents or siblings or your long lost aunt is coming to visit, and that you need to entertain them for the whole evening. Throw in a couple of sighs and groans while you are at it, indicating how much you would rather spend time with your friends (*wink wink*) than with your fussy, overbearing family. Your misfortune will succinctly throw them off your scent, and may even make them feel a little guilty about leaving you at the mercy of your family.
4. Binge Reading
There is a reason why some books are called “unputdownable,” which makes this one of the more believable excuses out there. Tell your friends that you are re-reading the Harry Potter series for the umpteenth time and that you need to spend the whole evening at Hogwarts. Or tell them that you want to finish the latest A Song of Ice and Fire book before the next season of Game of Thrones comes out. Basically, any book will do, as long as it is huge and lengthy. War and Peace, anyone?
5. Binge Watching
Speaking of Game of Thrones, catching up on TV shows is also a plausible excuse to throw at your friends when they start making plans. With the advent of streaming sites, binge-watching whole seasons of your favourite TV show has become the latest fad to take over the collective consciousness of the masses. And it is also a more relatable excuse if you say that you have to finish the latest season of Narcos or The Big Bang Theory.
6. Babysitting
If any of your neighbours have a small child, then you could use them as a perfect cover to escape from your friends’ plan-making clutches. Just tell them that your neighbours have asked you to babysit their kid on the very same night that your friends have planned the night out. Surely, the responsibility of taking care of a child far outweighs partying out late with your friends, right? At least, this is the ethical quandary what will convince your friends to exclude you from their plans for the evening, making this one of the most believable excuses available at your disposal.
7. Pile of Laundry
What’s a night out if you do not have the right clothes to wear?! Or clean clothes, for that matter. Maybe your washing machine broke down, and you have not done your laundry yet? Maybe all your clothes are old and worn out, and you would not be caught dead wearing those? Sure, this excuse may be a tad far fetched, but if you happen to be a particularly fashion-conscious person, then this will actually add to that perception, and give credibility to the excuse.
8. Financial Crisis
This has to be one of the most relatable and believable excuses out there. Who has not met with a cash crunch in their lives, right? Using lack of finances as an excuse will also make your friends more sympathetic to your plight, and they will even avoid talking about their plans in front of you, just to spare you the embarrassment. And all the while, you will be smiling on the inside, knowing that you have the evening all to yourself.
9. Date Night
This can be a tricky one! You can quite easily use the “I’m sorry I can’t make it tonight. I’m going on a date” excuse. The pro is that this excuse can get your friends to leave you out from their plans. The con, however, is that you will have to face a barrage of questions the next day about how your date went. This would require further improvisation and ingenuity from you to convince them that you really did go on a date. So proceed at your own risk.
10. Chores Galore
The room needs cleaning, the dishes need washing, the meals need cooking; the list goes on and on. Just pick a household chore, or more than one for that matter, and tell your friends that you have to finish it on that very night. Any rational adult will know that dealing with chores around the house is no walk in the park, and you can be rest assured that your friends will give you a wide berth when it comes to their plans for the evening.
CONCLUSION
With so many of these reasonable and believable excuses for you to choose from, you will have no problems in convincing your friends that you cannot indulge in their plans for the evening. And once that part is done and dusted, you will have the whole evening all to yourself to do whatever you want to do. That was the plan all along, right?
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