Choose your own adventure this February with either Friday Night Live Encore at the ROM, or the Book Lover’s Ball at the Toronto Reference Library. 

February: our longest shortest month. The rare sunlight, the chilly walks home from the subway station, the promise of a Roll Up the Rim win, and a brief repose on Family Day.

But all is not lost. The Royal Ontario Museum (the ROM) is bringing back Friday Night Live, their ingenious summer fundraising initiative, for one night only on February 6, 2015. This FNL’s theme is: Carnival – so costumes are encouraged! I do love a good costume party. The early bird tickets have sold out, but there will be some tickets available at the door. My advice would be to go really early to avoid the lineup. There will be a line. When I was at the Fashion-themed FNL in 2013, the lineup stretched all the way across Bloor, and down University past Museum Station! I had never seen such a long lineup before! These Friday Night Live events are so fun. They open up so many collections to you and you can wander around the museum grabbing cheap food and drinks, looking at the Dinosaurs and other exhibits, and dance away in the main atrium to bands and DJs. The FNL season usually runs for 4-8 weeks in the summer months and they are always packed. The tickets are really reasonably priced (under $40) and you can buy ROM bucks at the door ($6 for food and drinks). If you can’t make FNL Encore, then make sure you visit in the summer!

And for the 1%, there is always the Book Lover’s Ball. This year, the Book Lover’s Ball will be held on-site at the Toronto Reference Library on February 5, 2015. This charity gala has won a bunch of awards and offers you the chance to rub shoulders with celebrity authors while raising money for the Toronto Public Library Foundation. Seems like a great idea in theory, but with individual tickets starting at a whopping $750 each, I’ll pass on this one!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re donating your time or money this year, just make sure you pick a worthwhile cause that you really care about. It always feels great to do good in your community.