At the start of the year Amanda and I had no idea what we were doing. We didn't edit well, we couldn't lay out for beans and we were still getting the hang of each other and our volunteers. The week of September 13th, our first full-sized issue, we were pretty sure we didn't have enough content to fill our pages. So we did the only thing we could do: we made shit up. We made up The Friendship Drank.

As it turns out we did have enough content (we'd forgotten about an article (recall we did not know what we were doing)) so The Friendship Drank was placed in its own folder on The Sil's server for later use. There were a few weeks when we thought we'd hit the point of desperation where we needed to call upon The Friendship Drank, but we managed without it week after week. It became an InsideOut legend, a piece of IO lore. Veteran volunteers joked about it at meetings and its legacy was passed on through hushed stories. But it never made it onto the pages of InsideOut.

Until now.

Ingredients

-       the required ingredients for your favourite drink

-       the required ingredients for your friend’s favourite drink

-       JELLO powder

-       love

Fun objects to bring:

-       a cauldron

-       a ladle

-       a boom box

-       a friend

How to:

1)   Begin by calling your friend over and letting him/her know that you will be hosting a super fun party for two. You can choose to do this via telephone, or, get creative and send it via carrier pigeon.

2)   Once your friend is over, gather together the various ingredients that will be needed to mix both of your favourite drinks.

3)   Consolidate all drink ingredients into a cauldron and use a ladle to mix. A large spoon, fork or hand will also work just fine if you do not have a ladle.

NOTE: It works even better if both you and your friend mix at the same time.

4)   As you mix, turn on your boom box and have a little dance party. Nothing says friendship more than semi-choreographed dance routines around a cauldron full of potentially-hazardous liquid.

5)   Once you believe your drink is well mixed, throw in a pack of JELLO. This tasty, gelatinous treat is fun for everyone and will give your concoction a gooey and unique texture.

6)   Refrigerate. Use this time to bond and create obnoxious inside jokes.

7)   Once the JELLO has set, remove from the refrigerator.

8)   It is now time to add the most important ingredient of all: love. How you do this is up to you, it all really depends on how close of friends you are.

9)   Your drink is now ready to be served!

10) Keep on dancing and enjoy your delicious Friendship Drink!