This weekend, I went home to meet up with a bunch of my friends for someone’s big 21st birthday. Like any night on the town in Boston – which included 15 half-drunk college kids – this night had its good and bad times.

This was the first time I really went out for someone’s “big night.” Yeah, I know, my friends are young. As I sit back and reminisce about what happened that night, I think about what went right and what went terribly wrong.

The whole game plan for the night was to go to Avalon in Boston, hang out with everyone, dance, those who were old enough to drink, and we were all supposed to just have a good time together.

Good plan – in theory.

However, right from the beginning things quickly spun out of control.

Let me start out by saying that the kid who turned 21 cannot drink large amounts of alcohol, but nonetheless, he wanted to be a champ that night (foreshadowing, anyone?). He decided all 145 pounds of him would take 21 shots by the end of the night, and he marked each one on his arm every time he took one.

He went from zero to hero in about a half-hour with four checks on his left arm.

So, with that being said, here are some dos and don’ts for your 21st birthday, judging by what I saw this weekend:

Do go and have a good time. Hell, it’s one of your best friends 21st birthday. Drink with buddies, play games, whatever floats your boat. However, don’t have such a good time that you spend more time sitting on the toilet than you do at the club.

Yes, sitting on the toilet for about 35 minutes. We’ll get to that later.

Do go to a club or bar with a group of people. It’s a good atmosphere, and everyone should have a good time. Do not bring nine white kids to a dance club in Boston on Asian night. If you do, you will stick out like a… well, you’ll stick out like nine white kids at a club in Boston on Asian night.

Whoops, I wish I had known that a little before 10 minutes before departing from his house.

Do get a designated driver in case people plan on drinking. Unfortunately, it’s not such a good idea to waste $65 a person on a stretch Hummer that you’re in for 45 minutes while you pretend that you’re P. Diddy.

However, those people who did ride in the stretch Hummer were kicking themselves as the car of level headed people who refused to shell out that money actually got a better parking space than the Hummer, who pulled up right in front of the club.

Now back to this whole have a good time fiasco.

Do have a good time, but don’t have three people puking side-by-side-by-side in the bathroom while bouncers do their best to politely tell you to get the hell out of the club.

Yeah, that was us that night. We were the group of idiots who were hogging one-half of the bathroom stalls while three of us puked. And no, I was not one of them. The weird part is that all the people who were puking were 21-year olds who were unfortunate enough to shell out $8 a shot and $10 a drink.

Unless this drink comes with the full length Paris Hilton videotape, I don’t think they got their moneys worth.

You should dress up nicely. After all, we did go to a nice club, so no one could wear jeans or sneakers. However, do not dress up that nicely in a shirt you were going to return tomorrow if your boyfriend is going to pass out on your lap and get chunks of lunch all over you.

So the 21-year-old didn’t make it through the night without throwing up. No surprise for someone’s birthday. However, the worst part for me is that I spent a large majority of my night guarding the entrance to the stall while my friend swore he had to piss, than when we finally get him to stand up (40 minutes later) he lets it rip in the sink, and the bouncers say we have to clean it up.

I spent more time in the bathroom than on the dance floor, and I touched a puke-covered sink more than I touched my girlfriend that night.

A good idea would be to go get some late night food to absorb all the toxins you ingested throughout the night. However, it isn’t such a good idea if this food is McDonalds, and if one of the “victims” of the night goes in with you and proceeds to pass out on the table.

So lets piece this night back together. People drink a ton of Red Bulls and vodka at my friend’s house, we take our desired mode of transportation to the club, we go to the club (on Asian night), three people from our group of 15 are puking, five different bouncers come in and kick us out, we drive back to Framingham and to McDonalds where we all go in and eat and one of the pukers passes out on the table. Then we get up and leave, and go back to my friend’s house where it all began.

And THAT is what friends are for.

Matt Elder is a Collegian colunimist.