Top 5 Groupon, LivingSocial, and Google Offers Deals

Deal-of-the-day websites are the essence of my existence as a broke college kid. Groupon, LivingSocial, and Google Offers have provided me with hangout and date ideas that would have otherwise cost twice as much. These days, it may be difficult to find something exciting in between all of the Botox and wine tasting deals, but every so often, one of these fun deals will reappear for one more day.

5. Snow Tubing
Found on: Living Social Adventures
Price: ~$70

She makes snow tubing look safe.

For those of you who've watched Avatar: the Last Airbender, snow tubing is the closest you'll get to penguin sledding. Instead of sitting on a hard sled, you have the option of belly flopping onto a soft tube and going headfirst down a snowy track. Racing isn't encouraged, but there's nothing stopping you from gunning down the slope at the same time as your friends. To top it all off, the deal came with a cozy little buffet at a nearby tavern. If you're inept at skiing and snowboarding, snow tubing is the way to go.


4. Paintballing
Found on: Living Social/Groupon
Price: ~$50

 Skirmish's Tippman Castle field.

There's a huge difference between paintballing as an organized group of friends and paintballing as part of a LivingSocial group. The LivingSocial customers play together for the entire day, and can only be combined with other LivingSocial customers. You're less likely to run into scumbags that pay to spray, and more likely to be playing with other newbies. Skirmish USA is the best location for paintball deals. Not only do you get to play on huge, themed fields, you also get to participate in a castle storming scenario at the end of the day, which is played on a field large enough to hold four bus' worth of sweaty, dirty paintballers.

3. Firearm Shooting
Found on: Groupon
Price: ~$50

Sadly, no rifles were actually involved in this deal. False advertising.

Pistol shooting might not be such a special activity outside of the city, but as a weapon deprived New Yorker, it was a fun, competitive way to spend the day. The indoor range that I went to allowed us to shoot after an hour of safety training. The competition? Having the best record of the day meant that you got to shoot a single round of an AK-47. That shit is loud.

2. Airplane Piloting
Found on: LivingSocial
Price: $180 for two people (only one person gets to pilot)

The deal comes with a free photograph, but I'm terribly unphotogenic.

It only took one session of airplane piloting for me to realize that I don't want to fly planes. Don't get me wrong, the experience itself was exhilarating and well worth the money! It was the 45 degree banks above deep water that scared the crap out of me. Thankfully, the instructor keeps a close eye on you and keeps track of the many dials that need to be read in case you miss something. You also don't have to worry about communicating with the air traffic controller. The fun thing is, these sessions count towards your pilot training log in case you want to continue studying for your pilot's license. I won't ever be in the pilot's seat again, but maybe you will!

1. Stunt Jumping
Found on: Google Offers
Price: $35

The blue thing inflates, I swear. Photo credit goes to Jon Moro's phone.

There's something very primitive about jumping off of scaffolding without any safety equipment attached to you. Hollywood Stunts NYC is a tiny studio located at the end of an alleyway in Brooklyn. Its staff is athletic, knowledgeable, and they enjoy every minute of their 2 hour class. Freefalling takes a lot less training than shooting a gun, so a good 90 minutes of the class is dedicated to falling from various heights. It's terrifying, but you cannot justify your fear of heights until you've actually fallen off of a two story ledge. As a bonus, the studio has regulars who come in to practice for their stunt jumping gigs, so you pretty much get free stunt performances while you rest.