Besides the usual weekend picks, we’ve got plenty of other nightlife ideas you should check out. Get our guide to debate-watching parties for Friday, find out where to watch your hometown football team in the area, pick an Oktoberfest event, or find an unusual movie theater around town.

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

Thursday, September 25: Who doesn’t love cupcakes? Better yet, who doesn’t love free cupcakes? Get yourself to the Washington Club tonight for DC’s first-ever cupcake contest, where anyone can enter his or her best cupcakes and the audience can sample them, drink from a cash bar, and mingle at the same time—sounds like a perfect Thursday night to us. Get more details on how to enter and attend here.

If you enjoy the smooth sounds of bands like the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, the Yacht Rock DJ party tonight at Café Saint-Ex’s Gate 54 might be the place for you. Dress up in your finest nautical gear, and get there early—the last Yacht Rock party was a huge success and packed to the gills. 10 PM; free.

Thursday, July 24: If you still haven’t made it over to Tenleytown to check out the free summer concert series, Fort Reno, tonight would be the perfect time to do so for two reasons: 1) The band Statehood. Including a couple former Dismemberment Plan members, the group plays enthusiastic and angular dance-punkish tunes. 2) Free cupcakes! Every year, Fort Reno holds a Night of 1000 Cakes, which is more or less what it sounds like—tons of free cupcakes. So come on out. 7:15 PM.

The word of the night is Barney’s! The store’s Georgetown Co-op outpost is the site of the kick-off for Fashion Fights Poverty’s “Dress Responsibly With Style” event, which runs from 6-8 PM. Get a peek at Barney’s new fall eco-designs while enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

The folks at the Phillips Collection may have noticed how popular the Hirshhorn After Hours (hey, nice name!) series was, because they’re bringing back Phillips After 5, starting today. The event is a Thursday night extended happy hour where you can mingle, check out the great art collection, listen to live music, hear lectures, and sip on drinks. The After 5 series will continue every Thursday for the next five weeks, so if you can’t make it tonight, don’t despair—there will still be plenty of after-hours art to enjoy. Check out the full schedule here.

It’s that time of week again, folks. A round up of free events. And unlike last week, we’re actually going to post capital-F Free events. And the kicker? This time it’s all about art.

American University’s lovely Katzen Arts Center has, count ’em, four exhibits going on right now. The first made me beeline to a dictionary: “A Telluric Path: The Art of Nefeli Massia.” Telluric means “of or relating to the earth and its energies.” Word. The other three exhibits are “Joe Shannon: Realism Surrealism,” “Noche Crist: A Romanian Revelation,” and “Multiplicitocracy.” All are free (I swear) and run through July 27.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

“Realisms,” the second part of “The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image” (the first was “Dreams”), uses contemporary art to look at the relationship between fiction and reality in cinema. In one movie, The Third Memory, the bank robber Al Pacino played in Dog Day Afternoon gives his side of the story; another section of the exhibit uses 3-D on four screens. Closes September 7.

A different kind of reality can be found in the Hirshhorn’s sculpture garden, on the Mall side of the museum. There you’ll find works by Calder, Koons, Rodin, and more. Summer garden hours are daily 7:30 am to dusk.

Independence Ave. and Seventh St., SW; 202-633-1000; hirshhorn.si.edu.

Corcoran Gallery of Art

“The American Evolution: A History Through Art” is an exhibit of paintings and sculpture from the permanent collection, including portraits by John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart; landscapes by Thomas Cole; panoramas of the West by Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Remington; American Impressionism by Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and Childe Hassam; abstract art by Joan Mitchell, Willem De Kooning, and Mark Rothko; and contemporary work by artists such as Kara Walker. Closes July 27. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for students, seniors, and military; 500 17th St., NW; 202-639-1700; corcoran.org.

“Chance Encounters: Photographs From the Collection of Norman Carr and Carolyn Kinder Carr” closes June 22. With one exception—Paul Strand’s black-and-white portrait of his wife—this is street photography. Collector Norman Carr says of these works, “The world of the picture is both the public one of the street where the picture was taken and the private one of the subconscious where the composition was formed.” It’s a small show—two rooms of tiny moments caught by the camera in the hands of Diane Arbus, Harry Callahan, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Weegee, and others. Catch it before it's gone.

More>> After Hours Blog | Arts & Events | Happy Hour Finder | Calendar of Events

A folding gold crown from one of the six graves of Bactrian nomads discovered at Tillya Tepe in northern Afghanistan in 1978.

“Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures From the National Museum, Kabul” begins its 17-month US tour on May 25 at the National Gallery. It’s full of surprises, starting with the survival of gold objects from the second century ad. A Soviet archaeologist, just before the nation’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, found 20,000 crowns, hair ornaments, earrings, and tiny models of animals—known as the Bactrian Hoard—in burial mounds. No one is sure where the cache was stored during that war, but in 2003 Afghan leaders opened a vault under central Kabul expecting to find bullion. What they found was the Bactrian Hoard, many pieces of which are in this 230-object show.

ON EARTH DAY (TUESDAY, APRIL 22)

Green Panel at the National Press Club
529 14th St., NW; 202-662-7500
Guests Ben Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency; Richard Baier, director of transportation and environmental services for Alexandria; and Marisa Vertress, an environmental-policy analyst and social-justice minister at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington, will discuss how better to protect the environment on local, national, and international levels. The free event begins at 10 AM; no reservations required.

Java Shack
2507 N. Franklin Rd., Arlington; 703-527-9556
Sip an organic, fair-trade coffee or tea while you learn about some of the environmentally friendly accoutrements and recycling techniques this green-certified cafe showcases. Owner Dale Roberts will share his knowledge from noon to 3. (Lectures will also be given throughout the day on Saturday, April 19.) Put your name into a raffle and win a compact fluorescent bulb or water aerator (a faucet attachment designed to save water and money).

2nd Annual Climate Super Rally
To celebrate Earth Day, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the 1Sky campaign are sponsoring a night of speakers including climate scientist James Hansen. The event will be held at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium (730 21st St., NW) from 7 to 9 PM. Tickets ($15) can be purchased at chesapeakeclimate.org/climaterally.