paint the town red

To go out into a city or town and have an enjoyable time, typically by visiting various establishments, such as bars, restaurants, clubs, etc. After our exams finished, we all decided to get dressed up and paint the town red. A: "I was thinking I might go to a museum or the library." B: "Wow, you're really going to paint the town red, huh?"

Go on a spree, as in Whenever they go to New York they want to paint the town red. The precise allusion of this term is disputed. Some believe it refers to setting something on fire; others point to a vague association of the color red with violence. [Late 1800s]

If you paint the town red, you go out and enjoy yourself, often drinking alcohol and dancing. Don't you and the other sisters ever paint the town red? Preparing yourself to paint the town red on a Saturday night just doesn't have the same buzz without suitable music to get ready to. Note: This expression is said to have originated in the Wild West. It may have been used to describe groups of Native Americans setting fire to towns. Another possibility is that it referred to cowboys threatening to `paint the town red' with the blood of anyone who tried to stop their drunken behaviour.

To go on a spree.

To indulge in convivial carousing, making the rounds of bars, clubs, and similar places of entertainment. Originating in America in the late nineteenth century, the term appeared in the Boston Journal in 1884: “Whenever there was any excitement or anybody got particularly loud, they always said somebody was ‘painting the town red.’”