I would..... pay off debts. Every time I come into some money from one way or another, I dump it into my debts. Credit card, student loans, car loan, whatever it is, the best investment is getting rid of my debts to lessen the overall interest. Even if it's one month off my entire car loan, that's 100 or so off the interest I paid.

If it was a substantial amount (i.e. hundreds of thousands to millions) I would pay off my folk's house and buy a structurally sound but shitty house and rebuild it myself (with contractors for more tricky things, or things that code requires done by professionals, such as electrical work), and possibly sell it off if I could make a good profit, or just live in it. I'd probably invest the rest in buying decently nice homes and renting them out.

I'd also hook up a few of my friends and help them start businesses, where we'd share ownership (and thus profits) since I know a few people who could do well in the restaurant biz if they had the capital to start.