Fun Things to Do with Friends
One group plan per card, from a grilled cheese showdown to a pontoon boat day, for when everyone says “we should hang out” and nobody picks a plan.
- Time
- 10–30 min
- Players
- Three or more friends
- Best for
- Group chats, free weekends and birthdays
- Deck
- 150 ideas in 6 categories
How to use these fun things to do with friends
- Pick a category from the menu under the card, or keep “All categories”.
- Read the idea on the top card. If it sounds like your group, send it to the group chat and pick a date.
- Swipe the card away, or tap “Next idea”, for another. Ideas do not repeat until you have seen the whole category.
- Tap the heart to save an idea on this device, or tap “Make a 10-idea list” for a list of plans to paste into the group chat.
When to pick something to do with friends
Most friend groups do not run out of time together. They run out of ideas, and the same dinner happens again. One card gives the group a specific plan to say yes or no to, which is much easier than “so, what do you want to do?”
When the group chat goes quiet
Draw a card from Out on the town or Outdoors and post it with a date. A pontoon boat day or a rowing regatta gets more replies than “we should hang out”.
A friend’s birthday
Let the birthday friend swipe through Something new to try together and pick the plan, from a circus skills class to a game of roundnet in the park.
A long weekend with no plans
Mix one card from At someone’s place with one from Creative and hands-on: a pie night on Friday, cardboard arcade games on Saturday.
Ways to pick a plan with your friends
Three cards, one vote
When the group chat stalls on “what should we do?”, draw three cards and post all three. Everyone votes, the most votes wins, and whoever drew the cards picks the date. A tie goes to the cheaper plan.
Take turns choosing
Make a rotation, one friend per month. On your turn, pick a category, draw until a card feels right and organize that plan: the pie night, the regatta, the goat yoga class. Nobody has to plan every outing, and everyone gets one that is theirs.
A list for the whole season
At the start of summer or winter, pass the phone around and let each friend heart two ideas from any category. Tap “Make a 10-idea list” and pin it in the group chat, then work down it one weekend at a time.
Tips for getting a group plan to happen
- Name a date before you name the plan. A Saturday that everyone has kept free is easier to fill than a good idea waiting for a day.
- Use Free and cheap when budgets in the group differ. A potluck, a closet swap or a free concert lets everyone come without anyone doing the math.
- For anything in Out on the town or Something new to try together, check opening days and group sizes first. Classes, tours and courts often take bookings for a set number of people.
All 150 fun things to do with friends by category
The complete list, grouped by category. The cards above draw from the same list, so you can read ahead here and pick there.
At someone’s place
Potlucks, game nights, cook-offs and themed dinners hosted in a living room, kitchen or backyard.
- Host a potluck where every dish comes from a different country, with a small paper flag in each one.
- Hold a grilled cheese showdown where everyone adds one secret ingredient and the group votes blind.
- Run a game night where each friend brings one board game and teaches it in five minutes or less.
- Throw a slideshow party where each friend presents five slides on something they could talk about for hours.
- Spend a Sunday cooking a month of freezer meals together, then split the containers to take home.
- Hang a bedsheet in the backyard, borrow a projector and pile every pillow in the house on the grass.
- Throw a pajama brunch where waffles are made to order and nobody changes out of their slippers.
- Throw a dinner where everyone comes dressed as a character from one movie the whole group has seen.
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- Set out one batch of pizza dough and ten toppings, and let each friend build and name a pie.
- Split into two tables with the same jigsaw puzzle and race to place the last piece.
- Start a cookbook club: everyone cooks a different recipe from the same book and brings it to share.
- Write a trivia night together, with each friend in charge of one round on their favorite subject.
- Hold a blind taste test of six kinds of salsa or potato chips, scored on paper ballots.
- Host a watch party for a big game or an awards show, with homemade bingo cards of what might happen.
- Hold a bake-off with one surprise ingredient everyone must use, judged by the friend who never bakes.
- Have a backyard barbecue where everyone grills one thing they have never cooked before.
- Hold a checkers or dominoes tournament with the brackets taped to the fridge.
- Make taco night a weekly thing that moves to a different friend’s kitchen each time.
- Set up an old-fashioned soda fountain at home and have everyone invent and name their own float.
- Host a tea party with mismatched cups, warm scones and a rule that everyone dresses up a little.
- Put out a hot cocoa bar on a cold night with five toppings, and vote on the best combination.
- Bring out old photo albums on someone’s porch and let each friend tell the story behind one picture.
- Throw a pie night where each friend bakes one pie and everyone tastes a sliver of each.
- Host a Friendsgiving where each friend brings the one side dish they would never skip.
- Host a house concert: invite a local musician to play in the living room and pass a hat for them.
Out on the town
Escape rooms, bowling lanes, live shows, festivals and other outings that need a ticket or a ride.
- Book an escape room for the whole group and agree in advance who gets to ask for hints.
- Go bowling and give every friend a secret nickname for the score screen, revealed when the first ball rolls.
- See a touring stand-up comic together and swap your favorite bits on the ride home.
- Spend a day at the zoo where each friend chooses one animal and the group watches it for ten minutes.
- Go to an adult skate night at a roller rink and request one song each from the DJ.
- Play mini golf with one rule: every putt gets called out loud like a sports commentator would.
- Spend a day at a fan convention, each in a homemade costume of a favorite character.
- Reserve a long table at a family-style restaurant and order one of everything on one page of the menu.
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- See a community theater play, then go out for pie and review it like serious critics.
- Spend a day at an air show and pick the plane each of you would fly if you could.
- Catch the opening night of a big movie together in matching T-shirts you made yourselves.
- Find a sing-along screening of a musical and sing every song as loudly as the rest of the room.
- See a ballet or a modern dance company together, and each pick the moment that stayed with you most.
- Watch the early rounds of a pro tennis tournament, wandering between matches on the outer courts.
- Go to a food festival with one rule: nobody in the group orders the same thing as anyone else.
- Pick a neighborhood known for one cuisine and let each friend choose one stop on a walking food crawl.
- Sit in the supporters’ section at a pro soccer match and learn the chants by halftime.
- Spend an afternoon at a dog show and each pick a breed to root for in the final ring.
- Ride a sightseeing boat around the harbor or along the river and point out landmarks from the water.
- Watch a vintage base ball game played by nineteenth-century rules, with players in old-style uniforms.
- Get tickets to sit in the studio audience of a TV show taping and clap when the sign lights up.
- Spend a day at a Highland games, watching the caber toss and listening to the pipe bands.
- Tour an art museum where each friend leads the group to one piece and says why they chose it.
- Cheer from the riverbank at a rowing regatta and pick a boat to root for in every race.
- Watch a drum corps competition from the stands and feel the brass and drums in your chest.
Outdoors
Campsites, lake days, trail hikes, park games and sunrise plans for a group in the fresh air.
- Book a big group campsite for a weekend, with tents in a circle around one shared fire.
- Rent canoes and paddle a slow river from one landing to the next, with a shuttle back to the cars.
- Organize a Sunday kickball game in the park and invite friends of friends to fill out the teams.
- Meet on the highest hill nearby before dawn with travel mugs of coffee and watch the sunrise together.
- Ride a rail trail as a group and stop for lunch in whatever small town sits halfway.
- Pick blueberries at a farm and hold a contest for the best thing anyone bakes with them.
- Plan a picnic where each friend brings food of one color, so the blanket looks like a rainbow.
- Take a ferry to a small island for the day and rent bikes to ride all the way around it.
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- Walk a botanical garden with a list of photo prompts, then compare everyone’s shots over lunch.
- Start a summer cornhole league in someone’s backyard, with team names and standings taped to the fence.
- Hold a snowman contest after the first big snow, with categories like tallest and most dramatic.
- Learn the rules of ultimate and play a full game in the park, mixing up teams after each point.
- Build a bonfire on a beach that allows them and roast s’mores while someone plays guitar.
- Pitch tents in someone’s backyard for a campout with no driving, a fire pit and flashlights.
- Bike out to a farm stand on quiet country roads, fill the baskets and ride back for lunch.
- Reserve a picnic shelter at a state park and grill lunch for the whole group.
- Rent a pontoon boat for the day and drift around the lake with snacks and a shared playlist.
- Rent a cabin by a lake for a weekend and give each friend one meal to cook.
- Plan a beach day where each friend brings one game, from a flying disc to a paddle ball set.
- Hike a park’s trails in two teams with walkie-talkies and meet up at a spot picked on the map.
- Hike a morning loop that finishes at a small-town diner, and order a stack of pancakes for the table.
- Join a ranger-led full moon hike and walk the trail by moonlight, flashlights off.
- Go tide pooling at low tide and count the sea stars without picking any up.
- Hike a loop trail where a different friend leads each mile and sets the pace.
- Hold a water balloon toss on the hottest day of summer, each pair stepping back after every catch.
Free and cheap
Swaps, five-dollar challenges, free concerts and library finds that cost little or nothing.
- Hold a closet swap: everyone brings clothes they no longer wear and shops each other’s piles.
- Throw a plant swap with cuttings, seedlings and spare pots, and send every friend home with something new.
- Make a free summer concert series in the park the group’s standing weekly plan.
- Give everyone five dollars at a farmers market to buy one ingredient, then cook lunch from the haul.
- Take turns leading a tour of your own neighborhood, each friend showing off their three favorite spots.
- Give everyone five dollars at a dollar store to buy supplies for a game, then play every game invented.
- Join a free weekly run club as a group and walk or jog the route together.
- Watch the sunset from the top level of a parking garage with takeout eaten off the car hood.
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- Pool spare change in a jar for a month, then spend all of it on one group outing.
- Pile whatever is in everyone’s pantry on one counter and improvise a dinner for the whole group.
- Explore a nearby small town’s main street for the day, each friend with ten dollars to spend.
- Take turns hosting a dinner where the host feeds the whole group for five dollars a head.
- Hold a listening party for a new album everyone is curious about, start to finish, no skipping.
- Play a giant game of capture the flag in a big park, with teams in two colors.
- Bring a deck of cards and a blanket to the park and play until the sun goes down.
- Set up ten one-minute challenges with cups, coins and balloons from around the house and rotate through them.
- Try a different coffee shop every Saturday morning and rank them all at the end of the season.
- Find the best free spot to watch the town fireworks and claim it early with blankets.
- Borrow a museum pass from the library, if yours lends them, and take the whole group.
- Go to a free student recital at a music school and each pick a favorite performer.
- Gather around a backyard fire pit and have each friend tell one true story nobody in the group has heard.
- Ride a commuter ferry across and back just for the view from the deck.
- Turn one friend’s chore day into a party: everyone helps paint or pack, and the host buys pizza.
- Do an ice cream crawl with single scoops at three shops, voting on the best one.
- Have each friend teach the group the cheapest good meal they know how to cook.
Creative and hands-on
Group projects to make together, from paper cranes and kites to paella, candles and comics.
- Pour candles into mismatched thrifted teacups, then trade them so everyone takes home someone else’s.
- Hold a paint night at home where everyone follows one video, then compare how different the paintings look.
- Shoot a music video on your phones for one song, with every friend getting a solo shot.
- Collect one recipe from every friend, print them as a little cookbook, and give everyone a copy.
- Weave flower crowns from grocery store bouquets and wear them for a group photo.
- Give the group one hour to write and rehearse a ten-minute play, then perform it that evening.
- Build a raised garden bed in someone’s yard and plant it together, each friend choosing one vegetable.
- Run a weekly photo challenge with one theme, sharing the best shot in the group chat every Sunday.
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- Draw a comic together, each friend adding one panel without seeing the ones before it.
- Cook a pot of saltwater taffy and pull it in pairs until it turns pale and glossy.
- Build simple kites from sticks, paper and string, then test-fly every one the same afternoon.
- Spend a summer afternoon canning salsa from a crate of tomatoes, then split the jars.
- Fold a hundred paper cranes as a group in one evening and string them into a garland.
- Build a chain-reaction machine across the living room, each friend designing one step that sets off the next.
- Fix up old bikes in someone’s garage together, then ride them on a test loop around the block.
- Cook one giant pan of paella outdoors, with every friend in charge of one ingredient.
- Make tamales in an assembly line, one station per friend, and send everyone home with a dozen.
- Design a logo for your friend group and print it on stickers for everyone’s water bottle.
- Marble paper with shaving cream and food coloring, then use the sheets to wrap gifts.
- Write a scavenger hunt across town for another group of friends, then swap and run theirs.
- Build cardboard arcade games, one per friend, then open the arcade and play every one.
- Paint terracotta pots and plant herbs in them, one pot for every friend’s windowsill.
- Sew patches and pins onto old denim jackets, each friend decorating their own.
- Blend your own loose-leaf teas from dried herbs and fruit, and give each mix a name.
- Make paper lanterns and string them up for a backyard party the same night.
Something new to try together
First tries for the whole group, like line dancing, goat yoga, cricket or a tabletop role-playing game.
- Learn a line dance at a beginner night, where nobody needs a partner and everyone faces the same way.
- Learn a card game none of you knows, like cribbage or euchre, and play until everyone can keep score.
- Join an adult rec league as one team, in softball or bowling, for a whole season.
- Shop at a grocery store for a cuisine none of you knows and cook dinner from what you bring home.
- Take a weekend woodworking class together and each build a small stool or shelf.
- Take a beginner sewing class together and each make a pair of pajama pants.
- Join a coffee cupping at a local roaster and taste beans from three countries side by side.
- Take a beginner stand-up workshop together and perform a two-minute set for each other at the end.
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- Try a beginner hoop dance class and see who can keep the hoop spinning longest by the end.
- Go to a lawn bowling club’s open day and learn to roll a bowl close to the jack.
- Try a class none of you has done, like barre or spin, and get smoothies afterward.
- Book a goat yoga class and try to hold a pose while a small goat wanders across the mats.
- Book a cheese tasting at a cheese shop and learn to taste the difference between young and aged cheeses.
- Book a badminton court and learn the real rules, from the low serve to scoring to 21.
- Take a beginner circus skills class and try plate spinning and the diabolo.
- Try letterboxing: follow clues to a hidden rubber stamp and press it into a shared notebook.
- Build model rockets and launch them at a field with a local rocketry club.
- Visit a ham radio club’s open day and try to make contact with someone far away.
- Go to a cricket club’s open day and learn the basics of batting and bowling.
- Drop in at a go club night and learn the board game from players who love to teach it.
- Book a padel court and learn the game, where the walls around the court are part of play.
- Visit a public speaking club as guests and each give a one-minute talk on a surprise topic.
- Learn roundnet in the park, teams of two bouncing the ball off a small round net.
- Pick a language none of you speaks and meet weekly until you can all order a meal in it.
- Play your first tabletop role-playing game, with one friend telling the story and the rest playing characters.
Frequently asked questions
How many fun things to do with friends are there?
There are 150 ideas, 25 in each of six categories: at someone’s place, out on the town, outdoors, free and cheap, creative and hands-on, and something new to try together. The cards and the list on this page use the same set.
Are these ideas for couples too?
They are written for a group of friends, three or more people making plans together. For two people on a date, try date night ideas or, on a budget, cheap date ideas. For one person or a friend or two on a slow afternoon, see things to do when bored.
What can we do with friends for free?
Start with the Free and cheap category: swaps, five-dollar challenges, a deck of cards in the park and dinners made from everyone’s pantry. Many ideas in At someone’s place and Outdoors cost little too, like a backyard campout or a kickball game.
What should we play once the group is together?
Try questions to ask friends for a long talk about your friendship, or most likely to for a quick, loud round where everyone points at someone. Both work on one phone passed around the table.