Fun Activities to Do With Your Friends

It’s a Saturday evening and no one feels like going out or you’re all tired of your normal spots. How can you shake up your usual routine and find some new fun things to do with your friends? The best trick for getting out of a rut and building some memories is to do some totally new things and to go to some totally new places. Here are a few ideas:

• Celebrate a holiday. Doesn’t matter what the holiday is or what time of year. Just throw a party and get into it. Put up decorations, make a Thanksgiving dinner, put up Christmas decorations, put on Halloween costumes. Make it a last-minute event with whatever you have on hand or plan ahead for it. Hit up your local party stores for off-season goods. Make a special effort to get the special meal just right. Get something to commemorate the event like a bottle of wine etched with a message like from Etched Expressions.
• Try some place new. A lot of times, we tend to rely on routine for comfort and ease, but it can really end up making us feel trapped and bored. An easy way to fix that is to just try someplace new. Take a walk in a new part of town, find a new restaurant or bar, check out some new shops. It’s not a huge commitment like planning a big day trip, but it will definitely be different. Make it a weekly or monthly habit to try something new. Do some research to find out about some of the must-try restaurants, foods, drinks, events, etc. in your area.
  
• Learn something new. There are all kinds of opportunities for free or cheap classes in most cities. Check out local parks and community postings to learn about some free or low-commitment classes in things like dancing, wine tasting, bootcamp, or yoga.
  
• Teach each other something. In a group of friends, everyone brings something different to the table. Try teaching each other about your job, your favorite hobby, some subject you like, etc. For example, if you were a barista in college, teach everyone how to make their favorite drinks at home. If you like to play weekend volleyball, take everyone to the park and teach them how to play. If you like fashion, take some of your friends to the mall and do make-overs.
  
• Take turns taking on the task of planning a day of activities. This way, everyone gets to try something new, but you take turns dealing with logistics and planning. For example, you might plan a day doing a bike tour of town finishing up with a brewery tour. Or you might plan a day at the local pool. Just remind your friends each time that they should plan to be easy-going and to let you be in charge of everything. The point is to try something you might not try otherwise.
  
• Put together a book club. Some people avoid book clubs because they think of them as an activity for fussy old ladies, but there’s no reason that a group of friends who like to read can’t have a book club of their own styling. Sit down together and come up with some titles that seem interesting to you and plan a monthly discussion.

• Sign up for some volunteer work. There are lots of opportunities in most areas to get involved. Look up some causes and organizations with local presence to find out about opportunities for involvement and organize with your friends to make sure everyone can participate.
  
• Put together little competitions. Organize scavenger hunts and divide your friends into teams to hunt around town or your home for clues. Or split into teams and have a weekend-long prank war. Or do something more traditional like a soccer tournament among your friends. Change up the groups, if you have a fair amount of people, to have different matches.
  
• Do something crafty. Lots of people have an idea board brimming with crafty ideas that they never actually get around to trying. Have your friends get together and pick out some of the crafts that look most interesting to you and actually do them together. This is an especially good idea if you’re on a tight budget.

This is just a starting point for fun ideas to try with friends. Everyone wants to find new opportunities to build new memories. So shake things up and try something new next time your group gets together.