I love getting together to catch up with my friends over drinks and/or dinner, it’s one of my favorite ways to see my friends and spend my free time. At the same time, however, there are only so many dinner slots in our schedules to dedicate to friend meetups. Also, drinks and dinners add up fast from a cost perspective (amiright or what?) So in an effort to inspire more friend get-togethers because it is a part of a healthy and happy lifestyle, here are some other friend-time activities that aren’t just drinks and dinner that you can enjoy with those special humans you decided you liked enough to keep around for a while!
Go for a walk
Meet up with your friend(s) at the park or the boardwalk and get moving side by side for a while as you catch up on life. You’ll get movement and fresh air along with some much needed friend time. Also, does one or both of you have dogs? Bring them along to join in the fun too. This is a great friend-time activity that can fit in between the end of the work day and dinner at home with a significant other/family, or it can be squeezed in for a small window of time that you have in your weekend between other commitments and responsibilities.
Pokémon Go, Geocache, or Scavenger Hunt
Establish a meeting point with your friend and join up to explore while utilize a fun activity based app like the ever popular Pokémon Go, intriguing Geocache, or a suggested Scavenger Hunt. You’ll end up walking like the above and chatting with your bud in between yelling out about a Pikachu that just popped up or where you think you might find something on the scavenger hunt list. This is a really fun and engaging activity that gets you moving and exercising your brain while reaping the benefits of friend time.
Take a Fitness Class Together
Meet up for a fun exercise class such as kick-boxing, spin, or yoga. Do the class together, be next to each other and feed off of each other’s energy. Obviously, you can’t catch up and chit-chat during the class, but you get to spend time and energy together; then after class, go for a coffee or smoothie to refuel after your efforts. This way, you get a sweat and friend-time.
Art Night
This is a personal favorite of mine. Get together at yours or your friend’s place for a session of arts and crafts. Paint with cheap acrylic paints on equally cheap canvases, color in adult coloring books, sketch on sketching pads, or even decorate a cheap wooden frame or box you pick up at an art store. You don’t have to be overly artistic people to do these activities, just be open to creating even if the end result is less than stellar. Honestly, the act of making art, good or bad while chatting with a friend is quite therapeutic. Pour yourselves some wine, put on some tunes, and chat while you make things pretty.
Game Night
More than two of you? Get the gang together at one of your homes for a night of games! This is a great addition to dinner at home with your friends, whether you cook, get take out for everyone, or make it a mini potluck. Enjoy the meal and chatting, then transition into games like Monopoly, Yahtzee, Clue, or Cards Against Humanity. This is bound to result in laughter and memories.
Cook Together
This one is still dinner with a friend, but at one of your homes with a little more engagement. Talk before getting together, plan out a meal, divide who is purchasing which groceries, meet up at one of your homes, and prepare the meal together from start to finish. I love doing this friend-time activity with my best friend Kayleigh. We will text about our cravings and outline a menu; sometimes we decide on a recipe we’ve seen and been wanting to try, or a type of cuisine we’ve been wanting to experiment with, or sometimes we just opt for a tried and true meal. I’ll bring some groceries, she’ll get the others. Then we cook the meal with our team work, chatting as we make our own food. This is a really engaging and rewarding activity that still results in a sit down dinner, with a drink, preferably.
Any of the above can still lead into or follow dinner and drinks, but they add a layer of spice and uniqueness to your friend-time and are strong standing on their own too, giving you some more options for how you can get together with those great people you’ve got in your life.
How do you like to hang out with your friends? Let me know below!
Johnny La Pasta 