Things to Do With Your Friends at Home — Ideas That Go Beyond “Watch a Movie”

The default answer to “what should we do tonight?” is almost always watching something. While that’s fine, if it’s the only thing you do, the hangout can feel passive. Finding alternative things to do with your friends at home ensures you’re actually spending quality time together.

These ideas actually get people interacting, laughing, competing, creating, or at least talking about something other than what to watch next.

Games That Don’t Require a Game Board

Some of the best nights require almost no setup:

Trivia Night (DIY Version)

One person hosts, everyone else plays. The host picks 4–5 categories (music, sports, movies, local knowledge, wild card), writes 5 questions per category, and runs the show. Teams of 2 work well for groups of 6+.

Free resources: Sporcle, Quiz Question Bank, or just search “[topic] trivia questions 2024” and you’ll find hundreds of pre-written questions.

Two Truths and a Lie

Zero setup, works at any group size. Each person states three things about themselves — two true, one false — and everyone else guesses which is the lie. Even people who’ve known each other for years learn something new.

Werewolf / Mafia

A social deduction game played with a standard deck of cards. Roles are assigned (werewolves, villagers, doctor, seer), and players try to identify and eliminate the “werewolves” through discussion and voting. Look up the rules online — they take 5 minutes to learn and the game can go for hours.

Jackbox Party Games

One person streams the game from a laptop or console to the TV. Everyone plays on their phones. No extra equipment needed. Quiplash, Drawful 2, and Fibbage are the crowd favorites — all playable with 3–8 people. One Jackbox Party Pack covers an entire evening.

Creative Activities That Are Actually Fun

“Let’s do a craft night” can sound like homework until you pick the right thing:

Bob Ross Night

Buy a canvas and basic acrylic paint set for each person ($5–$15 per person at a craft store). Pull up a Bob Ross episode on YouTube. Everyone paints along. The results are always hilarious, sometimes beautiful, and it’s one of those activities that people talk about for weeks afterward.

Blind Drawing Challenge

One person describes an image or scene without showing it. Everyone else draws what they hear described. Compare the results. Add difficulty levels by describing something absurd or specific.

Cook Something Together

Pick one ambitious dish or a spread of small plates. Divide tasks by skill level. Put on a playlist and let people take different stations. The meal at the end is the reward — and the process is often more fun than dinner out.

Cocktail / Mocktail Making Contest

Each person picks one drink recipe they want to try, makes it for the group, and everyone rates them. You end up with 4–6 drinks, a loosely competitive format, and something to do with your hands throughout the night.

Ideas by Group Size and Energy Level

Low-Effort Ideas With High Payoff

Sometimes you want something that doesn’t require setup:

• Ranking debate: Pick a topic (best fast food chains, best movies of the decade, most essential cooking ingredients) and have everyone rank it independently, then compare and argue the differences
• Teach each other something: Each person picks one thing they know how to do and spends 10 minutes teaching it — card tricks, a cooking technique, a language phrase, a skill
• Screenshot sharing: Everyone shares their most recent screenshot or the fourth photo in their camera roll and explains it. Always surprising, often funny.
• Playlist swap: Everyone adds 5 songs to a shared playlist, then you listen to it together and guess who added what

Setting Up for a Good Night

The activity matters, but so does the environment:

• Snacks are non-negotiable — grazing keeps energy up and removes the “do we need to order food” interruption
• Good lighting — dim overhead lights and add some lamps or string lights; it changes the atmosphere immediately
• No phones at the table during games — one person checking their phone breaks group momentum
• Start with something familiar — if people don’t know each other well, begin with an easy, low-stakes activity and build from there

Bottom Line

The best nights in with friends aren’t the ones where you had a plan — they’re the ones where someone suggested something, everyone said yes, and it took on a life of its own. But those nights usually start with a suggestion. Pick one thing from this list, set it up before people arrive, and let the night evolve from there. Jackbox Games and DIY trivia have a near-perfect success rate. Bob Ross Night tends to become a tradition. And honestly, cooking something together never disappoints.