Looking for fun and free things to do with friends? Bored out of your mind with nothing to spend? We know the feeling all too well. It can seem like everything fun costs money, especially when you’re broke.
Not to worry. Here are our 20 favorite free things to do with friends – some indoors, some outdoors, none of them costing a thing.
1. Go Sightseeing
It sounds odd, but there’s a lot to learn about your own neighborhood. Search your local area as though you were a tourist arriving for the first time, then go and see the things you find. It’s become one of our favorites on this list.
2. Play Poker
Is there anything better than beating your friends in a game of poker? No. So go play poker with your buddies now!
No chips or cards? No problem. The free EasyPoker app is a digital poker set for iPhone and Android – it deals the cards, counts the chips and settles who won, so nobody has to own a poker set. New to the game? Our guide on how to play poker takes ten minutes, and there’s a poker drinking game if you want to make a night of it.
3. Take a Swim
Season permitting. If it’s warm, take a dip in a lake, the sea, or your richest friend’s pool. Few things cost less and feel more like a day off.
4. Go for a Hike
Hiking works year-round, and it’s especially good if you live somewhere with actual hills – which, as a Danish company, we can tell you is not a given. Get out into some nature and take a few decent photos while you’re there.
5. Play Video Games
Whether it’s the latest football game or something you last played twenty years ago, couch multiplayer is still hard to beat. Dig out the old PlayStation or Nintendo and see what still works.
6. Watch a Movie
Pull an old DVD off the shelf, or pick something from whichever streaming service someone already pays for. If you want a theme, our list of the best poker movies is a decent place to start.
7. Go to the Local Library
But not just to read free books, comics and magazines. Most modern libraries also have games, music, events and cultural-arty-things. All for free!
8. Make a Funny YouTube Video
Coming up with ideas, writing the jokes, shooting and editing them – it’s a whole afternoon and it costs nothing. Every phone now shoots and edits well enough, so there are no excuses. And if it goes viral, so much the better.
9. Try Geocaching
Geocaching is the world’s biggest treasure hunt. Fun. Free. Kills time.
10. Have a Yard Sale
Get out all the old stuff that you don’t use and set up a yard sale. It’s fun and you and your friends can make some money as well.
11. Binge Watch a TV Series
Cheap, relaxing and easily a whole weekend. Our recommendations: Silicon Valley, Breaking Bad, Modern Family and Brooklyn Nine-Nine – though which service each one is on depends on where you live, and changes often.
12. Go to a Lecture
If you live near a big or medium sized city you can probably find lots of free lectures and events happening right now. Make some searches on Google, Meetup or Facebook and be amazed by everything happening near you.
13. Talk About Business Ventures
Everyone fancies being their own boss. Talk through your ideas for the next big thing – apps, websites, shops, soup, anything. EasyPoker started as exactly this kind of conversation, so it does occasionally work.
14. Go for a Bike Ride
Assuming everyone has a bike. If so, get them out and see a bit more of the world at a slightly faster pace. Or go mountain biking, ideally without breaking anything.
15. Play Sports (or Invent Your Own)
Football, frisbee, baseball, basketball, whatever you like. And if you don’t have the equipment, invent a game around what you do have – those tend to be the ones people still talk about years later.
16. Listen to Live Music
Search around and find a local venue with live music on. There’s almost certainly a bar near you with someone playing tonight, and plenty of them charge nothing to get in.
17. Go Camping
If you have the essentials (and nice weather) then go camping. Open fields, mountains, fresh air and a campfire won’t cost you a dime.
18. Go to an Open Mic Night
Most big cities have free comedy nights a couple of times a week, where new and occasionally famous comedians test material for upcoming shows. You get a free night out and they get an audience. Win-win.
19. Go Rock Climbing
If you live somewhere with mountains or cliffs, this is the one. It’s fun, it’s good for you, and it is genuinely dangerous – so go with someone who knows what they’re doing and use proper gear.
20. Go Urban Exploring
Urban exploring, or urbexing, means poking around abandoned buildings, malls and warehouses. It’s good fun and properly eerie. Two caveats worth taking seriously: derelict buildings are genuinely unsafe, and entering them is trespassing in most places. Stick to sites that are open to the public.
Cheap Nights In Beat Expensive Nights Out
Most of the twenty above come down to the same thing: the cost of a night with friends is usually the venue, not the activity. Take the venue out and you’re left with the part everyone actually remembers.
Poker is the clearest example. A physical set costs money and someone has to own it, store it and remember to bring it. With the app, the whole thing lives on phones you already carry – so a poker night becomes as spontaneous as suggesting one. If you do want to plan properly, our guide to hosting a poker night covers the table, the blinds and the snacks.
Free Things to Do FAQ
What are some free things to do with friends?
Plenty, once you stop counting anything with an entry fee. Go sightseeing in your own town, hike, swim, cycle, camp, play sports, try geocaching or urban exploring. Indoors there’s poker, video games, films, box sets, making videos and planning businesses you’ll probably never start. The full twenty are listed above.
What can you do with friends at home for free?
Poker is the strongest option if you want something with stakes and structure that still costs nothing. Beyond that: video games, a film, a box set, making a video together, or planning out business ideas. All of them work with the people and things you already have in the room.
What can you do with friends outdoors for free?
Hiking, swimming, cycling, camping, rock climbing and sports need nothing but the gear you own. Geocaching turns a walk into a treasure hunt, urban exploring turns it into something eerier, and most cities have free live music, lectures and open mic nights running most weeks.
How do you play poker without chips or cards?
Use an app as the poker set. EasyPoker deals the cards to each player’s phone, tracks every chip and works out who won the pot, so you need nothing on the table at all. Everyone sits in the same room and joins with a four-digit game PIN.
Which poker games can you play on EasyPoker?
EasyPoker deals Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Short Deck (6+) and Reverse Hold’em. Reverse Hold’em is our own variant, where the river is dealt first and the flop comes last. Texas Hold’em is free and unlimited; the other three are free for your first 10 games of each, after which hosting them needs EasyPoker Plus.