Got a games night coming up, party to organise, or just looking for a unique way to spend time with your group of friends? Look no further than our 21 Fun Activities for Friend Catch Ups - we’ve got you sorted!
21. Concentration
The first of our friend catch up activities is a modern take on an old classic - and is the perfect activity for a lazy night in. To prepare, print out 30 cards, each with a photo on one side. There should be 2 copies of each photo (so you’ll have 15 pairs of photos), and each photo is to be printed/ glued on the back side of each card. We recommend finding pictures of all your friends to use.
Pin the cards to a board with the blank side of the card facing out (so the photos are concealed), and have your friends take turns flipping over two of the cards, in an effort to uncover a pair of the same photo. The trick is trying to remember where each photo is located on the board, so you can easily match up the pairs when it’s your turn.
20. Object Charades
A simple (yet unassumingly fun) game, is object charades. Similar to its more famous, iconic games night counterpart charades, in object charades, your friends will need to take turns picking an object in the room and attempt to act out the object with only actions and hand movements (no speaking allowed from the person acting it out). Whoever guesses the correct object takes the next turn.
19. Sneak-Peak-Architecture
Got some Legos hiding around your house? If not, now’s your time to get your hands on some as you’ll be needing them for this game. To prepare, build a Lego structure before your friends arrive (the larger and more difficult to replicate, the better).
Proceed to divide your friends into two groups and nominate a captain from each group; the captain gets 30 seconds to look at the pre-built structure (which is otherwise hidden from both groups) before returning to their group to instruct them on how to build the secret structure. The group that builds the closest-resembling version of the hidden structure, wins.
18. Ocean’s 11
Stick pieces of string (which act as dangerous laser beams, naturally) across a doorway or room, and split your friends into two separate groups. The aim of the game is for the groups to guide each of their members through the string, without any member touching any part of the laser beams. If a team member does touch a laser beam, that person has to step out and try again.
17. Spaghetti Tower
Split your friends into two groups and provide each group with 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti, 1 roll of tape, 1 roll of string, and 1 marshmallow.
The aim of this game is for the groups to compete in building the tallest tower with only the materials supplied to them. When they’ve created their architecturally superb structures, the marshmallow must be the highest point of the tower, which must stand on its own for at least 10 seconds, without anyone or anything else keeping it upright.
16. Catch Phrase
Similar to object charades, Catch Phrase consists of friends taking turns to describe a well-known phrase or quote, without saying any of the words that make up the phrase.
Prepare with a range of quotes, sayings and phrases written out on slips of paper, which team members have to pick from a hat.
15. Paper Planes
Who says paper planes are childish? They’re magnificent feats of engineering, that’s what they are. Split your friends into groups and have them compete to build the perfect paper plane (set a timer to present the teams with a time frame). The group with the plane that flies the farthest wins.
14. Scrambled Eggs
Split your friends into groups and supply each group with basic construction materials (paddle pop sticks, glue, tape, straws, etc.) and a raw egg. Give the groups half an hour or so to build a structure to safeguard the egg. Drop the structures from a height and see which team’s design keeps the egg from splattering.
Hot Tip: Really don’t want to make a mess and unsure of your friends’ capabilities? Supply hard boiled eggs instead of raw ones - you’ll still see which team’s egg has been subject to the largest crack, and you’ll have less mess on your hands.
13. Kitchen Cook-Off
Looking for a fun spin on the typical dinner party? Divide your friends into 2 separate groups, providing each with the same recipe and ingredients. Set the timer, and watch your friends race against the clock to create the meal. Whoever’s is the best, wins!
12. Paint and Sip
It’s time to get your hands messy. Take a trip down to your nearest craft store and stock up on cheap canvases and paints. Ask friends to bring vino, light some candles (for ultimate ambiance), and spend the night sipping and painting away.
Top Tip: To make the activity even funnier, set up your painting session so that all your friends are sat in a circle, and each person paints the person sat to the left of them.
11. Prison Break
Have your friends pair off, and tie one of their wrists together. Prepare a series of tasks (building a Lego structure, painting a picture, etc.) that the pairs have to do while bound together. Inject some extra fun into the activity by transforming it into a race; as soon as they’ve completed one task, they must quickly move to the next, and the first team to finish the circuit is the winner.
10. Arctic Survival
Split your friends into groups and supply each group with a bundle of construction materials (paddle pop sticks, sticky tape, etc.). Give each group an object of roughly equal size (a candle, for instance). This object represents an arctic explorer who has found him or herself trapped in a precarious situation in freezing conditions, and each team must build a small shelter to help the arctic explorer survive, with only the construction materials at their disposal.
Set a timer, and when the time is up, see which team’s shelter survives the longest!
9. Trivial Pursuit
An oldie but a goodie in the realm of friendship activities is, of course, trivia.
Split your friends into separate groups and have them battle it out in a game of trivia, where all the questions relate to your friends (think birthdays, specific memories, favourite films…). To give the night a pub trivia feel to it, ask each of your friends to bring along their favourite beverage and some snacks.
Don’t want to (or can’t) invite everyone over? Skip the mess with AmazingCo’s Online Trivia Night, where you and your friends will dial in over video call and spend the evening racking your brains with our multimedia (think video clips, music and more) trivia questions!
8. Picasso Pairs
Split your friends into pairs and have them sit back-to-back. Give one member of the pairs a pad of paper and pen and the other member a simple line drawing. The aim of the game is for the person with the line drawing to describe what they see (without just saying what the shape is - think “beginning in the centre of the page, draw a straight line upwards until two centimetres from the top” ) so that the person with the pen and pad can attempt to draw what’s being described to them.
7. Minefield
For this game, you’ll need to set up a ‘minefield’ of furniture and other objects sprawled out along a hallway or room. Then, have friends pair off, with one wearing a blindfold and the other directing them down the hallway, making sure they don’t run into any of the ‘mines’.
To kick things up a notch, set a timer; your friends will need to blind speed race to the other side of the hallway (or room).
6. Peanut Butter & Jelly
Have the names of famous pairs (like peanut butter & jelly, Mario & Luigi, salt & pepper, etc.) written on separate pieces of paper. Stick one of the names on the back of each of your friends and make sure they don’t start off knowing their name. Have the group mingle and ask questions of each other, with the aim of figuring out what name they have on their back, before they can find their rightful pair. The only catch is, the participants can only ask their friends questions requiring yes or no answers.
5. A Bridge Apart
For this one you’ll need a random bundle of construction materials (paddle pop sticks, rulers, Lego, cardboard, glue, sticky tape, etc.). Split your friends into two groups and have the groups work independently of each other to construct one half of a bridge. While it’s important each group doesn’t see what the other is building, they can discuss the design of their respective halves during the building process. When the time is up, have the groups come together with their halves and work together to make them whole.
4. Shark Tank
Split your friends into smaller groups and have them conceive a product or service idea to pitch to a board of fake investors, Shark Tank style. To make it funnier, tell your friends what the product or service needs to solve (e.g. “I need an alternative form of transport to get my dog to work when I’m stuck there late”).
Don’t forget to cast the role of the grumpy, belligerent and business savvy Shark to spice up the judging panel!
3. Confused Jigsaw
You need two jigsaw puzzles for this one, and you’ll need to take a handful of pieces from one and exchange them with a handful of pieces from the other (without anyone knowing this).
Split your friends into two groups and have them start to solve their respective puzzles. When they’re down to their last handful of pieces and realise their pieces don’t fit the puzzle they are building, wait for the groups to communicate their predicament and advise them that they’re from then on required to complete their puzzles together, exchanging only one puzzle piece at a time.
2. Scavenger Hunt
Prepare by hiding a collection of unique items in locations within a few kilometres radius of your home, then split everyone into groups and have them solve riddles to figure out where the items are hidden. The group of friends to find and collect the most items, wins. We recommend hiding the last item at a bar for you to all convene at afterwards.
1. At Home Pub Crawl
Stuck between heading out with your friends or keeping things low key with a night in? Experience the best of both worlds with AmazingCo’s At Home Pub Crawl.
Throughout the night, you and your friends (who you’ll dial in to through video call) will be taken on a virtual pub crawl through your homes, where you’ll race against the clock to play drinking games, dress up, and solve clues and riddles at different themed ‘bars’ in your homes!
