15 Best Friend Date Ideas

Best friends are basically significant others, right? Sometimes the best person to spend the day with is your right hand man–your best friend. Here are some friend date ideas, because hanging out and watching Netflix is always great but sometimes it’s fun to change it up.

If you’re sick of staring at a screen and want to try something new with your favorite pals, these friend ideas are perfect.

1. Have a photoshoot.

Get all dolled up in your favorite outfits and find a cute spot. You can do this selfie style, use a timer, use a tripod or recruit someone to play photographer for this one. Bonus: You have lots of cute photos to keep forever and even put on the good ‘ol Instagram. Fun fact: the pictures in this post are of me and my best bud after I encouraged an impromptu photoshoot for blog photos for this post–whooo!

P.S. I have a whole post on this here!

2. Cook a fancy dinner and dessert.

Find some amazing recipes online and become gourmet chefs for a day. Even if it ends horribly, there’s always the backup plan of pizza and some Ben & Jerry’s.

3. Go sightseeing.

This is even possible in your own hometown. If you’re near a big city like Boston or NYC you can play tourist for day. There’s sure to be a cool exhibit, museum or festival going on somewhere. If you’re near New York City (my love), there are so many unique things to do there, you can easily make a day of it.

4. Do karaoke. 

This can either be done on by an app or you can even visit a karaoke bar. You haven’t lived until you’ve sung a cheesy duet (or a throwback one like “Breaking Free” from HSM”) with your pals.

5. Go shopping and try lots of things on.

You can pick out things for each other to try on or try on things you normally would never try on. Personally, it’s always fun to pick things out for each other and step out of your comfort zones.

6. Go to a concert.

Look up some local concerts or festivals and buy some tickets. You can even check out a new artist or band that you’ve never heard of before.

7. Work out or hit the gym.

Best friends who sweat together stay together…right? It’s always fun to workout with someone who can also literally feel your pain while you do squats.

8. Go thrifting.

Thrift shops are some of the most interesting places to be. Even if you don’t end up buying anything, you can still have a fun experience seeing all of the weird and cool things these stores have to offer.

9. Give each other makeovers.

This sounds incredibly generic, but for those who are hair or makeup or fashion savvy, this is incredibly fun. I love doing my friend’s makeup and trying out intricate fishtails and heart braids is always bound to be an interesting time.

10. Go on a picnic.

Hit up a local park, grab a blanket, make some sandwiches and enjoy some fresh air. Picnics are so simple and incredibly affordable, so you can save your cash and still have a lovely best friend date.

11. Go bowling or skating.

Even though I personally despise both of these things, a lot of people enjoy them and they’re great friend date ideas. Ice skating is a perfect winter friend date ideaswhile roller skating is a great alternative, a lot of towns have roller rinks or even indoor ice skating ones.

12. Get crafty.

Either hit up a local painting or ceramics place (there’s one in most cities) or hit up your favorite Pinterest board for some ideas. I feel like every post I write with ideas for things to do involve crafts but I freakin’ love crafts and personally believe they’re a great way to bond.

13. Make a music video.

Either recreate one of your favorites or make a lip sync video to one of your favorite songs. Even if you’re not very computer-savvy, all you really need is an iPhone for this one. This is bound to be fun and you can even get other friends involve.

14. Go dancing.

A night out is always fun! Hit out a dance club or local bar. Be sure to play the throwback Miley Cyrus song “G.N.O” while you get ready, of course.

15. Do homework together.

Okay, this sounds incredibly unappealing, but hear me out. We don’t always have a ton of time to devote to those we love, but sometimes getting coffee together and doing homework (or real work) together is great. You barely need to interact but it’s great to have someone to have study breaks with and to complain with, right?

What are some of your favorite best friend date ideas?

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