25+ Fun Ways to Have People Over (that don’t include dinner!)
If you’ve been here for five minutes, you know one of our core family values is having friends and family in our home – we love to host!
A few months ago, an Instagram reader asked for suggestions that didn’t include dinner (which can feel really overwhelming to many people!).
Here are some fun ways to entertain at home without providing dinner (and P.S. if you DO want to do dinner but need it to be easy or affordable, check out this post for some great ideas!).
what to do with friends at home
- Serve Ice Cream. This is such a fun, easy way to have people over. Grab a tub or two of ice cream, let everyone bring a favorite topping and you’ve got an easy, quick gathering that’s perfect for adults and kids alike.
- Host a Game Night. You know I love a good game and it’s fun to invite one couple over for a board game or a big group over for a group game (our current favorite group game for all ages is Double Ditto).
- Invite people to help with a project. Raking leaves or painting a room or tearing out carpet or tying quilts or ? Invite some friends over to join you and spend some quality time together while you get things you need to done (and sweeten the deal with pizza or takeout or doughnuts).
- Try Breakfast or Brunch instead. If dinner feels overwhelming, hosting breakfast or brunch can feel a lot less so! Grab doughnuts or make a big batch of pancakes and have everyone bring toppings or scramble up some eggs and serve some easy muffins and juice.
- Serve up Root Beer Floats. This is such an affordable way to host people – a couple of liters of root beer and some vanilla ice cream and you’re in business!
- Decorate Gingerbread Houses. I love doing this at Christmas but several people suggested doing it at other times too – the Easter Bunny’s house or haunted mansions or whatever fits the season!
- Throw a S’mores Party. This has got to be one of my favorite ways to host and we’ve done it probably a dozen or more times over the years. All the details about how I like to structure it here!
- Start a Pi Day party tradition. This is my #1 favorite party of the year – it’s so easy and everyone loves it. I wrote a post here about how we do it.
- Show an outdoor movie. This is such a fun family thing in the summer – we got a full set up during Covid and have used it every summer since then, either on our own or with friends.
- Neighborhood Cookie Walk. Our neighborhood does this during the spring, summer, and fall and it’s basically our kids’ favorite thing ever. I wrote a whole post about how it works here – try it out this year!
- Have a Snow Cone Party. Buy a snow cone machine and set up in the front yard as kids come home from school (and let parents to know to come join you!).
- Host a Watch Party. Whether it’s the premiere or the finale of a favorite show, the Olympics, a sporting event or a classic movie, this is simple and easy (plus, you’re not on the spot to make small talk for hours!).
- Set up a Taste Test. We did this with the Trader Joe’s seasonal caramel taste test a few years ago and it was so fun – we’ve also done it with ice cream and root beer. Make your own score cards and dig in!
- Organize Sports at a Park. If having people at your house is stressful for you, take advantage of public spaces! Put together a kickball game or fly kites or just pass out popsicles and let the kids run wild while the adults visit.
- Host a Favorite Things Party. This is a popular party idea and for good reason! I have all the details here about how I like to host them.
- Set Up a Meal Out. This is cheating because it’s not at home, but if you don’t want to do dinner at home, you can be the one who sets up a dinner out together – send out a group text and make a reservation. No dishes, no house cleaning, just a fun group together! (I think 6-8 is the ideal amount of people for a group dinner).
- Put together an Italian Soda Bar. This is one of those high-impact, low effort get togethers – plus once you have the flavorings, you can keep repeating this get together forever!
- Invite Friends over for Hot Tubbing. We have no hot tub, but I love this idea (and now I need a hot tub).
- Start a Cooking Club. One of my friends started a cooking club in Texas and it was delightful. All the details here about that.
- Lunch with Friends. Pre-Covid, I had a delightful monthly lunch group – everyone brought their own lunches (sometimes just leftovers or peanut butter sandwiches!) and while the little kids played, we ate and visited. There were four of us and I loved it so much.
- Go on a Hike. Okay, so this one isn’t at home, but a hike is ALWAYS more fun with friends! Bonus points if you bring a little snack to share!
- Invite Friends for Treats after Church. For many of us, church doesn’t tend to be as social as you might want – you’re there together but you don’t have tons of time to visit. Having friends over after the church service for a treat is a simple way to keep the conversation going and it’s more fun than standing around in the lobby!
- Bring Your Own Takeout. We did this a few weeks ago and it was so great and low-key. Each family brought their own takeout and we sat around eating together with no one having to prep or pay for the whole group and no dishes afterward! (We did serve dessert after dinner).
- Hold a Fondue Night. We do this every New Year’s Eve and it’s such a delightful tradition, plus it’s very little work.
- Do a Weekend Bagel Morning. If you want to kick off the weekend in a fun way, Saturday bagels with neighbors is a great way to do it. Or do doughnuts. Or do it on Sunday morning. Easy, relaxed, and a great time to build community.
If you have other fun ideas for what to do with friends at home, I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments!
if you liked this post about what to do with friends at home, you might also like these other posts:
- A Habit That Has Worked Well For Me This Summer
- I’m Bored! 7 things for kids to do without TV
- 11 Ways to be a Good Friend (even if you’re busy!)
We often do “dinner out front.” We live in a culdesac, and we’ll text everyone who lives here that we’re taking our dinner out front, meaning into the culdesac, and whoever wants to brings their dinner out too, or just comes out to chat. We’ll also do it at a park with friends who don’t live on our street. Tell them we’re taking our dinner to a park and ask if they’d like to do the same.
Zero effort, don’t have to clean up, don’t have to feed or entertain anyone, but still get really quality friend time.
Many of our friends here in the greater Boston area where I live have older homes (ours is just from 1938) and there are ALWAYS projects to do, major and minor. We’ve had some reciprocal “work days” where we provide “person power” and tools for a project (i.e., ripping floorboards out of the 3rd floor attic and lowering them to the sidewalk below) and our friends reciprocate for us. In fact, my family has a tradition of “work days” where we converge on one person’s home or apartment and go through their list of chores (everything from cleaning out a basement to ripping out bushes to mulching to installing crown molding). It’s really motivating and we get SO much done in just 5-6 hours. We can also share our expertise and it’s been a great way for my kids to learn skills I couldn’t teach them.