37 Best Things to Do on a Friday Night

Sharing is caring!

This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you book or buy something through one of these links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Learn more

Let that Friday feeling run wild. Try these best things to do on a Friday night to enjoy the weekend in a creative, fun, and memorable way.

Things to Do on a Friday Night

best things to do on a Friday night (list of 1-14 listed below)

Unique and Cool

1. Ghost Tour

Many cities offer official ghost tours of local “haunted” spots. Grab some of your friends and head out for a mysterious Friday night spookfest!

2. Create a Photo Book Online

Do you want to create a time capsule of a certain holiday or a certain year? Or do you want to design a creative and unique gift for a friend or family member?

All you have to do is upload photos online to a service like Shutterfly and let your creative streak shine. It will result in the perfect, personalized present for a loved one (or for yourself!)

3. Geocaching

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of geocaching, it’s basically as if a scavenger hunt met Pokémon Go.

Random strangers leave random items all over the place, and you can log into the app on your phone to go find them.

Grab some friends and head out for a fun-filled night hunting for ‘treasure!’

4. Find Nearby Hideaways

hideaway restaurant

Some of the best restaurants and bars are those known only to the locals. Try to find small, family-run bars and restaurants a little further out than your usual hot spots.

You’ll be supporting small businesses and finding a new favorite restaurant at the same time!

5. Break Out of an Escape Room

Escape rooms offer the perfect mix of fun and problem-solving. With one hour on the clock, you and your team must find your way out of an enclosed space by deciphering a puzzle.

Grab a couple of your friends and head over to your nearest escape room venue. It will be a fun but unpredictable Friday night experience.


On a Friday Night Out

6. Go See a Play

Head over to your local theatre to catch a play or a musical and feel the excitement of a live performance again.

And if you get dinner at a great restaurant nearby, you have mastered the perfect Friday evening!

7. Visit a Local Tourist Spot

tourist spot

Londoners don’t tend to visit the London Eye, and the Empire State Building is rarely full of New Yorkers. It seems that no matter where you live, the tourist spots don’t tend to interest the locals.

Why not change this mentality, and head over to your number-one tourist attraction? Lots of Friday night fun and experiences could lay in wait.

8. Go to the Movie Theater

With streaming services now mainstream, going to movie theaters is becoming a bit of a lost art.

Yet, a Friday-night cinema trip will always be the most classic start to a relaxing weekend.

Grab a friend and some popcorn, and enjoy an evening at the movies. 

9. Attend a Local Comedy Club

A Friday night is a perfect excuse to relax and loosen up with some laughs after a long week.

Tickets to see well-known comedians can be costly, but most comedy clubs are free to enter.


On a Friday Night In at Home

10. Chocolate Tasting

Chocolate tasting doesn’t have to cost half your paycheck and last just one hour. Order a variety of chocolate online, and you can spend the whole Friday night testing new favorites.

Add a bottle of wine and some friends if you don’t want to finish all the chocolate by yourself!

11. Movie Marathon

Pick your favorite trilogy, get comfortable on the sofa, and watch each movie from start to finish. Bonus points if you manage to get through a trilogy in one night.

Related: 100+ Movie Trivia Questions and Answers for a Hollywood-Themed Quiz Night

12. Spring Cleaning

Why not make the most of a Friday night at home and declutter your space with a bit of spring (or summer, winter, or fall) cleaning?

Clean the space around you, and feel re-energized and motivated for the weekend.

13. Make Cookies

Baking cookies is a perfect Friday night activity, but we’re not talking just about any cookies!

Make Instagram-able cookies loaded with your favorite sweets and chocolate and show off your skills.

Who knows, a friend might even ask you to bake them a batch for some cash.

14. Play Board Games

Enjoying a board game tournament with friends is the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

Dust off your competitive spirit and crack out the old classics, such as Monopoly, Cluedo, Scrabble, Twister, and Risk. Add cocktails and pizza for a superior experience.

Read more: 20 Board Games for Adults for an Evening of Fun with Family and Friends


Alone

15. Go Window-Shopping Online

Alone and bored on a Friday night, and it’s the middle of the month? Go to all your favorite shopping sites and fill your baskets up with your dream purchases.

16. Go to a Late-Night Coffee Shop or Café with a Book

coffee shop

Find a cozy corner in your local café or coffee shop and bring with you a book or your laptop. Spend the evening relaxing with macchiatos or hot chocolates coming by the hour. It will be the perfect Friday evening. 

17. Visit a Museum or an Art Gallery

Take a stroll in the local museums or art galleries and be inspired.

Take a break in the museum coffee shop, or buy yourself a small print of a painting in the art gallery gift shop – treat yourself, it’s Friday night!

18. Pamper Yourself

Pampering yourself isn’t limited to slathering on creams or putting on facemasks. Whatever it means for you to ‘pamper yourself,’ spend your Friday night doing that!

Whether that means putting your phone on Do Not Disturb and playing a movie or scrolling through social media until your eyes close, go for it!

19. Order Pizza and Watch Nostalgic Movies from Your Childhood

What better excuse than a Friday night alone to watch all your favorite childhood movies?

Get yourself roaring with laughter at all the old jokes, and treat yourself to a pizza while you’re at it.


With Friends

20. Throw a Potluck Dinner Party

If you’re bored of the same restaurant and the same meals, try hosting a potluck dinner party.

Everybody should bring a dish and a drink. To make things interesting, assign everybody a different cuisine from around the world. Fingers crossed for Italy!

21. Go Bowling

Entertaining a little healthy competition between friends always ends well, right? Enjoying a couple of games of bowling is a fun, nostalgic way to start the weekend.

To complete the full experience, head to a local diner afterward for a burger and some fries. It’s 2003 all over again! 

22. Bonfire Night

Are you bored of visiting the same bars and clubs on a Friday night? But you also don’t want to deal with the mess and responsibility of hosting a party?

Equally perfect for hot summer days as it is for cold winter nights, a bonfire party is a great alternative.

Choose a party theme, bring plenty of food, chairs, and blankets, and set up camp on the beach for the evening.

23. Karaoke Party

If your neighbors don’t mind, throwing a karaoke party is a fun way to spend a fun Friday night with friends.

Get practicing the classics and prepare for a fun-filled and hilarious evening.

24. Start a Book Club

bookstore

Nobody seems to have time for reading these days – so why not make it a priority and have some fun in the process?

Start a Friday night book club with your friends, alternating each Friday night at a different friend’s house.

Catch up on all the classics you pretended to read in high school and enjoy some new bestsellers. 

25. Go Camping

Spending a night or two under the stars with friends is a sure way to bond and make plenty of fun memories.

Make sure you’re equipped with plenty of blankets to stay warm, ghost stories to share, and marshmallows for toasting. And don’t forget your waterproof jacket!


With Your Partner

26. Romantic Picnic 

Weather and season permitting, why not pack a picnic and head to a local lakeside, beach, or park for a romantic evening together?

Watching the sunset over a glass of wine and a slice of quiche – what could be better?

Read more: Best Picnic Essentials & Picnic Food Ideas List

27. Play a Couple-Themed Card Game 

No, not that kind. Why not spend Friday night playing a card game designed to get you both talking and connecting?

Games such as Connect by The School of Life – in which each partner can choose from 100 prompts such as “The best time in our relationship was?” – can foster emotional intimacy and appreciation for one another. 

Read more: 30+ Best Couple Games to Have Fun with Your Other Half

28. Go Dancing Together

Whether you want to head to a local nightclub or take a tango class, dancing is a fun way to get close and intimate with your partner. It’s also an opportunity to laugh your head off at each other’s bad dance moves!

29. Dress up and Have a Drink in the Fanciest Hotel in Town

drinks at a nice beach bar

A three-course meal at the fanciest hotel in town might cost a couple of months’ rent – but a glass of wine can’t be that expensive, can it?*

*No, but really, do check the drink prices beforehand!

Put on your fanciest clothes and take a taxi over to your city’s version of The Ritz.

30. Go to a Drive-in Movie

Drive-in movies don’t just exist in films from the 1980s – enjoy a vintage, Hollywood-style date night at a local drive-in movie theater.

Don’t forget to pick up popcorn and some soft drinks on the way!

31. Personal Shopper Challenge

Go shopping together and pick out an outfit for the other to wear – the only rule is that there are no rules!

You might finish the night wearing your new favorite outfit. Or you might finish the night sleeping in separate bedrooms. Either way, it promises a fun and unpredictable evening together.

32. Take a Creative Class Together

Why not get inspired and take a pottery class, a painting class, or a cocktail-making class?

Learn a new skill and bond with your significant other at the same time; you might find your new favorite weekly date night!

Read more: Date Ideas Bucket List


On a Budget (Cheap or Free)

33. Walk Along the Beach

walk by the beach/water

If you’re lucky enough to live or work near a beach, a Friday night is a perfect excuse to head over there for a relaxing walk along the promenade.

Let the fresh air and beach waves clear your head after a long week, and enjoy your Friday night in a calm and relaxed way.

Read more: 100+ Things to Do at the Beach (Bucket List)

34. Go Stargazing

The beauty of the night stars is not just the sparkling constellations lighting up the sky every night – but the fact that it’s free for everyone to look at!

Take a blanket and some friends, and go stargazing in a local beauty spot.

35. Go on a Nature Walk

walking on a trail

There is nothing better at the end of a long week than to find yourself in nature. Why not use your Friday night to immerse yourself in local nature spots?

Whether strolling along a lake or enjoying the sight of fresh autumn leaves in the local forest, nature offers so much to do.

36. Visit Your Local Library

Libraries are a treasured commodity these days, and it costs nothing to support them. Head over to your local community library and spend a few hours pouring over the latest novels.

When one grabs your interest, take it home – for free – and spend the weekend curled up in a fictive world.

37. Have a Zoom Party

If you don’t have the money to go out this Friday night, try a Zoom party with your friends.

If you get tired too early or start to get irritated with your own reflection, you can always feign an internet malfunction!


It’s the end of the work week, and you deserve some time to yourself! Whatever you enjoy doing, be sure to spend your Friday night doing fun things with the people closest to you.

Use these ideas to help you come up with ideas and plan an evening full of laughs, love, and moments you’ll remember for a long time.

You Might Also Like to Read


Is it Friday, and you don’t know what to do after work? Keep this article on hand to help inspire you by saving it to one of your Pinterest boards.

best things to do on a friday night (list of 1-14)