Things to do with friends when bored

Small ideas for two or more, indoors or out. Put the phones in another room and see where the afternoon goes.

About these ideas

These work with a friend, a partner or family. Some are quiet, like reading side by side. Others are a little livelier, like a board game or seeing who can skip a stone the furthest. Choose Indoors or Outdoors above to narrow them down.

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All 24 things to do with friends

5 minutes

Five minutes back to back (indoors · with someone · low energy). Sit on a rug back-to-back with someone. Close your eyes and feel the rise and fall of each other’s breathing for five quiet minutes.

20 minutes

Listen to birdsong and whistle back (outdoors · with someone · low energy). Sit under dense branches. Listen closely to bird calls. Try quietly whistling back or guessing what bird species is answering from the canopy.
Make hot chocolate from scratch (indoors · with someone · a little energy). Warm milk slowly in a small pan, whisk in cocoa and a little sugar, and pour two mugs. Drink it somewhere comfortable, with the big light off.
Tell a story one sentence at a time (indoors · with someone · low energy). Sit together with the lights low. One of you starts a story with a single sentence, and you take turns adding the next. Let it go wherever it wants.
Fold paper boats (indoors · with someone · low energy). Fold a few paper boats from scrap paper together. When the rain stops, float them in a puddle and watch which way they drift.
Read poems aloud in low light (indoors · with someone · low energy). Light a single beeswax candle. Take turns reading three short poems or book passages aloud to each other while listening without interruption.
Doodle together on one big sheet (indoors · with someone · low energy). Place a large sheet of butcher paper on the floor. Without speaking, draw winding lines, houses, and trees together using colored pencils or crayons.
Sort a drawer of forgotten trinkets (indoors · with someone · low energy). Empty a junk drawer, button tin, or key bowl onto the kitchen table together. Sort them into small ceramic dishes and tell the story behind each odd token.
Skip stones at the water (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Search the shoreline together for smooth, flat slate stones. See who can achieve four gentle skips across the glassy surface.
Sit and watch the sunset (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Walk to a westward-facing hilltop or park bench 15 minutes before sunset. Sit side-by-side in silence watching the sun slip beneath the skyline.
A slow tea tasting (indoors · with someone · low energy). Brew two different herbal teas in mugs. Close your eyes and take turns guessing which herbs are in each cup purely by scent and warmth.
Share an umbrella for a slow walk (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Walk together under one umbrella while the rain is light, in step so you both stay mostly dry. Head home whenever you like, and stay in if there’s thunder or lightning.

An hour

A neighborhood details hunt (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Stroll through a residential neighborhood together. Spot stained glass windows, wrought iron gates, sleeping cats on porches, and vintage door knockers.
Turn the pages of old photo albums (indoors · with someone · low energy). Pull down physical photo albums, shoeboxes, or postcards. Look at them together, asking questions about forgotten haircuts, old cars, and faraway places.
Read side by side (indoors · with someone · low energy). Sit in the same room with someone you love. Both of you read physical books or magazines with phones placed in another room. No conversation needed; just shared quiet.
Plant seeds or bulbs together (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Dig small furrows in the earth side by side. Place tulip bulbs or sweet pea seeds into the soil, cover them with earth, and water the garden together.
Sketch what’s behind each other (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Sit facing each other in a park or courtyard. Without showing until the end, spend 30 minutes sketching the background scenery behind the other person.
Lie back and stargaze (outdoors · with someone · low energy). Wrap yourselves in warm sweaters after dusk. Lie back on a dry tarp in the backyard, or sit together on a balcony or step, and look up into the night sky. Find a constellation you know, a slow-moving satellite, or a shooting star.
A thermos walk (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Fill a metal thermos with hot coffee or ginger tea. Walk with a companion without phones. Find a scenic stoop or log to share the hot cup and warm conversation.

An afternoon

Bake bread from scratch (indoors · with someone · a little energy). Knead yeast dough on a floured surface. Feel the elastic bounce beneath your palms, let it rise under a kitchen towel, and share the first hot heel with butter.
A picnic on a wool blanket (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Pack simple provisions: sharp cheese, crusty sourdough, grapes, and cold cider. Spread a woolen blanket under an oak tree and eat with your fingers.
A board game afternoon (indoors · with someone · a little energy). Dust off an old Scrabble, chess, or deck of playing cards. Make a pot of tea and play slowly on the rug with nowhere to be.
A slow farmers market wander (outdoors · with someone · a little energy). Walk slowly through an open-air market. Smell ripe peaches, run your fingers over artisan wooden bowls, and pick up fresh wildflowers together.
Make pasta or fold dumplings together (indoors · with someone · a little energy). Mix flour and water by hand on the kitchen counter. Roll dough thin with a partner and fold little parcels together while chatting in soft voices.

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