With summer just around the corner its time for that well deserved rest we all need after the long year. It’s also a chance to spend some quality time with our friends and loved ones! So here is a list of unique, fun and cheap (or free) things that you can do this summer with your friends to make memories that will last you a lifetime!
1. Movie Projector Night
As fun as watching movies is, watching movies on a projector just amplifies the whole experience tenfold! So pick a genre, grab some comfy blankets, stock up on the snacks and have a magical movie night in your very own backyard!
Click here to buy a portable movie projector now!
2. Bakeoff contest with your friends
Summertime is the perfect time for chilled sweet treats! Get together with your friends, grab all the ingredients you need and hold a bake off! To make it even more fun, have a cake decorating competition and allocate anyone with an appetite as judges.
Click here to buy a cake decorating set now!
3. Dog Walk Volunteering
Time to give back to the community! Go to your local dog shelter with some friends and volunteer to give a helping hand. Not only do you get to spend quality time with your friends but you get to spend quality time with dogs. What could be better?
If you have your own dogs, you and your friends could hold a backyard agility competition to spend some time with your dogs and turn it into a fun game!
Click here to buy a backyard agility course set for your dogs!
4. Water Fights
With the sun bright and fiery and the days long and hot, summer is the perfect time to have some water fights. Whether you want to fight with water balloons of water guns, you will absolutely have a lot of fun with your friends and it is a great way to cool off!
Quick tip: Play by the pool or another body of water for quick refills for your water gun but be careful and make sure you don’t slip!
Click here to buy water guns now!
5. Mystery Picnic
Picnics are fun as it is but an easy way to make them just that extra bit more enjoyable is to add an element of surprise. Have a mystery picnic with your friends where each of you has to bring one or more picnic treats – but the catch is you don’t tell each other what you’re bringing. To bring it another step further, one person can be in charge of the location – only they don’t disclose it until the day of the picnic.
If that seems a little too unpredictable you can write different essentials for the picnic on small pieces of paper and fold them up. Then put them into a hat or a box and each friend has to randomly select a paper which tells them what they have to bring. Kind of like secret Santa. Do the same for the location if you want to add some variety.
Click here to buy a picnic set now!
6. Capture the Flag with your friends
We all remember the thrill of playing capture the flag and how fun of an activity it was. So if you have a large group of friends this is the perfect nostalgic activity to bring back the memories while also making more. You can use small pieces of cloth for the flag after distributing teams. But if you want to make it a little more spontaneous – play in the dark! You can use glowsticks for the flags or the team bands but one thing is sure. No matter what you do or when you play – you’ll definitely have fun.
Click here to buy a glow in the dark night version of Capture the Flag!
7. Spend a Weekend Stargazing
Summer is the perfect time to get under the stars for hours and hours into the night. While you can always do this at night in someone’s backyard, an easy way to make the whole experience far more memorable is to spend the weekend on it.
Google some ideal destinations for stargazing near you and use the weekend to go hiking to the destination with your friends. Make sure to bring a telescope with you if astronomy is your thing! To make it even more fun, you can camp the night at that destination and come back the morning after, giving you the perfect weekend of stars and sky.
Click here to buy a telescope or a camping tent!
8. Bonfires on the Beach
Bonfires on the beach are magical moments that everyone should share with their loved ones. Try to find a beach that isn’t that crowded and there are no restrictions against bonfires. If any of your friends/family is an expert at bonfires and fire safety you can have them prepare the bonfire. Sit around, share stories, roast marshmallows and have a laugh under the stars. It will definitely not be a day you’ll ever forget.
Tip: If you can’t make a natural bonfire with wood etc. You can always opt for portable outdoor bonfire pits to take with you to the beach. In fact, you can even do it in your own backyard (I just find the beach takes it a whole step further). Make sure to stay safe around the fire and take all cautionary measures.
Click here to buy an outdoor portable bonfire pit!
9. Game Night with your friends
Game night is an absolute classic. Whether you play this indoors or outdoors it is a perfect chance to have some laughs with your friends and put those old board games to use. Whether you want to play some traditional games or newer ones is all up to you. To make things more collaborative each friend could be in charge or bringing a board game over. With drinks, snacks and a night full of board games – bored is the last thing you’ll be.
Click here to buy a set of 100 classic board games!
10. Food Challenges
We all love food. And we all love our friends. So why not combine those 2 things together? There are so many ways you can go about with food challenges. You can do cooking competitions or one of those “3 ingredient dinner” challenges. Another fun thing to do is to have each of your friends pick out a random ingredient from the grocery store and then try and cook something with it together. The opportunities are truly endless!
11. Start a Shared Garden with your friends
Maybe its time for you and your friends to grow some plant babies together and enjoy the life of plant parents. You can take a trip to your local gardening store, pick up some pots, soil, seeds and some other gardening gear, and get started! Try and have a theme for your garden, whether you want to grow flowers, vegetables or herbs etc.
Click here to buy a starter kit for an indoor herb garden!
12. Make a Movie
There is nothing better than having home videos to look back at and laugh at. We all remember how happy those videos from our childhood of all our school plays make us feel. So its time to turn back the clock and relive those days. All you need is a camera and maybe some old Halloween costumes that your acting will bring to life!
Improvise the script on the spot! Have one person write it beforehand to surprise the actors with! Share a Google doc and work on the script together! Allocate roles for directors and actors and make silly props from the arts and crafts store to go all out! The opportunities are endless and so is the fun.
Click here to buy a camrecorder now!
13. DIY tie dye clothing
Nothing says summer like DIY tie-dye shirts. Grab an old cheap white t-shirt, get a tie-dye kit and make a day out of tie-dying t-shirts with your friends! You can cut your t-shirts into funky shapes and if you’re feeling extra creative, dye other items of clothing like skirts or shorts or jeans.
To make it even more fun, MAKE your own clothes. If one of your friends is nifty with a sewing machine you can tie-dye fabric and then make your own funky clothes. Perhaps it can be followed by a trip to the beach the next day.
Click here to buy a tie dye kit!
14. Go Kayaking with your friends
Kayaking is such a fun way to make use of all the time you have in the summer. Not only are you surrounded by the beautiful water, putting those arms to work while working together with your boat mate, its also a great chance to enjoy the outdoors and the beautiful scenery.
Most places around the ocean or lakes have kayak rental services so pick a day on the calendar and take a couple of friends out to make it a day!
Make sure you wear lots of sunscreen!
15. Powerpoint night
We’ve all probably seen it somewhere on the internet by now but in case you haven’t. Two words. Powerpoint night. Basically, each person in your friend group makes a funny powerpoint about hot takes, rankings and other bizarre topics and then presenting them to each other in “powerpoint night”.
You can do powerpoints rating exes, casting your friends in movies/reality tv shows and basically just about anything you can think of!
16. Karaoke Night with your friends
What can be better than listening to your friends screech their heart and souls out to Disney songs on karaoke night? Not much I’ll tell you! All you need is a karaoke microphone (you don’t even need a real one you can probably make one with newspaper or simply use a hairbrush) and those karaoke videos on Youtube and you have a night to enjoy!
Click here to buy a karaoke microphone!
17. Watch the Sunrise
This one is a much more traditional one but people tend to forget it since it includes waking up before the sun rises and no one wants to abandon the warmth of their bed. But it is absolutely worth it!
Host a sleep over and wake up before the sunrises to watch it together. You can travel somewhere that is popular for its amazing sunrise views and grab a car in the earlier than early hours of the morning and drive there with your friend to watch it together with a pancake breakfast takeaway on the way.
If waking up isn’t something you can trust yourself to do, just pull an all nighter – because I promise it’ll be worth it.
18. Have a Fake Wedding with your friends
Run to the dollar store grab a cheap dress and a suit. Allocate someone to bake a cake, and buy some cheap decorations to really bring everything together! Not only will you have tons of fun planning the whole thing but having the ceremony will definitely be something to look forward to.
If you want you can even plan a themed wedding. Pretend it is a wedding in a different era or time frame, like the 1800s and have your wedding guests dress accordingly. Throw in props and fake drama and record the whole thing so you have something to look back at and laugh about!
Click here to buy colourful party decorations!
Want some ideas on how to spend the summer by yourself and still have fun? Read our article on 22 things you can do on your own this summer!
