Let’s Not Go to the White Hart Tonight! 4 Ways to Enjoy a Different Evening with Your Friends

What do you do when you get together with friends? Head to your favourite pub or restaurant, and then go on to a club afterwards? It’s great if you have a regular routine that you all enjoy, but sometimes it’s good to do something different with the same group of people.

Instead of following your usual pattern the next time you’re all set to see each other, why not suggest meeting at your place and trying out one of the activities below?

Enjoy a Poker Game

You can pick up a poker set with chips really cheaply online and have hours of entertainment out of it. Poker games among friends are usually meek affairs – unless one of you turns out to be a hustler, that is. Keep the stakes low and the fun levels will remain high. If you’re a novice at poker, get some practice online before you enjoy a game with your friends.

Most poker sites offer a welcome bonus to new players, and allow a certain number of entries to freeroll poker tournaments – where you play for a cash pot without having to pay an entry fee. Once you know the rules, try your luck at some different sit-and-go games. These games are a great way to get a basic understanding and notch up some experience. An added advantage is that they’re usually quite quick – lasting approximately 30-60 minutes. If beating your friends is really important to you, read through the 888poker guide on how to dominate a home poker game for some handy tips on reading your friends’ poker faces as the game unfolds.

Pot Luck Dinner

Instead of taking on all the stress of throwing a dinner party for your mates, invite them to a pot luck dinner, where everyone brings one dish of food and a bottle. You may get some weird combinations, but it’s a great opportunity to all enjoy a meal together without the burden of preparing it falling to just one of you.

Alternatively, if a whole weekend seems like too much of a commitment, pick a day that’s a few months off to go to Alton Towers or Thorpe Park, or head to the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool. Whatever you decide to do, sort all the planning in that one evening and then click “buy” on the tickets so no-one jibs out further on in the year and you all have something to look forward to.

Get Creative

Most of us have a fair amount of stress to deal with in our working lives. Indulge in some occupational or play therapy with your friends by doing some arts and crafts together. Get a selection of art supplies, or colouring books and crayons. You don’t have to buy expensive kit – you can even start off by making your own batch of salt pastry to do some modelling with.

Challenge yourselves to make or draw something that’s worthy of showing on Pinterest, and get everyone to agree that however good their ‘piece’ is it will go on display with everyone else’s on a shared board. It’s one way to see who has the most creative potential!

Plan a Trip

How often has one of your group mooted the possibility of a weekend away together, and did it ever actually happen? Instead of going out, stay in and make plans for a city break – maybe by settling on a date and then being guided by the cheapest flights available.

Alternatively, if a whole weekend seems like too much of a commitment, pick a day that’s a few months off to go to Alton Towers or Thorpe Park, or head to the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool. Whatever you decide to do, sort all the planning in that one evening and then click buy on the tickets so no-one jibs out further on in the year and you all have something to look forward to.