5 Creative Weekend Activities With Friends & Family

When Friday finally arrives, we are more than ready for the weekend. With the ever-moving schedules of our kids, spouses, or friends, it feels difficult to connect with our favorite people during the week. So we anticipate the weekends. Too often, though, they come and go with very little thought and we head into the week feeling like we missed an opportunity. Don’t let these two-day breaks pass you by! Take advantage of time with friends and family, and try out a few of these creative weekend activities.

If you need some recipes everyone will love, try these 10 comfort food recipes.

5 Creative Weekend Activities With Friends & Family

Movie Marathon

Watching a couple movies is nothing extraordinary. If you really commit and get serious about a movie “marathon”, this can be an incredibly fun event. First, pick a theme. Go for a series – Toy Story, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc. You could have a Tom Hanks night, an Audrey Hepburn marathon, or an entirely sports-themed collection of films.

Once you’ve picked your set of films, make food to accompany the theme. If you’re having a Jurassic Park marathon, get dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and fruit snacks. Grab hotdogs and popcorn for your sports-centered movies.

This is a great way to spend weekend after an especially tiring week. This takes vegging out in front of the TV to the next level and lets your family and friends enjoy something a bit out of the ordinary. Get creative, and have fun!

Backyard Obstacle Course

Whether you have a family of little kids or it’s just you and a few friends, an obstacle course can be pretty entertaining. The next time you have a free Saturday, pull together some odds and ends and make yourself a D-I-Y version of an adventure race. Use old tires, extra pieces of wood, or carpet squares to make paths in the yard. Set up an obstacle to crawl under with an old sheet and a few stakes in the ground. If you’re really handy, try something like this American Ninja Warrior backyard experience.

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You could theme your event around the olympics or any one sport. Set up a list of challenges, and make it competitive. The winner goes away with a real prize – maybe a gift card to Dick’s or REI. Make some food, gather your friends, and get ready for some good old-fashioned competition.

“Framily” Games

Friends + Family = Framily…Get it!?

Competition is always fun. Even if you’re not the competitive type, you’re sure to be entertained by others’ intensity. For the past few years, we’ve started a New Year’s Eve tradition with a few friends and family. We gather everyone together and enjoy a night of various competitions.

These “framily” games include everything from trivia to Spikeball, and we keep score on a large board throughout the night. Each year changes a bit with what games are chosen, but there is always a winner. Their prize? Lots of pride and bragging rights.

If you have a night away from kids, this is a great way to change up time with some friends. Chart out some silly, competitive games (arm wrestling, Dutch Blitz, Heads Up, pie-eating contest) and allot points to each person, depending on their ranking in each category. Wrap up the night with a winner’s ceremony, and send them home with a traveling trophy. Enjoy!

Great Big Day of Cooking

One part of the week that often proves to be stressful is meal planning. When you have a full day, it’s hard to come home and make dinner. For families, couples, and single individuals alike, making meals can be such a time-consuming part of your life. Think of this scenario, though. Saturday comes and you head to a friend’s house. While you’re there, you drink coffee, talk, and while you’re at it, you make a few meals for the week ahead! Together with a friend or two, you chop vegetables and prepare freezer meals.

Meal planning can be a pain, but make your weekend a productive one with this more-than-enjoyable approach to prepping. Check out some make-ahead freezer meals, or use a healthy meal prep plan for your next round of dinner ideas.

Progressive Dinner

Weekends are good for a lot of things, including the chance to slow down a bit and make some delicious food. When thinking of creative weekend activities with friends, you should definitely consider trying out a few new recipes at a progressive dinner.

It’s a pretty simple concept: gather friends for a multi-course dinner and partake in each course at a different home. Appetizers one place, dinner at another, and dessert somewhere else to round out the night. You can make adjustments where needed – there’s no wrong or right way to do it! Just invite a few friends to participate, and have some fun sharing new recipes with everyone.

Weekends don’t have to be rushed and scattered. You can make intentional, purposeful time for your family and friends, and you can do it with a bit of creativity. Next time you’re tempted to sit in front of the TV by yourself all weekend, try one of these creative weekend activities instead. You won’t be sorry!