75 Fun Things to Do With Your Best Friend (Free to Epic)

The best things to do with your best friend are the ones you'll still be talking about in five years: a ridiculous cooking challenge, a sunrise you drove an hour for, a road trip playlist argument. You don't need money or a plan, just a good list. Here are 75 things to do with your best friend, sorted into free, at home, outdoors, creative, long distance, and sentimental, so you can pick based on your budget and your mood.

What are free things to do with your best friend?

Free hangouts work because the point is the time together, not the activity. Here are 15 that cost nothing.

1. Walk somewhere new in your own city and rate every block.
2. Watch the sunset from the highest spot you can get to.
3. Have a themed movie marathon: a director, an era, or "movies we watched at 12."
4. Go to a free museum day. Many museums have free admission days; check their websites.
5. Have a "do nothing" day with zero plans and no guilt.
6. Start a two-person book club with library books.
7. Go window shopping and build dream outfits you'll never buy.
8. Do a free workout video on YouTube and judge each other's form.
9. Visit a farmers market just for the free samples.
10. Take a nap together. Underrated.
11. Play cards with a regular deck: Spit, Gin Rummy, Speed.
12. Write a best friend bucket list for the next year.
13. Go stargazing somewhere dark with a free stargazing app.
14. Have a deep talk with a list of questions and no phones.
15. People-watch at a park and invent everyone's backstories.

What can best friends do at home when bored?

At home, turn ordinary things into a game or a challenge. A little structure makes a bored afternoon feel like an event.

1. Cooking challenge: same ingredients, separate dishes, blind judging.
2. Karaoke night with YouTube lyric videos.
3. Spa night with face masks, nails, and a bad rom-com.
4. Build a blanket fort and refuse to leave it.
5. Bake something you've never made and photograph the result, however it turns out.
6. Do a puzzle with 1,000 pieces and a deadline.
7. Make a TikTok or Reel recreating a trend, badly.
8. Have a PowerPoint party: each of you presents a 5-slide deck on a random topic.
9. Rearrange a room together.
10. Have a closet swap and style each other.
11. Play a video game co-op from start to finish.
12. Do a blind taste test of chips, sodas, or chocolate.
13. Have a dance party with only songs from middle school.
14. Learn a TikTok dance and film the 47th attempt.
15. Tell scary stories with the lights off.

What are fun outdoor things to do with your best friend?

Outdoor ideas get you moving and usually make the best photos. Most cost little or nothing.

1. Pack a picnic with each other's favorite snacks.
2. Go on a hike and stop for an embarrassing summit photo.
3. Rent bikes or scooters and explore a new neighborhood.
4. Go to the beach or a lake and stay until the sky changes color.
5. Do a sunrise mission: wake up early, bring coffee, watch it come up.
6. Go camping, even just in a backyard.
7. Try a new sport: pickleball, rock climbing, kayaking.
8. Visit a pick-your-own farm for strawberries, apples, or pumpkins.
9. Go to a drive-in movie if there's one near you.
10. Do a photo scavenger hunt around town with a list of weird things to find.
11. Take a day trip to the nearest town you've never visited.
12. Go to a street fair or festival.

What creative things can you do with your best friend?

Creative projects give you something to keep. Even if the result is terrible, the making-of is the memory.

1. Take a pottery class and make each other mugs.
2. Paint portraits of each other in 20 minutes.
3. Make friendship bracelets.
4. Write a song about your friendship. Perform it once. Never again.
5. Make a scrapbook from old photos, ticket stubs, and receipts.
6. Start a podcast for an audience of two.
7. Make stickers from your funniest photos of each other. Here's how to make stickers from photos on iPhone.
8. Shoot a mini movie on your phones with a ridiculous plot.
9. Design matching tote bags or t-shirts with fabric markers.
10. Do a photoshoot with outfits and a theme.
11. Write a comic about your friendship's best moments.

What can long-distance best friends do together?

Long-distance best friends can do almost anything at the same time on a call: watch, cook, play, or just exist together. Plus, send things that arrive in the real world.

1. Have a watch party, pressing play at the same time on a video call.
2. Cook the same recipe on FaceTime and compare results.
3. Play free online games like skribbl.io or online chess.
4. Do a virtual study or work session with cameras on and mics muted.
5. Send a care package with snacks from your city.
6. Exchange playlists and react to them on a call.
7. Read the same book and have a two-person book club.
8. Send voice notes instead of texts for a whole day.
9. Plan your next visit together, down to the itinerary.
10. Write real letters and mail them.

More ideas in our guide to long distance best friend ideas, and if you need quick wins, these things to send your best friend.

What are sentimental things to do with your best friend?

Sentimental ideas focus on your history together: looking back at what you've shared and saving it for later. These are perfect for birthdays, friendship anniversaries, or National Best Friends Day on June 8.

1. Make a time capsule to open in five years.
2. Recreate your first photo together.
3. Visit the place you met.
4. Write letters to each other's future selves.
5. Record a "remember when" conversation as a voice memo and keep it.
6. Go through old messages and read your first conversations out loud.
7. Make a memory jar of shared moments on folded paper.
8. Get matching jewelry or tattoos that mean something to you both.
9. Plant something together and check on it every year.
10. Celebrate your friendship anniversary. Here are some friendship anniversary ideas.
11. Make a shared photo album with one favorite photo from every year.
12. Tell each other what you appreciate, out loud, without joking. Then joke.

How do you pick the right activity for your best friend?

Match the activity to your energy and theirs. If one of you is drained, pick a cozy at-home idea; if you've been stuck inside, go outdoors; if something big just happened, choose a sentimental one.

A few quick filters:

• No money? Free list or at-home list.
• Rainy day? At home or creative.
• Need to talk? Walk, picnic, or a drive with snacks.
• Celebrating? Sentimental ideas or a day trip.
• Different cities? Long-distance list.

How do you keep the memories from your best friend hangouts?

Save the small stuff, not just the photos. Some of the best parts of a friendship are sounds: the laugh that sets you off, the voice note that starts "okay so," the terrible karaoke.

Photos end up in a camera roll with thousands of others, and voice notes get buried in chats. We're building Tucket for exactly this. When it launches on iPhone and Android, you'll be able to keep a private pocket for your best friend: record their laugh live or save the voice notes they send, each with a photo of them, keep favorite pics next to them, turn their funniest photos into stickers, and share the pocket so you both fill it. No feed, no strangers. See how it works for best friends.