Spring is the season of regrowth and renewal – so why not use it to inject fresh life into your friendships?
Discover the best things to do in spring with friends to embrace everything the season offers with your favorite people.
Things to Do in Spring with Friends
Spring’s warmer weather and longer days burst with possibilities. Spend the time embarking on thrilling adventures, seeing sights, and learning new things, all while bonding with your besties.
Here are my favorite things to do in Spring with my friends – I’m sure you’ll also find something you enjoy!
Hiking
Hiking may transcend seasons, but the spring months are my favorite time for a hike. The trees are growing, the flowers are blooming, and the fresh air smells like anything is possible.
It’s a physically rewarding outdoor adventure that gifts you scenic views and lush landscapes, making it the perfect activity for a friend group.
You can find hiking trails near almost every city (and some even in cities!) with varying degrees of difficulty. Check out alltrails.com to find the best trails near you, grab your friends, and have an adventure!
Patio Brunch
Breaking bread with your best friends is a time-honored bonding experience. Give it a spring twist by enjoying brunch on the patio!
Many restaurants create sidewalk cafes in the springtime so you and your friends can enjoy a fantastic brunch while people watching and soaking in the sunshine. As a bonus, you get to embrace spring’s best flavors with the restaurant’s seasonal offerings.
Have a Picnic
People think of picnics as romantic affairs, but they’re the perfect spring activity for all sorts of groups.
Head to your local park with a cooler, blanket, and some toys to enjoy a meal in the grass, wine, and good conversation and great times.
Sightseeing
Spring is the perfect time to explore your city with a tourist’s eyes.
Grab your best friends and pretend that you’re visitors. See all the fun things your town has to offer, like the weird museum, the trendy cafe, or the “historical site” you never paid any attention to.
Host a BBQ
Grab your hot dogs, hamburgers, and beer cooler, and fire up the grill! Hosting a BBQ is one of the best things to do in spring with friends because the weather is nice enough to be outside, and it doesn’t cost a fortune.
Ask your friends to bring some side dishes so you don’t have to do all the prep work, and enjoy some time cooking out in the nice weather.
Visit Outdoor Markets
Now that it’s warming up, vendors fill the streets in outdoor markets. Check out the local farmer’s markets, craft fairs, and artisan shows in your community. Head to the flea market and see if you can score a great deal.
Scouring the market with your closest friends will give you ideas for decor and make the day far more enjoyable.
Paint and Sip
Paint and sips have been popping up nationwide lately, and it’s easy to see why. What other activity allows you to indulge in tasty drinks and explore your creativity without worrying about buying all the materials or cleaning everything up?
Grab your friends and head to a paint-and-sip for a fun-filled evening of wine and creativity. Who cares if the painting is good if you had fun doing it?
Amusement Park
The Six Flags, Universal Studios, and Disney parks all over the country offer thrilling adventures in the spring and summer. What better way to spend a day with your friends than waiting in outrageously long lines for twenty seconds of fun?
I kid, but there’s actually some truth to it. The long line basically forces you to engage with your friends (unless you all pull out your phones). The thrill at the end is just a bonus.
Spa Day
Grab your group of besties and hit the spa for a day of pampering and relaxation.
The great thing about a spa day is that each person can choose the unique services they prefer. Some may enjoy a relaxing massage, while others may be more interested in a scrub.
Take notes and compare the services while enjoying a luxurious day together.
Paintball
Paintballing lets you run through the woods playing hide & seek with a tactical perspective, but to get the most out of it, you need a great team.
Enter your besties.
Paintballing is one of the best things to do in spring with your friends because you get to be outside doing something fun that you wouldn’t normally do (like climbing trees, crawling through mud, military maneuvers, and getting shot with paint) while the weather isn’t too hot.
It’s an epic way to spend a free Saturday with your best friends.
Take a Class
Learning something new is always rewarding, so why not share the benefits with your friends?
Grab your crew and sign up for a random class near you. You can find a course in any niche, from fitness to cooking, drawing to learning a new language. You can even take a class together online!
Although you can take a class with friends anytime, spring is a great season for it, especially in April when it’s rainy outside.
Wine Tasting or Brewery Hopping
Let’s face it. We often end up at the bar when we get together with friends. So let’s embrace that and plan out an adventurous day of drinking!
Instead of defaulting to the regular place, find some new local breweries or wineries in your area. Check out their brewing styles and sample their wares. You may even find a hidden gem of a pub that you never knew existed!
Please be safe about it, though. Before you plan a fun drinking outing, designate a driver or have an alternate plan (like Uber) for getting home. Be sure to eat throughout the day and pace yourself so you don’t get sick.
Mini Golf
Want to have a friendly competition with friends? Head to the local family fun center and hit the greens!
Put-put may be a silly little outdoor game, but it’s always enjoyable. Try to get below par on all the courses, and see who has the best skills!
For a different type of mini-golf experience, try disc golf. It’s basically the same as mini-golf, but instead of getting a ball in a hole, you must get a Frisbee in a basket. The only limitation is that you have to bring your own discs!
Scrapbook
What better way to make new memories with friends than by looking through old memories?
On the next rainy spring day, host a scrapbooking party with your best friends.
Create BFF friendship books where you each include memories and mementos of your favorite times together. Write little in-jokes in the margins while creating something you will all cherish for the rest of your lives.
Fishing
Nothing beats relaxing in a boat with a few beers and great friends while trying to provide dinner. The truly adventurous among you, and those who live near the coast, may want to try deep-sea fishing. It’s a full-day excursion out to sea to catch the monsters of the deep. It’s a guaranteed good time regardless of whether you catch any fish.
As the men reading this collectively say “duh”, I’d like to point out that fishing is a fun hobby for all genders.
Take a Day Trip
Think about where you live and then think about everything within a 2-3 hour car ride from home. More than likely, there’s a ton of stuff to do within that radius.
Pick something that you’ve always wanted to do and make a trip out of it!
Grab your best pals and plan a semi-trip somewhere you wouldn’t usually go. Stop at a random small town for lunch.
Explore the world a little bit beyond your hometown.
Weekend Get-Away
If you have even more time, why not plan a weekend getaway? My best memories of living in California include the delightful weekend trips I took with my best friends. During my ten years in the state, I hit all the best places in California doing these trips.
Wherever you live, fabulous destinations will be close enough for a weekend trip. Arranging one or two trips per year will keep your friendships blooming and allow you to visit enthralling places you wouldn’t have gone to by yourself.
Hit the Festivals
Fairs and festivals are the best parts of spring and summer. There is a fair for everyone – from Renaissance fairs for those who love history to craft beer festivals for those who enjoy brewing.
Most small towns even have their own little carnival with small rides and great fair food for the locals. Visiting these festivals is one of my favorite things to do with my friends in the spring.
Head to a fair with your friends to get the most out of the experience. Challenge each other to an epic ring toss battle or ride the tilt-a-whirl together and try not to vomit.
Eat fried everything and enjoy a freshly-squeezed lemonade. Watch a local band perform at the fairgrounds for a free concert, or attend one of the music festivals that takes place in spring, like Coachella or Jazz Fest.
Geocache
Geocaching is a giant treasure hunt with millions of participants across the country.
Someone will hide the cache, or treasure, somewhere in public and add clues to the location on the geocache app. When someone finds it, they get to take the prize (usually a small toy or a dollar) and replace it with something different. There’s also usually a tiny scroll that lists all the people who have found it.
Take your friends on a treasure hunt through your local area and dig up some old caches! Don’t forget to bring little treasures of your own to replace what you’ve found.
Scavenger Hunt
If you want to be even more adventurous, arrange a scavenger hunt for your friends. Hard-core people can make their own using an app like Goose Chase, but you can also find ready-made scavenger hunts online.
Some cities have pre-built scavenger hunts that you can purchase online. I did one of these when I lived in LA. It took me through the city from landmark to landmark, and I had to answer questions about the place I found to move on.
It was a great way to explore my adopted home in a new way. I saw neighborhoods and landmarks I would never have considered visiting.
Sporting Events
Cheering for a team gets the blood flowing. Catching your favorite team live is a great way to bond with your friends. It’s even more fun when you like opposite teams; there’s nothing like a friendly rivalry to keep the crowd engaged!
Professional sporting events can get pricey. However, minor league games are just as fun! If your budget is tight, support your local minor league team. They will appreciate it far more than the professionals.
Check Out Old Bookstores
If you and your friends are voracious readers, spend a day visiting local bookshops. Old, used bookstores often have incredible selections of books that you’d never find at a Barnes & Noble.
There are used bookstores in nearly every city. Map out the ones you want to visit and spend a day bookshop-hopping with your crew. Find inspiring books to read and learn more about your friends’ literary tastes in one fantastic day!
Of course, checking out a bookstore is the perfect thing to do with friends in any season, but something about books and rainy spring days brings me joy.
Explore Historical Sites
Did you know that the first casualty of the Civil War was from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania? Or that there are hundreds of ancient Native American pueblos in Southwestern Utah and Southeastern Colorado?
My point is that history has happened everywhere. No matter where you live, there’s probably an interesting historical tidbit somewhere near you.
So why not go with your friends to check it out? Learn about the history of your town and the surrounding areas. Take turns picking which sites to visit, and explore your area through time and distance.
Find Out What is in Walking Distance
Whether you live in a small town or a bustling city, there has to be something interesting within walking distance of your home. So grab your friends and head out for a walk. See what there is to see in your neighborhood.
You may be surprised to find a quaint little creek with a walking trail beside it or a local bakery tucked in with homes down the street.
Of course, you may find that there’s nothing worthwhile within walking distance, but does that matter? You still enjoyed physical activity in good company.
Visit a Zoo or Aquarium
Spring is baby animal season at many zoos, making it the ideal time to catch a glimpse of the newest arrivals!
Grab your friends and head to your local zoo to watch the sea otters and polar bears play, feed the goats at the petting zoo, or relax near the peacock pond.
Stroll Through a Botanical Garden
I didn’t think I’d enjoy botanical gardens -I mean, who wants to walk around looking at a bunch of plants? My friends convinced me to go to one, and I was hooked. And although they’re fun all year long, spring is the absolute best time to go.
The grounds burst with vibrant flowers dancing in their quest to attract pollinators. Every step fills your senses with aromatic fragrances, bright colors, and lush plant life in shapes you never imagined.
Despite my initial hesitation, I now consider a stroll through a botanical garden as one of the absolute best things to do in spring with friends.
Take time to smell the flowers – it’s worth it.
Enjoy Spring!
The spring season brings growth, renewal, rain, freshness, and possibilities. Savor them. Whether alone or with friends, take time to experience the best the season offers.
It will be too hot before you know it!