You know what I like even more than hanging out with my friends? Making it a little different each time and of course, making it super comfy!
How many times have you hung out with your friends and stood there for an hour trying to decide where to go or what to eat?
What if you (or your friends) put in just a tiny bit of planning to make the night magical and memorable? We only have a limited number of days on this earth when our friends can be close enough to get together. In our 20’s, it’s already difficult to find time to hang out with your friends. It’s a time when we’re all still trying to figure out how to balance social life and personal time.
So why not make it something more than just sitting around on your phones all night with a movie playing in the background?
In order to create a fun night for you and your friends, you don’t need an extravagant party or to spend a lot of money. All you need is a couple of your best friends and a little bit of planning to have the warmest, coziest night in.
To me, a perfect cozy night-in with friends consists of three parts:
- Entertainment
- Snacks
- Vibe
Let’s start with the first: entertainment. Also known as what you’ll actually be doing.
Think of this as your main act for the production you’re putting on. The entertainment portion will set the theme of your whole get-together and since this is the main activity, you’ll want to make sure you and your friends are all on board!
Snacks are the supporting cast and crew of your production.
I try to take into account the amount of time it takes to prepare, how much it would cost, and how you would consume it. To break it down, if the activity takes a long time, you want to get something fairly quick that you can snack on. If your hands will be free during the activity, you could opt for something a little more hearty and time consuming to prepare. You can always get your friends involved in the cooking/making process to make it even more fun!
Don’t forget drinks too!
Aaand last but not least: The vibe, the ambience, the atmosphere.
This is so so important in creating the perfect cozy night-in with friends. Imagine having a movie night with bring, overhead lights on, or doing puzzles in the dark with a candle. It just wouldn’t work, would it?
Not only that, but music and the setting, along with the lighting are all something you should keep in mind. If you’re planning a cozy night, you’ll for sure want some blankets, throw pillows, and maybe a candle or diffuser to make the room smell nice.
Now let’s get into the specifics. Here are 5 easy, affordable ideas for a cozy night in with your friends:
1. Movie and Kettle Corn
A movie night, of course! And what’s an essential while watching a movie but even better than popcorn? Homemade kettle corn! And I swear it’s so simple and affordable to make, you’ll be mind blown.
Supplies:
- Movie – I usually just scroll through Netflix and see what movies look good. I also recently remembered that you can rent movies from the library for free, so if you want to go old-school and actually get a DVD, I recommend going to your local library!
- Blankets – This one by Barefoot Dreams is absolutely heavenly
- Pillows
- Candles – I love this one, because it smells incredible and you get to support a small business!
- Kettle corn
- Sparkling water
Kettle Corn Recipe:
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Popcorn kernels
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
How to Make It:
Grab a large pot with a lid, add oil and a few kernels of popcorn. Turn the stove to medium high and wait until you hear all the kernels pop. Add the rest of your kernels and pour the sugar and salt directly over the kernels. Cover the pot with a lid and shake until you hear a 2 second break between pops.
This is all a fairly quick process, so make sure you have the ingredients in front of you, measured out, before you start. Transfer the kettle corn to a bowl immediately, allow for it to cool for a couple of minutes, and enjoy!
As for drinks, since kettle corn is both sweet and salty, I like to go for something refreshing like sparkling water.
2. Board Game Night
As a kid, my family and I used to have board game nights all the time. It was a way for all of us, no matter the age, to be involved and use our brains, while having fun. I still love playing board games sometimes, and I want to get my friends into it.
In a tech-centric world where 5 year olds know how to use an ipad, I think it’s important to have activities where you’re not looking at screens or on social media for a couple of hours. Board games are great for this because for the time being, you forget about checking your notifications and you can let your eyes rest.
Supplies:
- A board game – I like classics like monopoly or game of life, especially when it comes in aesthetic book shapes like this! I also like to bring out other games like Rummikub, Scrabble, or Checkers. Others I’ve seen are Catan and Hues and Cues!
- Snacks – you can kind of do whatever you want for this. If I’m going for more of a snacky option, I’d get some chips and dip (pita chips and hummus, tortilla chips and salsa or guac, potato chips and french onion dip, etc.). If my friends and I are hungry, I might make some simple tomato sauce pasta with my all-time favorite sauce.
- Drinks – I would make myself a honey collagen latte (decaf, if it’s later in the night) or just open a bottle of wine and sip on that while I play!
3. Crafts and Cocktails
I absolutely love a crafts night, and anything creative! There are so many types of crafts you can do, and it depends on what you have or want to do. Some examples of crafts you can do:
- Create a vision board for the year ahead
- Make cute keychains
- Get some clay and make coasters or magnets for your fridge
Since we’re being hands-on with this activity, why not keep it going by making some delicious cocktails!
My favorite is a cherry moscow mule, because it tastes amazing and is so easy to make.
Cherry Moscow Mule Recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 cup Ice
- 1 lime
- 2 fluid ounces vodka
- 4 fluid ounces ginger beer, yes it’s different from ginger ale.
Juice half of the lime into the glass, pour everything else in, garnish with a lime slice, and enjoy! Simple as that.
4. Indoor Picnic and Painting
There’s something about picnic and painting that speaks to me at the core. My friends set up a picnic and painting session for my birthday last year, and it’s probably the best and most memorable birthday I have ever had (shoutout to my friends – I love you guys with all my heart).
But when it’s cold outside or raining, you can’t really do the whole picnic thing. Or can you?
Supplies:
- Basket with food and drinks
- Canvas – I like to get a variety of sizes so I can use them for different occasions!
- Paint – Liquitex is my favorite brand to use, because it’s easy to mix and create any shade you want.
- Paint brushes
- Palette to mix paint
- Plastic cup for paint water
Some easy things to put in that basket:
- Finger sandwiches – I love the ones with cream cheese, smoked salmon, dill and cucumber.
- Chips
- Cookies
- Sparkling cider
- Anything else that you and your friends might enjoy!
Make your space cute with some tablecloths, blankets and cushions. You can put some nice music on and spend a nice night eating and painting. Talk about a cozy night-in with friends!
5. Puzzles and Pizza
First of all, loving the alliteration! Second, this is a super simple idea that you can put together the day of.
I got a new 1000 piece puzzle for Christmas last year during a white elephant gift exchange. I’ve been meaning to get more into puzzles recently so it was perfect! As I mentioned before, I think we all need time away from our screens, and what better way to do that than with a puzzle!
Sometimes it can be tricky and frustrating, but I love being able to think and strategize with friends and work on something together (am I weird? Idk but that’s what I like). Some puzzles like this are great because the box itself is already aesthetic and you can just keep it in your room without it feeling out of place.
Order some pizza with all the toppings you want, grab some Poppi soda or any other drinks you like and puzzle on!
These are just a few of the easy and affordable ideas I have for a cozy night-in with friends. I change it up depending on the mood, the weather and the season, but I personally think putting in a little bit of effort into planning one of these makes the night so much more fun than if you were to get together with friends and all be on their phones that whole night.
If you try any of these, let me know in the comments below!
With love,
The Caffeine Canvas
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