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Girls Night Ideas to Build Better Friendships

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There is nothing better than a good group of friends. But so often, we find that after we tend to kids, husbands, work, grocery shopping, and all of the other various activities that you get asked to help out with, we then don’t have time to invest in our friendships.  

If I am not intentional about scheduling time with my good friends, I may not see them but once a month if I am lucky. Life moves so quickly and while I would love to say that we will just catch up when things slow down a bit, we all know that are the type of ladies that will fill up our schedules when there is even a hint that things may be slow.  

  I find that when my friends and I just schedule dinner at a restaurant, even if we say “let’s make this a monthly thing!”, there is nothing committing us to a dinner 30 days from now and we just cross our fingers hoping we will all have time.  

You will be much more successful in making your girl time a routine thing if you have an event that will end in a bit of a cliffhanger. Get everyone’s buy-in and set a schedule for 6 months to (GASP!) 12 months at a time. Yes – you might not all make it to every gathering, but as this goes on longer, it will be something that you will fall into a rhythm with and it won’t feel like you are having to juggle everything to make attendance happen.  

Another benefit to having a multi-month hang sesh planned out is that your relationships will grow deeper with these continued touch points. Not to mention that you will all have even one more thing in common that you are bonding over at these events.  

So pull out your phone, start a group text and get some dates on the calendar with your best gals! Pick something from this list below and get started with some bonding!  

Girls Night Ideas to Start This Month

Book Club

  Even if you or your friends aren’t super readers, reading one book a month is totally doable. Especially if you pick really entertaining books like Sisters First or Little Fires Everywhere (if there is anyone alive who hasn’t read that yet). Use my list of favorite books to help make your book choices easier!

If you still get stressed out by reading that much, take it a few chapters at a time. You can rotate meetings at each other’s houses, or get together at a cute coffee shop.

An English degree is not required to do a book review! Just have everyone share some of their likes, dislikes and main takeaways from the book. And there you have it. You have fun with friends and join in on the hobby that multiple billionaires say is their reason for success.  

My 2020 reading list:

Bunco

To me, bunco seemed like the ladies equivalent to poker but I assumed you only played it when you got to be your mom’s age (which keeps getting older and older). It did not seem appealing to me at all.

Last year, in an effort to get to know all of the ladies in our neighborhood, one of my neighbors started a bunco group. After about 3 minutes of instruction, we were off rolling our dice and sipping our wine.

Bunco is a really easy game that allows for lots of chatting and catching up, snacking on cheese and maybe even winning some cash if your group decides to have a with some sort of prize pot.    

If you aren’t familiar with how to play bunco – check out this great resource for the rules of Bunco!

Prayer Group

I have watched my mom meet with her prayer group once a month since I was in high school. I can’t confirm this, but I think they don’t pray as much as they just gossip about their kids. In Christian love of course.

Kidding aside, I know that through that group, my mom has formed some incredibly deep bonds with women that have all seen each other through good and bad times. What an awesome way to spend an evening.

Encouraging, praying for and supporting your friends. This event also takes no set up! Just find a place to meet and bring a journal to write down prayer requests!      

Here are a few good Bible Study books that would be great to pick from!

Supper Club

   I read about supper clubs in Jen Hatmaker’s book “For the Love” and I thought it sounded like such a classy way to get together with friends. A supper club is just a group of friends who take turns hosting dinner for the group. Jen and her friends apparently made meals like Chicken Cordon Bleu, but I imagine my friends would be pretty thrilled with Stouffer’s Pan Lasagna.    

This would be such a great way to get intentional time with your girl friends. The best conversations happen around the table with good food.

Beach Volleyball Team

   Or any other sporting team. Do you remember how fun intramurals were in college? Yeah, they still do that for adults! Your local rec center likely has sign-ups for soccer, softball or beach volleyball.

This could be a really great girls night where all you have to do is show up. The rec league does all the planning for you, but you could be overachievers and make team shirts.    

Wine Night

   Likely the most relaxing choice on this list. I am not a woman who has a refined pallet for wine. A $5 bottle tastes the same to me as any expensive bottle. If you are like me and don’t know anything about wine, use Winc to send you great bottles of wine without having to become a Sommelier!    

Game Night

  This will be an absolute blast, assuming one of your friends isn’t the world’s most competitive lady. Of course, games like Catch Phrase and Pictionary are always winners, but I must recommend the fabulous Game of Things and this relevant crowd-pleaser, What Do You Meme?

There is a ton of laughter to be had on game night and you will be reliving it for weeks with all the inside jokes that are sure to come out of it! Rotate houses and changeup games each month!    

Fun game night ideas:

Once you settle on your activity of choice, give your girls night out a step up with all of these fun printables from the Dating Divas!  

 How do you do girls’ night with your friends? Let me know in the comments below!

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6 Comments

  1. Thank you for such great ideas! I recently moved to a new state and am (slowly) making friends. I constantly am trying to think of new ways to get everyone together. So far I have done a BBQ and made cookies for the Airmen on the local Air Force base so your suggestions will keep me busy (and making new friends) for the months to come.

    1. Those are such good ideas! I love things that are fun and also help others! You are going to have a great community in no time!

  2. Six friends = monthly get togethers! We have been doing this for years! Each friend has 2 months to host during the year. The host plans the date, food &or activity, it can be as simple as buying the 1st round of drink at a favorite restaurant.

    1. I love that idea Lynnie! Such a good way to invest in each other and grow those friendships intentionally!

  3. I give workshops breathcoaching for a original women’s night out. Because of Corona we meet online. It’s a wonderful way to meet inspirational warm people and connect during lockdown.

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