3 Budget-Friendly Activities For A Sunny Day With Friends
I can’t be the only one who spends a ridiculous amount of money during the summer. From spontaneous shopping sprees to bottomless brunches, my friends always suggest the most expensive pastimes.
When I finally decided to prioritise my financial goals, I felt like I had to choose between saving money and having a social life. I would watch my friends live their best lives on Snapchat every weekend while I stayed at home, counting down the hours till bedtime.
Sure, I saved a lot. But I wasn’t enjoying my summer. I needed to find a way to spend time with my friends without spending lots of money.
This inspired my mission to discover a range of budget-friendly activities that match the interests of my friendship group. Now we see each other just as often as before and have just as much fun, all without breaking the bank account! Here are my top three summer picks…
1. Park Link Up
Believe it or not, before lockdown, I never realised how much of a vibe chilling in the park is. It’s been my number one go-to spot ever since.
Whether you’re a friendship group of 2, 6, or 24, a park link up is something we can all enjoy. And the thing I love most is it’s extremely budget-friendly.
Planning every little detail in advance is important to ensure your park link-up is both frugal and fun. This can be broken down into three key sections: food, drinks, and activities.
What are we going to eat?
Without fail, me and my friends are always thinking about food, so this is what we plan first.
On the odd occasion, we may decide to bring our portable BBQ to the park for grilling burgers. We bought our BBQ on Amazon for £18, contributing £3 each between the 6 of us. This was, however, before we realised that most parks in our local area do not allow BBQs.
So, most of the time, we choose to eat a full meal at home before leaving. This way, we can avoid buying a meal while we’re out as we only need a few snacks to get us through the day. We collectively decide on what those snacks will be and add them to the shopping list.
What are we going to drink?
After food, we plan drinks, which are usually a combination of alcoholic and non-alcoholic. We choose what we’ll be drinking and how much of each we’ll need. Sometimes we add cups to the shopping list, other times we bring our own.
One thing we always seem to forget is that drinking on a sunny day makes us wee more frequently. A park with a toilet is therefore vital (or at least a park next to someone’s house).
What are we going to do?
The final thing we plan is exactly what we’re going to do in the park.
Sometimes we simply catch up with one another over a glass of wine and some snacks. In these cases, we don’t need to make any more purchases. We’ll only need to bring things we already own, like a picnic blanket and speakers.
Other times, we opt for an activity-based link up. This may include some friendly competition, a range of games, or basic arts and crafts. My all-time favourite is our acrylic painting sessions. In these cases, we’ll work out all the equipment we need to buy and add it to the shopping list.
Now we purchase everything
Once we have calculated the total cost of food, drinks, and activities, we contribute an equal amount of money to cover this. For me and my friends, this has never been more than £12 each, which is far less than how much we would usually spend on a day out.
We send our contribution to the designated shopper, who purchases everything we need and brings it to the park on the day.
And that’s it – that’s how to plan a fun and frugal day in the park. So why not give it a try?
2. DIY Content Shoot
Do you love taking pictures and videos for Instagram? TikTok? Or simply for memories’ sake? Whether it’s for social media or private use, a DIY outdoor content shoot is a lot of fun for little money!
What do I need?
- A good mobile phone camera: No need for any fancy camera equipment. An iPhone or Android camera will work well.
- Portable charger: Although this isn’t a necessity, if you already have one, you should bring it. It will be useful if anyone’s phone runs out of battery mid-shoot.
Planning the shoot
The key to a great outdoors shoot is knowing exactly where you want to go before the day.
Planning in advance allows you to avoid wasting time searching for a good location. I spend a lot of my free time on discovery walks around London. When I come across a picture worthy spot, I photograph it and make a note of the location. I do this so that I can suggest it as an option to my friends for our next content shoot.
If TikTok is on our shoot agenda, we collectively plan these videos in advance too. This prevents us from spending too much time at the destination learning words, lyrics, and dance routines.
After the shoot
Once we’ve finished shooting our pictures and videos, we usually find a nearby seating area to chill together. We spend this time looking through all our content, making edits, and getting suggestions from one another on what looks best. Sometimes we may even begin posting our favourites online.
On a sunny day, this is definitely a great budget-friendly activity to do with friends. As long as you avoid the temptation of buying food and drinks while you’re out, the only thing you’ll need to pay for is travel. So spend responsibly and go get that content!
3. Work From Home Garden Party
Are you and your friends hybrid workers? If so, a ‘work from home garden day’ is a great budget-friendly way to spend time with friends.
Before I started working from home, I would be severely disappointed when the hottest day of the year fell on a weekday. I couldn’t enjoy the nice weather simply because I had to go into the office.
Now, as a hybrid worker (thanks to lockdown), me and my friends can choose when we work from home. This means that if the best weather falls on a weekday, we can all make the most of the sun together.
What is a WFH garden party?
A work from home garden party is as simple as it sounds. It is meeting up with your friends on a work day to work from a garden together. This could be your garden or your friends’.
Me and my friends always begin these parties after lunch for three reasons:
- We are usually busier in the mornings. Working the first half of the day at home allows us to breeze through our workload before the party starts.
- It’s more convenient for us to travel to the host’s house during our lunch break. The roads are emptier in comparison to the mornings.
- We can eat our lunch at home rather than having to organise a group lunch for every WFH garden party.
We only meet on days we have less workload and therefore more time to chit chat between tasks. Once we log off for the day, we spend a little more time catching up before we go back home and prepare for the next day of work.
What do I need to host a WFH garden party?
Hosting a WFH garden party involves very little effort and is completely free.They’re especially good for friendship groups that find it hard to make time for each other on the weekend, and they also make working from home even more fun.
As the host, you will need to make sure there is enough space in your garden for everyone to work. It is also useful to make your kitchen or living room available for taking meetings and charging laptops.
Everyone will eat their lunch at home, so there is no need to provide any food. If you’re feeling generous, a few drinks and snacks will do. Just tell your friends to bring their work laptop, charger, and good vibes. Then enjoy working in the sun together.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried any of these activities before and how much you spent.