Things to Do With Friends That Aren't Drinking (Mostly Outside)

If you want things to do with friends that aren’t drinking, start with the ones that are as easy as drinking: a walk, a breakfast, a lap of a market, a ball in a park. Short, free, outside, and nobody has to book anything.

That last part is the secret. “Drinks?” is not popular because everyone loves bars. It’s popular because it’s a complete plan in one word. No gear, no skill, no decision. To replace it, you don’t need a more exciting idea. You need one that’s just as low effort. The 28 below are sorted by how much time you have.

You have more company than you think

If you’re the one suggesting something other than drinks, you are not the odd one out anymore.

Gallup has asked Americans about drinking since 1939. In its July 2025 survey of 1,002 adults, 54% said they drink alcohol, the lowest figure in the trend by one point. From 1997 to 2023 it had stayed at 60% or above.

54%of US adults

What that means in real life: in a group of ten, four or five people don’t drink at all. A few more have an early morning, or would rather not pay bar prices to shout over music. You don’t have to know who is who. You just have to suggest the other thing.

No lecture here about alcohol. Drink or don’t. This is a list of plans.

Why most of these are outside

Three reasons, all practical.

• Side by side is easier than face to face. Walking next to someone takes the pressure off the conversation. Pauses are fine. You can point at a dog. It’s also how a lot of men make friends.
• It’s free, and there’s no closing time or minimum spend.
• It ends on its own. A loop is a loop. Nobody has to be the first to leave.

There’s a health angle too, if you want one. A study of 19,806 people in England found that those who spent at least 120 minutes a week in nature were more likely to report good health and high wellbeing than people who spent none. It did not matter whether they got there in one long visit or several short ones. It’s a one-time survey, so it shows a link, not proof of cause. But 120 minutes a week is two decent walks with a friend.

Things to do with friends that aren’t drinking, when you have 30 minutes

These fit in a lunch break or before work. Small is the point. Small gets a yes.

1. A walking coffee. Get it to go. Walk a loop. Done in 25 minutes.
2. The lunch lap. Same coworker, same block, same time. It turns a work acquaintance into an actual one.
3. A dog walk. Theirs, yours or a borrowed one. A dog supplies half the conversation.
4. An errand, together. The hardware store, the post office, the plant shop. “Come with me” is an underrated invitation.
5. The school run or the commute. Walk the last ten minutes of it with someone going the same way.
6. A bench and a sandwich. Lunch, but outside and not at your desk.
7. Sunrise, once. Painful to schedule. Nobody forgets it.

When you have an hour or two

This is the sweet spot. Long enough to actually talk, short enough to fit in a normal weekend.

8. A standing Saturday walk. Same route, same time, every week. More on this below.
9. Breakfast instead of dinner. Cheaper, shorter, and everyone is home by 10.
10. A farmers market lap. Something to look at, something to eat, a natural end point.
11. Throw something. A frisbee, a football, a baseball. You do not need to be good.
12. Pickup basketball, tennis or pickleball. Public courts are usually free. Bad players are welcome more often than you’d think.
13. A bike ride to a specific bakery. A destination makes it a plan and not exercise.
14. A park workout. Pull-up bars, a hill, a lap. Suffer together, then sit on the grass.
15. A picnic that’s actually takeout. Pick up food. Eat it in a park. That’s the whole recipe.
16. Go watch a local game. High school, rec league, minor league. Cheap seats, low stakes, plenty of time to talk.
17. Garden or fix something. Help a friend move a couch, build a planter, clear a yard. Working on a thing together is a hangout that produces a thing.
18. Photo walk. Phones are fine. Pick a neighborhood neither of you knows.

When you have half a day

Save these for once a month. They’re the ones you’ll bring up later.

19. A real hike. Pick a trail with a view at the top and snacks in the bag.
20. Water. A lake, a river, a beach. Swim, paddle, or just sit near it.
21. A day trip to the next town over. Walk the main street. Eat lunch somewhere with a paper menu.
22. Fishing. The original excuse to stand next to someone for four hours.
23. A long bike loop. With a food stop in the middle, which is non-negotiable.
24. Volunteer shift. A trail cleanup, a community garden, a food bank. You meet people and something gets done.

At night

Evening is where drinks win by default, so it needs its own list.

25. A night walk. The same neighborhood looks different after dark. Bring a jacket.
26. A fire pit. Backyard or public. Fire does what a bar TV does: gives everyone somewhere to look.
27. Dessert run. Ice cream, on foot. A destination, a treat, twenty minutes each way.
28. Stargazing or an outdoor movie. Blanket, thermos, low expectations.

The best one is the one you repeat

A list like this is fun for one weekend. Then it’s Thursday again and somebody texts “drinks?” because it’s easy.

The fix is to turn one item into a standing plan. Same thing, same day, same time. Number 8 is the classic: a Saturday walk. Once it exists, inviting someone takes one line. “I walk the lake loop at 8 on Saturdays. Come.” They can say yes this week or in two months. You were going anyway.

Repeating matters for a reason beyond convenience. Friendship is mostly accumulated hours. A University of Kansas study estimated that it takes roughly 50 hours together to go from acquaintance to casual friend, and more than 200 to become close friends. Those figures come from surveys of people who had recently moved and of college freshmen, so they’re a ballpark. But the direction is clear. One big night out is four hours. A one-hour walk every week is 50 hours in a year.

This is the only place GTFO comes in. It sends the nudge to get you out the door, which keeps your standing plan standing. That’s the hard half.

The full method, including where to find the people, is in the guide to how to make and keep friends as an adult.

How to suggest it

Three rules.

Don’t pitch it as an alternative. “Want to do something that isn’t drinking?” starts a debate. “Walk Saturday at 9?” is just a plan.

Give a time and a place. Vague invitations get vague replies. Specific ones get a yes or a no, and both are useful.

Make it small. A 30-minute walk is easier to agree to than a day hike. You can always go longer once you’re out there.

Something like:

Getting breakfast at Dot’s on Sunday at 9, then walking it off around the park. Come.

If the wording is the part you get stuck on, there’s a whole set of messages in how to ask a friend to hang out.

What to do this week

Pick one item from the 30-minute list. Pick one person. Send one text with a day and a time in it.

If it goes fine, say “same time next week?” before you leave. That’s how a one-off becomes a plan, and how a plan becomes the thing you do instead. Outside has no notifications. It also has no cover charge.