Challenges to Do With Friends: 70 Fun, Silly and Safe Ideas for Your Next Hangout

How to run a challenge night everyone enjoys

The difference between a hilarious night and an awkward one is usually the setup, not the challenges themselves. A few quick ground rules help.

• Everything is opt-in. Anyone can pass on any challenge, no questions asked. People play more boldly when they know they can say no.
• Check for allergies and diets first. Before any food round, ask about allergies, intolerances and anything people don’t eat.
• Keep score loosely. A whiteboard or notes app with silly points adds energy. Small prizes, like choosing the next movie, work better than money.
• Film only with permission. Ask before anything goes online, and delete clips if someone changes their mind.
• Mix the energy. Alternate loud, active challenges with sit-down ones so nobody burns out.

Food and taste-test challenges

Food challenges are crowd favorites because the reactions do half the work. Keep portions small and have water nearby.

1. Blindfolded taste test: One person is blindfolded and has to identify five foods by taste alone. Think pickles, peanut butter, an orange slice, a cracker and a mystery sauce.
2. Powdered donut challenge: Eat a powdered donut without licking your lips. Nearly impossible, and the white mustache is the prize.
3. Saltine challenge: Try to eat two saltine crackers in one minute without any water. Your mouth dries out fast. Keep water ready the second time is up.
4. Pickle juice sip: Take a small sip of pickle juice and keep a straight face for ten seconds.
5. Beans and chopsticks: Move as many dry beans as you can from one bowl to another using chopsticks in 60 seconds.
6. Rainbow milk: Add a drop of food coloring to small glasses of milk and guess which color tastes “different.” They all taste the same, but people will swear otherwise.
7. Cookie face challenge: Place a cookie on your forehead and get it into your mouth using only your face muscles.
8. Weird combo roulette: Write safe food pairings on cards (chips and chocolate, apple and hot sauce, popcorn and mustard) and draw one to try.
9. Jelly bean gamble: Use a novelty jelly bean set where some flavors are delicious and some are gross. Pick one at random and eat it.
10. Sour candy stare-down: Two players eat a sour candy at the same time. First to make a face loses.
11. Name that soda: Pour different sodas into identical cups and guess each brand.
12. Cereal mix-up: Blindfolded, guess the cereal from a single spoonful.
13. Chip crunch quiet: Eat a chip as silently as you can while the others listen. Loudest crunch loses.
14. Ice cream speed sketch: Eat a small scoop of ice cream while drawing a self-portrait. Brain freeze is part of the fun.

Word, voice and accent challenges

These need zero props and work in a car, at a table or on a video call.

15. Accent challenge: Draw an accent and a random sentence, then read it aloud while everyone guesses where the accent is from. Keep it playful, not mean.
16. Internet slang test: One person reads trending slang or abbreviations and the others guess what they mean. Great when you mix ages.
17. Seven-second challenge: Someone calls out a task, such as “name five fruits” or “name three planets,” and the player has seven seconds to finish.
18. Tongue twister relay: Each person says a tongue twister three times fast. Stumble and you pass it on.
19. The no-“um” challenge: Talk for 60 seconds on a random topic without saying “um,” “like” or “uh.”
20. Finish the lyric: Play the first line of a song and pause. The next player has to sing the following line.
21. Whisper challenge: One player wears headphones with loud music while another says a phrase. The listener has to lip-read and repeat it.
22. Alphabet story: Build a story one sentence at a time, each starting with the next letter of the alphabet.
23. Say something challenge: Pick a category like “things in a kitchen.” Go around the circle naming one each with no repeats and no long pauses.
24. Reverse spelling: Spell a long word backward out loud without writing it down.
25. Movie quote charades: Act out a famous movie line without speaking until someone guesses it.
26. One-word story: Tell a story where each person adds only one word at a time.

Try-not-to-laugh challenges

Laughing is contagious, which is exactly why these are so hard to win.

27. Classic try not to laugh: Take turns watching funny clips with a mouthful of water. Laugh and you lose (in a way that needs a towel).
28. Bad joke battle: Two players tell the worst jokes they know to each other. First to crack a smile loses.
29. Straight-face news: Read a made-up, absurd news headline in your most serious anchor voice.
30. Staring contest plus: A regular staring contest, except the rest of the group can make faces behind each player.
31. Dramatic reading: Read a cereal box, shampoo label or grocery receipt like it’s a stage monologue.
32. The penguin walk: Waddle across the room while everyone else tries to keep a straight face.
33. Compliment battle: Two players give each other wildly over-the-top compliments without laughing.
34. Silent party: For five minutes, everyone has to communicate with gestures only. Whoever talks or laughs out loud first does a mini dare.
35. Fake commercial: Pick a random object in the room and pitch it like an infomercial host.

Creative and crafty challenges

Perfect for quieter friends who would rather make something than perform.

36. Blind drawing: Draw a friend’s portrait without looking at the paper.
37. Non-dominant hand art: Draw a house, a cat and a car with your other hand, then vote on the best.
38. Hundred-layer challenge, mini version: Try to stack as many layers of something harmless as you can, like sticky notes on a face or hair ties on a wrist, and count them up.
39. Five-minute fashion show: Each person builds an outfit from whatever is in one closet and walks the “runway.”
40. Bubblegum sculpture: Chew gum and shape it into an animal using only your mouth and a toothpick. Judge by creativity.
41. Paper airplane contest: Build planes and compete for distance, hang time and style.
42. Cup tower race: Build the tallest tower possible from plastic cups in one minute.
43. Spaghetti and marshmallow tower: Use dry spaghetti and mini marshmallows to build a tower that can stand on its own.
44. Makeup without a mirror: Do a full look by feel alone, then reveal it together.
45. Song parody: Rewrite the chorus of a popular song about something mundane, like laundry or the group chat.
46. Pictionary speed round: Thirty seconds to draw a prompt while your team guesses.
47. Recreate a photo: Pick an old group photo and recreate it as closely as you can today.

Active and physical challenges

Clear some space, move breakables, and keep these goofy rather than extreme.

48. Plank challenge: Hold a plank as long as you can. Others can tell jokes to break your focus.
49. Dizzy bat race, gentle version: Spin around five times slowly, then try to walk a straight line on soft ground. Skip it if anyone gets motion sick.
50. No thumbs challenge: Tape your thumbs to your palms and try to open a snack, text a friend and tie your shoes.
51. Balloon keep-up: Keep a balloon off the floor for as long as possible without using your hands.
52. Cup flip relay: Flip a plastic cup upside down on a table edge, then pass to the next teammate.
53. Tin can bowling: Stack empty cans and knock them down with a rolled-up pair of socks.
54. Statue freeze dance: Dance until the music stops, then freeze. Anyone who wobbles is out.
55. Book balance walk: Walk across the room with a book on your head.
56. Coin in a cup: Bounce a coin off the table into a cup. Three in a row wins.
57. Wall sit stand-off: Everyone does a wall sit. Last one standing (well, sitting) gets bragging rights.
58. Tik-tok dance learn: Pick a short trending dance and see who can learn it fastest.
59. Hula hoop marathon: Keep a hoop going while answering trivia questions.

Low-energy challenges for a cozy night in

When everyone is on the couch in sweatpants, these keep the laughs coming without anyone getting up.

60. Who knows me best: One player writes answers to ten questions about themselves while friends guess. Pair it with our get to know me questions.
61. Emoji movie guess: Text a movie title as emojis only and see who guesses first.
62. Ten-second trivia: Rapid-fire trivia with a ten-second timer per answer.
63. Guess the baby photo: Everyone shares a childhood photo and the group matches them.
64. Phone swap scroll: Swap phones and pick the other person’s next song. No snooping in messages.
65. Two truths and a lie: Share three facts and let the group find the fake.
66. Speed playlist: Everyone adds one song to a shared playlist in under ten seconds without overthinking.
67. Accent audiobook: Read a page of any book in a voice the group chooses.
68. Most likely to: Ask “Who is most likely to…” and point on the count of three.
69. Rate my snack: Everyone builds a snack plate from the pantry and the group scores presentation and creativity.
70. Would you rather speed round: Answer quick dilemmas without explaining. Borrow ideas from our would you rather questions and adapt them for friends.

Viral challenges you should skip

Some internet challenges look harmless in short videos but carry real risk. These are better left off the list.

• The cinnamon challenge: Swallowing a spoonful of dry cinnamon can cause choking and can irritate or damage the lungs.
• The chubby bunny challenge: Stuffing your mouth with marshmallows while talking is a genuine choking hazard.
• The gallon of milk challenge: Drinking a gallon of anything quickly is a fast way to get sick.
• Anything with extreme spice, laundry products, medication, fire or holding your breath: No video is worth a trip to urgent care.

Ways to keep the fun going

Once you have a few favorites, turn them into a tradition. Rotate who hosts, keep a running scoreboard across the year, or crown a champion with a ridiculous trophy from a thrift store. If your group is growing or you’re trying to deepen newer friendships, shared silly experiences like these are one of the easiest ways to bond. Our guide on how to make friends as an adult has more ideas.

Staying home this weekend? We also have a list of challenges to do at home, and if your crowd is older and wants something a little bolder, try our truth or dare questions for adults.