There is nothing wrong with drinks at a bar. But when every catch-up starts with “Where should we go?” and ends with everyone shouting over music, it might be time for a different kind of girls’ night.
Some of the best girls’ night ideas are the ones where you can actually talk, laugh, make something, eat something good, and forget about your phone for a few hours.
Whether you are planning a cosy girls’ night at home, looking for creative things to do with friends, or simply want an alternative to another night at the pub, these ideas are easy to adapt to your group.
Think painting, cooking, thrift hunts, hobby nights and slightly unnecessary PowerPoint presentations.
No matching robes required.
11 Girls’ Night Ideas at a Glance
- Paint and Sip Night
- Everyone-Brings-a-Hobby Night
- PowerPoint Party
- At-Home Cocktail or Mocktail Bar
- Blind Taste-Test Night
- Pottery Painting
- Cookbook Club
- Thrift Challenge
- Phone-Free Dinner
- Movie + Matching Menu
- Current Obsession Night
1. Have a Paint and Sip Night
A paint-and-sip night is one of the easiest creative girls’ night ideas because it gives everyone something to do while leaving plenty of room to talk.
Set up a table with paints, brushes, snacks and whatever everyone wants to drink. Wine works, but so do mocktails, tea, matcha or sparkling water.
If nobody in the group considers themselves artistic, this is where paint by numbers works particularly well. The design and colours have already been mapped out, so nobody has to stare nervously at a blank canvas wondering what they are supposed to paint.
Everyone can choose a different artwork, put on a playlist and see how far they get before the conversation inevitably takes over.
If you have never painted before, our guide to how to start painting as a hobby makes the whole thing feel much less intimidating.
You can also read our guide to group painting ideas to reconnect with loved ones for more ways to turn painting into something social.
Best for: a relaxed catch-up where you actually want to talk.
2. Host an Everyone-Brings-a-Hobby Night
This might be our favourite alternative to a traditional girls’ night.
Everyone brings whatever hobby they are currently into.
One person might bring knitting. Someone else brings a puzzle. Another brings embroidery, Lego, journalling or a paint-by-numbers canvas.
Then everyone sits around the same table doing completely different things together.
There is no pressure to teach anyone else or finish anything. The point is simply to make something with your hands while spending time together.
It also answers the surprisingly difficult question:
What do people actually do when they are trying to spend less time on their phones?
Quite a lot, apparently.
If you need a little more convincing, our guide to why hobbies are good for your mental health explores why creative hobbies can be valuable for far more than simply filling an evening.
Best for: creative friends with completely different interests.
3. Throw a PowerPoint Party
PowerPoint parties took something associated with quarterly meetings and somehow made it fun.
The concept is simple. Everyone prepares a very short presentation on a subject they have absolutely no professional authority to discuss.
Possible topics include:
- Everyone in the group as a European city
- Ranking your collective exes by red-flag severity
- Why each friend would survive, or absolutely not survive, on a reality TV show
- The definitive ranking of supermarket snacks
- Evidence that one celebrity couple is secretly perfect for each other
- Which fictional character each friend would marry
Five slides is plenty.
The more unnecessary the research, the better.
Best for: groups that already communicate primarily through niche references and screenshots.
4. Create an At-Home Cocktail or Mocktail Bar
Instead of going to a cocktail bar, turn someone’s kitchen into one.
Ask everyone to invent one drink for the evening. You can choose a theme such as summer in Italy, 1990s nostalgia, favourite films or one specific colour, or let people arrive with whatever chaotic combination they have created.
Print or handwrite a tiny drinks menu and give every creation a ridiculous name.
For an alcohol-free version, use juices, tonic water, herbs, syrups, sparkling water and plenty of ice. The fun is in the ritual of making and trying the drinks, not whether they contain alcohol.
Best for: the friend group that still likes cocktails but would prefer to stay on the sofa.
5. Organise a Blind Taste Test
This requires almost no planning and becomes strangely competitive very quickly.
Choose one category and buy several versions at different price points. Chocolate, crisps, ice cream, olive oil, cheese, cookies, sparkling water, coffee and croissants all work.
Hide the packaging, number everything and score each item.
You can judge them on taste, texture, value and whether you would actually buy them again.
The expensive option losing to the supermarket own-brand version is practically guaranteed entertainment.
Best for: food-obsessed groups and friends who enjoy having unnecessarily strong opinions.
6. Go Pottery Painting
If you want to leave the house without defaulting to a restaurant or bar, pottery painting is an easy alternative.
Choose a mug, plate, vase or bowl and spend the evening painting it together at a ceramics studio.
It has many of the same qualities that make other creative hobbies enjoyable. Your hands are occupied, there is plenty of time to talk, and everyone leaves with something tangible afterwards.
It is also a good reminder that creative activities do not need to be serious or skill-based to feel worthwhile.
If you like this kind of slower creative ritual, you might also enjoy our guide to 7 creative self-care rituals for a calmer, more inspired mind.
Best for: a creative night out where you still want to come home at a civilised hour.
7. Start a Cookbook Club
A cookbook club is essentially a book club where everyone is much more likely to have completed the assignment.
Choose one cookbook, chef, cuisine or food theme.
Each person makes one recipe and brings it to dinner.
Good themes include Italian summer, comfort food only, everything must be pink, the cookbook we all bought and never opened, or things involving far too much butter.
Then put everything in the middle of the table and share.
Unlike hosting a traditional dinner party, one person does not have to do all the cooking.
Best for: groups that organise their holidays around restaurant reservations.
8. Do a Thrift Challenge
Give everyone a small budget and head to your local thrift or charity shops.
You could choose an outfit for another person, find the most outrageous home accessory under a set budget, buy each other mystery gifts, or give everyone a theme and see what they find.
Meet afterwards to reveal the results.
You can also turn it into a clothes-swap night once you are back home. Everyone brings pieces they no longer wear and gives them a second life with someone else.
Best for: fashion friends who enjoy the hunt more than the purchase.
9. Have a Phone-Free Dinner
This sounds almost suspiciously simple.
Make dinner. Put everyone’s phones somewhere out of reach. Eat.
No phones on the table. No “I just need to answer this.” No disappearing into Instagram halfway through a conversation.
You do not need conversation cards or a carefully planned agenda. The absence of the usual interruptions is often enough.
If you want to turn the evening into a fuller digital reset, combine dinner with painting, cards, a puzzle or another analogue hobby afterwards.
Our guide to using painting as part of a digital detox explores why replacing passive scrolling with something tactile can feel so restorative.
Best for: friends who keep saying, “We need a proper catch-up.”
10. Plan a Movie + Matching Menu
Movie night is good but movie night with food designed around the film is considerably better.
Choose the film first and build dinner, drinks and snacks around its setting or theme.
For example:
- Mamma Mia: Greek mezze, olives and something involving feta.
- The Devil Wears Prada: martinis, tiny appetisers and an unnecessarily good cheese board.
- Ratatouille: French food, obviously.
- Barbie: aggressively pink everything.
- The Holiday: cosy British comfort food, hot chocolate and blankets.
You can make this as elaborate or as lazy as you want.
Best for: the group chat that spends longer choosing a film than actually watching one.
11. Host a Current Obsession Night
Everyone has to bring one thing they are currently obsessed with.
It could be a beauty product, snack, book, artist, podcast, hobby, kitchen gadget, tiny business, ridiculous internet discovery, or something they recently learned.
Each person gets a few minutes to explain why everyone else should care.
It is part show-and-tell, part recommendation engine and an excellent way to discover things through people whose taste you already trust.
And because everyone brings something different, the night essentially plans itself.
Best for: friends who regularly text each other, “You NEED to know about this.”
How Do You Plan a Good Girls’ Night at Home?
A good girls’ night does not require an elaborate itinerary.
Start with one main activity, add food and something to drink, and leave enough unplanned time to actually talk.
For four to six people, a simple formula works particularly well:
Something to do + something to eat + phones mostly away.
That might mean paint by numbers and takeaway, a blind taste test followed by a movie, or everyone bringing their current hobby and a snack.
You do not need to fill every minute.
In fact, the night will probably be better if you do not.
What Are Good Girls’ Night Ideas That Don’t Involve Alcohol?
Almost every activity on this list works without alcohol.
Hobby nights, pottery painting, PowerPoint parties, cookbook clubs, blind taste tests, phone-free dinners, paint by numbers, movie nights and thrift challenges all work perfectly well without drinks.
If you still want beverages to feel special, create mocktails, unusual teas or a DIY matcha bar.
The activity should be the event. The drink is just something you happen to be holding.
What Can You Do for a Girls’ Night When You’re Tired?
Choose something that requires almost no decision-making once everyone arrives.
Paint by numbers works especially well because the creative decisions have already been made for you.
Movie night with matching snacks requires very little energy. Current obsession night works because everyone brings their own entertainment. Hobby night means nobody even has to do the same thing.
A relaxing evening does not need to become another project to organise.
That principle sits behind our guide to creative self-care rituals, where the focus is on making creativity feel restorative rather than productive.
Why Creative Girls’ Nights Work So Well
There is something different about sitting beside someone and doing something with your hands rather than making conversation the sole activity.
Painting, cooking, pottery and other hobbies give the evening a natural rhythm. There can be conversation, silence, concentration and laughter without anyone needing to constantly entertain the room.
That is part of what makes shared creative activities so enjoyable.
If you want more ideas specifically centred around making art together, our guide to group painting activities for friends and family goes deeper into why painting can be such an easy way to reconnect.
And if you are curious about why the activity itself can feel so calming, our guide to the benefits of paint by numbers for adults looks at the relationship between creativity, focus and taking time away from constant digital input.
Crucially, nobody needs to be good at the activity.
The point of a girls’ night is not to produce gallery-worthy ceramics or become a professional cocktail maker.
It is to spend time together.
The Best Girls’ Night Might Be the One Where You Stay In
There will always be nights for dressing up and going somewhere.
But there is also something deeply satisfying about cancelling the reservation, putting your phone face down and spending a few hours with people you like doing something simply because it is fun.
Paint something.
Cook something.
Present an aggressively researched PowerPoint about something nobody asked about.
The activity almost does not matter.
The good bit is being together.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some unique girls’ night ideas?
Less predictable girls’ night ideas include a PowerPoint party, everyone-brings-a-hobby night, blind taste test, cookbook club, current obsession night, pottery painting and movie night with a menu inspired by the film.
What can adults do at a girls’ sleepover?
Try painting, a hobby night, movies, cooking, skincare, card games, a blind taste test, PowerPoint party or phone-free dinner. Choose one or two activities and leave plenty of time for talking.
What are fun girls’ night ideas at home?
Paint and sip, cookbook club, an at-home cocktail or mocktail bar, movie night, current obsession night and hobby night all work well because they require relatively little setup.
How do you make a girls’ night more fun?
Give the evening one simple theme or activity rather than trying to plan every moment. Food, music and something hands-on are usually enough.
What are good screen-free activities to do with friends?
Painting, pottery, cooking, puzzles, card games, knitting, embroidery, journalling and other analogue hobbies are easy ways to spend time together without relying on phones or television.
Is paint by numbers good for a girls’ night?
Yes. Paint by numbers works particularly well for groups because everyone can paint at their own pace while still talking. It is structured enough for complete beginners and relaxed enough that nobody needs to focus on getting it perfect.