30 Exciting Challenges to Do with Friends (At Home & on the Road)

Make silly, treasured memories with your friends while trying these challenges

Co-authored by Glenn Carreau

Last Updated: March 15, 2023

Are the usual party games starting to feel a little old? If you’re looking for something new and exciting to do with your friends, you can always try one of the many challenges that have been made popular by social media—especially platforms like YouTube and TikTok. If that sounds interesting, read on for a handy list of challenges to do with friends! Whether you’re looking for a funny makeup challenge, a fitness challenge, or a food-based challenge, our list has something for every friend group.

Things You Should Know

Try a skill-based challenge like the Makeup Challenge, where you and your friends must apply makeup without looking in the mirror.
Do a few classic challenges with your friends, like Try Not to Laugh, which was made popular by YouTubers over the years.
Try a food-related challenge like the Oreo challenge or Guess the French Fries if you and your friends are also feeling hungry.
If you’re out in public, try a game like the Talk to a Stranger challenge, which requires participants to see who can talk to a stranger the longest.

1

Blindfolded Drawing Challenge

Put your art skills (or lack of them) to the test with a drawing game. Take turns putting on a blindfold. Grab paper and a pencil, and draw different prompts, like “a dog” or “your favorite food.” Then, when everyone has taken a turn, compare your drawings to see whose artwork best matched the prompt or led to the most hilarious results.^{[1]
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- Think of a list of prompts before starting the challenge. You could even use a game like Pictionary for prompts if you aren’t sure what kind of prompts to use!

2

Makeup Challenge

Find out which of your friends is best at putting on makeup. There are a few different makeup challenges you can try, so see which one your friends like most! First, you could try the No-Mirror Challenge, where you and your friends must apply makeup without a mirror. Alternatively, you could turn off all the lights and do your makeup (or do somebody else’s makeup) in the dark.^{[2]
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- In another version of the challenge, you could set a timer for 2 minutes and see who has their makeup done fastest (and best).

3

Guess The Song Challenge

Test your musical knowledge and memory with this challenge. Begin by writing the first verse or lyric to your favorite song on a piece of paper, and have all your friends do the same. Then, place all of the paper scraps in a bowl or hat and mix them up. Go around the group, and have each participant draw a paper at random. You must try to guess which lyrics come next, and whoever guesses the fastest (and correctly) wins.
- If you draw your own piece of paper, toss it back in the bowl and grab another. Each participant should end up guessing a set of lyrics they didn't choose!

4

Try Not to Laugh Challenge

Discover just how long you can last without laughing. First, put together a list of funny videos; then, gather your friends and play all the videos one after the other. This challenge is simple: the moment someone starts laughing, they’re out. Whoever lasts the longest without laughing wins the challenge. This challenge is popular with a lot of YouTubers—and, despite the name, always leads to a lot of laughs.^{[3]
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- You can keep the game going with a points system instead. For example, you could create a system where players start with 5 points, and every laugh loses a point.
- Alternatively, you could do the challenge and have every laugh earn players a point, so the player with the least points at the end wins.

5

20 Questions Challenge

Try to stump your friends with this classic guessing game. To start, have one person think of a person, place, or thing. This could by anything from their favorite food to a fictional character! Once they’ve chosen, everyone else must ask up to 20 yes-or-no questions to figure out what they’re thinking of. Everyone in the group can work together or compete individually to see who guesses correctly first.
- Remember, you can’t reveal who you’re thinking of until the group guesses correctly or until they’ve asked 20 questions and failed to guess the answer.

6

Guess the Oreo Challenge

Find out if you can identify the different Oreo flavors out there. With how many Oreo flavors are sold nowadays, it's hard to figure out which is which. Luckily, you can make a game out of it! First, buy as many types of Oreo cookies as you can. Then, blindfold each of your friends and see who can name each flavor. Who knows? They may even walk out of the game with a new favorite Oreo.^{[4]
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- You can also do this challenge with other foods that come in a variety of festive flavors, like Pringles, ice cream, or sodas.

7

Candy Pick-Up Challenge

Challenge your friends to see who can collect the most candies. First, give everyone their own bowl. Then, drop a variety of tasty candies, like M&Ms, across a table. Each player must pick up as many candies as they can using only a straw. Just suck in through the straw (like you’re drinking something) to pick up candies and move them to your bowl. You might be surprised at how tricky it can be!
- At the end of the challenge, whoever places the most candy in their bowl wins.

8

Chubby Bunny Challenge

Practice articulating words with marshmallows in your mouth! The viral Chubby Bunny challenge is guaranteed hilarity whether you win or lose, and it’ll leave you looking like a chubby-cheeked bunny. To play, stuff your mouth with marshmallows and say “Chubby Bunny” every time you put in a new one. The person who can get the most marshmallows in their mouth and still say “Chubby Bunny” wins.^{[5]
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9

Balloon In the Air Challenge

Your challenge is to keep a balloon in the air as long as possible. Blow up a balloon for each participant and begin the challenge, with everyone trying to keep their balloon in the air the longest. The catch is that you can’t use your hands to do so! You can kick the balloon with your knees, for example, or blow air onto it, but using your hands and arms is off-limits.
- If you want to make it more competitive, you can also allow players to sabotage other players’ balloons, even if it’s at the risk of losing track of their own.

10

Dress As Each Other Challenge

See how well you know your friends’ fashion styles. Challenge each person in your friend group to dress in an outfit that reminds them most about someone else in the group. That person then gets to judge the outfit selections imitating their style, and vote on whose look looked the most authentic. Whoever gets the best score or judgment wins!
- To add some fun, you could have each friend do their own impression of the person while wearing their look.

11

Talk To A Stranger Challenge

This is the perfect challenge to do with friends in public. Split up, walk around, and start a conversation with a stranger. Whichever one of you can keep their conversation going the longest wins. It’s a very simple challenge, but it’s still one that takes some courage to complete.

12

Ice Bucket Challenge

Do you recall the viral Ice Bucket challenge? Essentially, the challenge is to dump a bucket of icy water all over yourself. However, you can also make the challenge more exciting by blindfolding your friends and making it a game of Russian Roulette—that way, it’s impossible to know who will get a bucket of lego toys poured on their head and who will get a bucket of ice.^{[6]
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13

Whisper Challenge

Test how well you and your friends can read each others’ lips. To begin, give the player a pair of headphones (the more soundproof, the better) and have them listen to loud music. Then, have another player or teammate whisper a sentence to them. The player then must try to read their lips and repeat, out loud, what they think their friend said.
- To make it even more of a challenge, the opposing team can try to misguide the main player by whispering other words at the same time.

14

Blindfolded Eating Challenge

See if you can tell the difference between various types of food. This challenge is simple: blindfold each participant and set out a wide assortment of food. Then, take turns feeding each participant a different kind of food, like chocolate or pickles, and have them guess what it is. The person with the most correct guesses wins the challenge!
- Use similar-tasting foods—like dates and prunes, for example—to make it a bigger challenge.

15

Texting Challenge

Surprise a friend with a random song or movie quote in this challenge. First, have each participant choose a song or a scene in a movie. Then, have them text one lyric or line of dialogue to a random person on their contacts list. If the contact sends a confused response, send another line, and so on. Whichever player makes it furthest through their song or scene wins the challenge.

16

Riff Off Challenge

This musical game was made famous in the movie Pitch Perfect. The challenge’s rules are easy: pick a music genre or category (like 80’s glam rock or romantic ballads) and start singing a song that fits the theme. The next player or team must start their song using one of the words in the previous team’s song. If they cannot come up with a song to sing after a minute, the last players left singing wins the challenge.
- Other fun riff-off categories could include TV theme songs, famous duets, party rock anthems, and sad songs.

17

Guess the French Fries Challenge

This tasty guessing game also makes for a perfect appetizer. Buy french fries from five different diners and fast food restaurants. Take all the fries out of their packaging and place them in separate bowls. Then, have each friend taste-test the different fries and see if they can guess where each of the fries came from. Whoever has the most correct guesses wins the challenge!^{[7]
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- For fun, you can also vote on which fries are the tastiest—and the winner gets first dibs on fries when the challenge is over.

18

Blow The Biggest Bubble Challenge

Revisit your childhood with this whimsical bubblegum challenge. The rules of the challenge are very straightforward: give everyone a piece of bubblegum and see who can blow the biggest bubble before it pops! Be sure to pay close attention to each participant’s bubble in case the bubble sizes end up being similar (since you’ll be measuring by sight).^{[8]
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19

Impromptu Fashion Show

Explore your friends’ wardrobes with a makeshift fashion show. To complete this challenge, everyone participating must create an outfit using any clothing items and accessories they can find in the host’s closet. Then, each player must walk down a make-believe catwalk with their new look and pose for pictures!
- To create more “unique” looks, you could also have each participant choose their clothing items while blindfolded.

20

Memory Game Challenge

This is a simple challenge to see how sharp your memory really is. To play, put a variety of items on a table and look at the objects for 10 seconds. Afterward, hide the items and have everyone list out each item that they saw. The player who remembers the most items wins!
- If you’re not at home and aren’t able to gather enough items to play, you try to memorize a list of 10 to 20 items, names, or places that someone says out loud instead.

21

Truth or Dare Challenge

Get friends to share secrets and take on dares in this classic game. Truth or Dare is a tried-and-true party game—but it’s popular for a reason! To play Truth or Dare, decide who will go first. That person must choose a “truth” or a “dare.” If they pick truth, ask them a question they must answer truthfully. If they choose dare, challenge them to do something funny or bold. Go around the group to give everyone a chance to play.^{[9]
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- There’s no real winner in Truth or Dare, but you could always award points based on who is willing to answer the most “truth” questions or perform the most dares.

22

Phone Challenge

You can use this challenge in Truth or Dare or do it separately. For the phone challenge, have each player swap their smartphone with someone else in the friend group. Then, each player must scroll through the contact list on their friend’s phone. When you yell “Stop!”, each player must call the contact name they land on—and be as goofy as they like if that contact answers the phone.
- Be sure to establish some ground rules before you play (for example, no calling someone’s boss and getting them fired.)

23

Greasy Bean Challenge

All you need for this silly challenge is butter, beans, and chopsticks. First, soak a single small bean in some melted butter until it’s totally greasy all over. Then, place the bean in a bowl, set out another bowl next to that one, and give each player a pair of chopsticks. Whichever one of your friends can pick up their bean using the chopsticks and place it in the other empty bowl wins the challenge.^{[10]
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- Even though you’ll have to run this challenge with two people at a time, the rest of you can spend the challenge cheering each friend on—or laughing if one of them gives up on trying to move that slippery bean!

24

Chopped Cooking Challenge

Try this challenge if you enjoy the Food Network show Chopped. Inspired by the television show, this contest involves giving your friends a few random ingredients and challenging them to make a tasty meal out of them. You (or a couple of members of the friend group) can act as judges, sampling and scoring each contestant’s final product. Naturally, whoever makes the best meal wins the challenge.

25

Sack Running Challenge

Give you and your friends a workout with this classic endurance challenge. First, get burlap sacks for everybody participating in the challenge. Then, have everyone pull their sack up to their waist. Each participant must then race one another, hopping (since they can’t run properly inside the sack) to the finish line. Whoever is the first to cross the finish line wins the challenge.

26

Mannequin Challenge

Sitting completely still isn’t as easy as some people might think. The Mannequin challenge is deceptively simple: have each player sit, stand, or lie still, pretending they’re a statue or mannequin. Nobody can move even an inch while the challenge is running—and the participant who can stay totally still the longest wins.
- Make sure you have a judge to stay and observe; they can keep watch and see if anyone moves subtly during the challenge.

27

Funny Photo Challenge

Find out just how silly you’re willing to look on social media. It’s normal to feel a little self-conscious when you pose for a photo that you know will be posted on social media—but what if the point of a photo is to be as goofy as possible? For this challenge, take a photo of yourself in the funniest post you can pull off, post it online, and have your friends do the same.
- Whichever photo gets the most reactions wins the challenge! It’s up to you to decide what that means based on the social media platform you use.
- For example, on Twitter, you might decide that the player with the most likes wins the challenge.

28

100 Layers Challenge

This viral challenge requires teamwork and can be done in many ways. The idea behind the 100 Layers challenge is to apply 100 layers of something all at the same time. Split into a couple of different teams, or work as a single big group to find and apply 100 layers of something—whether it’s nail polish, shirts, pairs of socks, and so on.^{[11]
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- Feel free to get creative with this! As long as you can apply 100 layers of whatever object you choose, you can use it for the challenge.

29

Jump Rope Challenge

Test your fitness level and jump rope skills with this challenge. Setup for this challenge is easy: grab jump ropes for whoever is participating and set up a timer. Then, as soon as you start your timer, have each participant start jumping rope. Whoever can successfully jump without tripping or falling the most amount of times within the limit wins the challenge.^{[12]
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- The time limit for this challenge is totally up to you. You could even start small, with a 30-second or 1-minute limit, and then make the next challenge harder—with a 5-minute or 10-minute time limit.

30

Escape Room Challenge

Create your own DIY escape room at home for this challenge. Plan an escape room by hiding clues all over a room and hiding a key in the final clue location that unlocks a door (or some other lock, depending on the scenario you’ve come up with). Each team of friends must then compete to see who can find the key and escape the room in the shortest amount of time!
- For example, you could come up with a scenario where your friends are trapped in an underground bunker, and they’re looking for clues that will lead them to the key that opens the bunker door.