It occurred to me that, as an adult, I feel I need a reason to invite friends over. My wife thinks this is pitiful. I invited a couple of friends over for a curry and a boardgame night - it was a fine evening - but without that reason of having a shared activity, I’d never have done it.

Jusy wondered if I’m alone in this, and if there’s any men out there who DO invite male friends over with no plans or expectations for the evening?

Pic unrelated.

  • GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    8 hours ago

    I’ve started asking my friends if they wanna run errands with me. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

    In reverse, I’d gladly run errands with them as an excuse to hang out.

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    9 hours ago

    I feel like this is just semantics?

    Your wife has friends over surely - what do they come for? “a chat”, “a coffee”, a “catch up”? Isn’t that an event and expectation too? It’s just vaguer.

    It’s no different - it’s just you hang yours around activities or shared experiences because that’s how you and your friends operate.

  • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 day ago

    I suppose it depends on your definitions of reason and plan. You don’t need to have something very formal, but you need to be able to answer the question “what are we doing?”. That way, they can decide if they want to be part of it. You also don’t want obvious boredom, where everyone’s sitting around with nothing to do.

    Your “plan” can be as simple as inviting the guys over to hang out and drink beer. You let the night go wherever it does. If everyone wants to play a board game, or go to the bar, or get Taco Bell, or go to a strip club, just let it happen. And if everyone is happy hanging out and drinking beer, that’s great too.

    • dustyData@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      7 hours ago

      My friend: “So, what are we doing?”

      Me: “Niksen”

      Friend: “Count me in!”

      Boredom is not in itself a bad thing. Stop being chronically amused.

  • activ8r
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 day ago

    This is why the British have tea.

    “Comin over for a brew?” Is an invitation to come over with zero plans. Might be video games, might be TV and chat, might end up having a BBQ. Could be whatever, just come hang out.

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      4 hours ago

      This is how it was for me in college, but “brew” meant beer. At some point it seems me and my friends all mutually decided we can only hang out if we’re doing something specific, and I think we’ve all suffered for that.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      22 hours ago

      In Finland it’s coffee. So a Finn inviting you over for coffee is actually an invitation to just hang casually, not an euphemism for some afternoon delight.

  • southsamurai
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 day ago

    Yup, I do.

    Mind you, I tend to know that when I do so, there’s going to be some kind of group activity, even if that’s most sitting around and complaining about shit lol. Normally, it also means I’ll cook something up, so there’s the assumption on my part, and my friends’ parts that it’s also an invite to a meal. Enough so that I only bring food up when I’m not going to be cooking.

    Hell, 99% of the time, there’s an exchange of, “yeah, of course! Want me to bring anything?”, “Nah, just your appetite and any booze you want.” Not always word for word, but it’ll be close.

    But, fuck yeah. I’ll send out a group text, or e-mails, and ask if they want to hang at my place. No plans at the time, just wanting to enjoy the company of a friend group. Any plans get made after that. Like, maybe someone will bring a movie, or a game or whatever, but it’s about being together, not the activity. The activity just serves to keep us in one place instead of roaming the house and yard the way we do when we aren’t doing a single thing as a group.

    But my three main friend groups (and they do include women, except for one of those, but I think it still fits), we’re fine just ambling through the back yard, sipping whatever, and bullshitting.

    Same with individual friends too.

    Now, when me and my wife are hosting another couple, it’s almost always a planned thing where they’re invited specifically for a meal, followed by the chatting and whatever. Dunno why, but that’s the way it happens lol.

  • lurch (he/him)
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 day ago

    You don’t need a reason, but if you insist: Did it ever occur to you that “I feel like partying” is a valid reason?