Summer has a way of reminding us that the best plans are usually the simple ones. A walk that turns into a long conversation. A beach day that starts with one towel and somehow becomes an all-day hang. A backyard game that gets weirdly competitive. A park picnic, a post-hike snack spread, a golden hour porch session with the people who make doing nothing feel like a full itinerary.
That is the spirit behind Outside with Old Pal, a community-driven campaign focused on getting outside, moving together, and making new connections. From NYC run clubs to New Jersey hikes, each gathering is about finding a little fresh air, a little common ground, and a good reason to spend more time with your pals.
Of course, you do not need a major plan to make summer feel memorable. You need a place to meet, a few people you like, snacks if you are smart, water if you are smarter, and maybe a loose idea of what the day could become.
Here are 15 easy ways to get outside with friends this summer.
1. Start a Casual Walking Club
Run clubs are having a moment, and we respect the hustle. But a walking club? That might be the people’s sport.
Pick a neighborhood, choose a weekly time, and keep it simple. Meet at the park, the coffee shop, the waterfront, or someone’s front stoop. Walk for 30 minutes. Walk for two hours. Wander until someone spots a patio and decides the walk has entered its snack era.
This works especially well in cities like New York, Boston, Philly, Baltimore, Richmond, Jersey City, and everywhere else a good walk can turn into a full afternoon.
2. Plan a Park Picnic
A park picnic is a classic for a reason. It asks very little and gives a lot.
Bring a blanket, a few drinks, a speaker, something salty, something sweet, and enough napkins to suggest someone in the group has their life together. Nobody needs to cook unless they want to. A picnic can be a full spread or a bag of chips and a container of cherries eaten in the shade.
The goal is not perfection or perfect aesthetics. The goal is getting your people in one place long enough for the conversation to loosen up.
3. Find a Beginner-Friendly Hike
A good summer hike does not need to be a brutal uphill march. Look for easy trails, shaded loops, waterfront paths, rail trails, botanical gardens, or nature preserves where the vibe is more “touch grass” than “question your life choices.”
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York all have plenty of beginner-friendly outdoor spots if you know where to look. Think local parks, state forests, river walks, beach trails, and scenic overlooks with a good post-walk snack nearby.
The best beginner hike is one everyone actually wants to do again.
4. Host a Backyard Game Day
Cornhole. Badminton. Bocce. Horseshoes. Giant Jenga. Frisbee. Wiffle ball. Whatever gets people moving without turning the day into a competitive sports documentary.
Backyard games are great because they give everyone something to do with their hands while they talk, laugh, snack, and pretend they are not deeply invested in the score.
Add a cooler, a playlist, and a folding chair section for the spectators, and you have yourself a summer institution.
5. Make It a Beach or Lake Day
East Coast summer was made for sandy towels, cooler snacks, sunscreen, and someone saying, “Wait, we should do this every weekend.”
Whether you are heading to the Jersey Shore, the Maryland coast, a Massachusetts beach, a Virginia lake, or a little swimming hole someone swears is “only 20 minutes away,” keep the plan light. Pack water, shade, snacks, and a towel you do not mind sacrificing to the sand gods.
A beach day does not need a schedule. That is the whole point.
6. Try an Outdoor Movie Night
Parks, rooftops, patios, drive-ins, and backyards all become better with a movie and a snack table.
Choose something people can talk over a little. Summer movie nights are less about silent reverence and more about lounging, quoting the best lines, passing snacks, and collectively deciding who definitely picked the right blanket.
If you are hosting, keep it easy: projector, sheet or wall, chairs, popcorn, bug spray. Done.
7. Make a Golden Hour Plan
Sometimes the whole plan can be: meet outside when the light gets good.
Find a park bench, a porch, a stoop, a rooftop, a backyard, a riverwalk, or a patch of grass with a view. Bring drinks, snacks, and the kind of people who understand that watching the sky change absolutely counts as an activity.
Golden hour is summer’s free special effect. Use it.
8. Hit a Farmers Market
Farmers’ markets are perfect friend plans because they have movement, food, people-watching, and zero pressure.
Everyone can wander. Someone gets coffee. Someone buys flowers. Someone buys vegetables with great confidence and no clear plan. Someone finds the pastry table and becomes the group hero.
You can make the market the whole plan or use it as the first stop before a picnic, beach day, or backyard dinner.
9. Take the Long Way to Dinner
Instead of meeting directly at the restaurant, meet 30 minutes early and walk there together.
That one small change turns a regular dinner into a summer evening. You get the pre-dinner catch-up, the neighborhood stroll, the “look at that dog” moment, and maybe a better table because you showed up relaxed instead of sprinting from parking.
This is especially good for those nights when everyone wants to hang out, but nobody has the energy to plan a whole thing.
10. Plan a Patio Potluck
Everyone brings one thing. Nobody tries too hard. Chips count. Store-bought dip counts. A watermelon counts. A bag of ice absolutely counts. The best summer potlucks are generous, not fussy.
Set up outside if you can. Patio, porch, backyard, driveway, rooftop, whatever you have. Put out a few chairs, turn on some music, and let people graze until the sun goes down.
11. Find Free Outdoor Music
Summer is full of free concerts, block parties, waterfront music, park performances, and outdoor festivals. A little local calendar scouting can turn a regular weeknight into something worth remembering.
This is a great low-lift group plan because the entertainment is already handled. You just need a meeting spot, a backup plan for food, and at least one person who remembers where everyone parked.
12. Bring Back Field Day
Field day deserves a comeback. Set up relay races, kickball, frisbee, tug-of-war, water balloons, or whatever ridiculous game your group will commit to. Keep it friendly. Keep it loose. Keep the stakes very low unless someone insists on making a trophy, in which case you should absolutely let them.
The best part of field day is how quickly adults become eight years old again.
13. Go for a Sunset Drive
For suburban and rural pals, a sunset drive is a highly underrated summer move. Pick a scenic route, make a playlist, grab snacks, and end somewhere with a view. A beach overlook, a river road, a country lane, a farm stand, a little town with ice cream. Let the drive be the plan.
Sometimes getting outside starts with rolling the windows down.
14. Volunteer Outside Together
Community gardens, beach cleanups, park cleanups, trail days, and neighborhood beautification projects are great ways to get outside and meet people without the awkward energy of a networking event.
You get fresh air, shared purpose, and the good kind of tired. Plus, it is much easier to make new pals when everyone is doing something with their hands.
15. End the Day With a Porch, Patio, or Backyard Hang
After the walk, after the hike, after the beach, after the picnic, the best part of the day might be the part where everyone finally sits down.
That is the beauty of the post-adventure hang. Shoes off. Snacks out. Music low. Stories getting better with each retelling. Nobody rushing to the next thing.
And where it is legal and appropriate, that can be a good moment to bring Old Pal into the circle. Keep it private, keep it responsible, and keep it easy. The best cannabis moments tend to happen when the setting already feels good.
Pack Like an Old Pal
Before you head out, here is the unofficial summer checklist:
Sunscreen. Water. Snacks. A blanket. Sunglasses. A speaker. Bug spray. A trash bag. A lighter you do not plan to lose. A backup snack because someone always says they are “not that hungry” and then eats half the chips.
If your plans include cannabis, check your local laws, know the rules of the space you are in, and save it for the right private, responsible setting. Good pals look out for the vibe and for each other.
Getting outside with friends does not have to mean planning the perfect trip, booking the perfect rental, or turning every weekend into a production. Sometimes it is a walk. Sometimes it is a picnic. Sometimes it is a folding chair in somebody’s backyard and a playlist that somehow keeps getting better.
That is the heart of Outside with Old Pal: more fresh air, more shared moments, more reasons to gather. So text the group chat. Pick a place. Bring snacks. Let the day stretch a little. The outside is calling, pal.
