The party-fication of productivity

Spending a Friday evening doing your taxes probably isn’t the most appealing way to kick off your weekend…but what if you added drinks, delicious takeout, and a couple of buddies who were also tending to all the annoying little tasks they’ve been avoiding? 

That’s the idea behind “admin nights,” a new trend that is proliferating on TikTok. The conceit is simple: Friends get together, pull out their laptops, and start hacking away at their to-do lists. Think of a girls’ night out, but…in, and centered on tedious tasks instead of cocktails and clubbing. 

“It’s the perfect blend of both,” Brie Ever, a Birmingham, Alabama-based content creator who hosts weekly “admin nights,” told Vox. “There are moments when I know I need to lock in, and I’ll just put in my headphones. But for the most part, everyone’s talking, working, and having a glass of wine all at the same time.” 

While it might seem strange that people are opting for errands or chores over happy hour, task-themed meetups have become a popular form of hanging out. Other examples you’ll see online include “freezer meal parties,” where friends prepare ready-to-microwave dinners and “vision board nights,” where groups make collages of their life goals.

These gatherings represent the experimental and less obvious ways people are prioritizing friendship while tackling the struggles of modern living. Everything has the potential to be a party now. 

Hanging out has become more complicated

Spending time with friends can naturally become more difficult as you get older. Work, romantic relationships, kids, and other caregiving responsibilities can completely drain your social battery and cut into the time that was once reserved for your pals. But even younger adults who theoretically have less on their plates aren’t free of the exhaustion that accompanies modern living. 

Anna Goldfarb, author of Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections, told Vox that a lot of friend groups have become decentralized, as people relocate and change jobs more frequently. “Our grandparents might’ve stayed in the same town for most of their lives,” Goldfarb said. “They might have stayed at the same job. They didn’t have to work so hard to keep these connections afloat.”

Life has also become more expensive for a lot of people due to inflation and tariffs. Going to the movies, restaurants, or out for drinks regularly can feel like a luxury for many consumers, and just might not feel worth it. (YouGov’s 2025 Dining Out Report found that 37 percent of US diners say they’re dining out less frequently than they were a year ago, with 69 percent citing “a perceived rise in expensiveness.” And a 2025 CivicScience poll found that 27 percent of respondents are ditching the multiplex and staying home due to movie ticket prices.)

With all these hurdles in mind, it’s not surprising that social gatherings are beginning to look a lot different. 

Gathering is all about intention now 

In the past few years, social activities have started to look a lot more productive and intentional. Running clubs, for example, became a more visible trend during the first two years of the pandemic, and book club events have been increasing, according to data from Eventbrite. There’s also the phenomenon of “soft clubbing,” first reported last summer, which sees typical nightlife activities replaced with sober, wellness-focused gatherings. (Think: cold-plunge parties and saunas featuring DJ sessions.) Admin nights are a natural evolution of this optimization of social activities, or at least just a collective desire to avoid hangovers. 

Vision board nights and meal prep parties are a welcome hangout for organized, goal-oriented pals. In other instances, friends are getting together to clean each other’s homes, bake, and even provide life updates. Many of these gatherings lean into a psychological concept called “body doubling,” which is often used by people with ADHD. (Ever, the content creator, used the term when discussing the appeal of admin nights.) It simply means having other people present while you complete tasks to help you stay focused. 

Irene S. Levine, a psychologist and author of the book Best Friends Forever: Surviving A Breakup With Your Best Friend, sees a lot of value in tackling errands with your pals, although it doesn’t have to be as structured as a planned party. “That could extend to going to the gym together or doing your food shopping together,” she told Vox. “When you’re stretched for time, doing things simultaneously with your friends kills two birds with one stone. You’re taking care of business, so there’s less guilt associated with it.” 

But, Levine clarified, there’s nothing self-indulgent about spending quality time with your friends. “It’s actually so important to our health and emotional well-being,” she said.

There have been plenty of reports and casual handwringing over the idea that people are partying less nowadays, and that Gen Z isn’t having as much fun as their peers were at the same age. At first glance, these new modes of hanging out may not look like the stereotypical young person’s idea of a good time. There’s presumably no hard drugs, no sex, no stumbling home at 4 am involved in admin nights. But it makes sense that gatherings would look a bit different when the world looks dramatically different. As life becomes more difficult to manage and relationships get harder to maintain, the hottest club in town might be your friend’s couch, laptop open, finally setting up automated bill pay.