People are using ‘admin nights’ to turn productivity into a party

Spending a Friday evening doing your taxes probably isn't the most tempting way to start the weekend… but what if you added drinks, delicious take-out food, and a few friends to also take care of all the annoying little tasks they've been avoiding?

That's the idea behind Admin Nights, a new trend that's becoming increasingly popular on TikTok. The idea is simple: friends get together, take out their laptops and start working through their to-do lists. Imagine a girls' night out, but… indoors, and focused on tedious chores instead of cocktails and clubbing.

“It’s the perfect mix of both,” Brie Ever, a content creator from Birmingham, Alabama, who hosts weekly “admin nights,” told Vox. “There are moments when I know I have to do it lock upand I just put my headphones in. But most of the time everyone is talking, working and drinking at the same time.”

While it may seem strange that people would prefer running errands or chores over happy hour, task-oriented get-togethers have become a popular way to hang out. Other examples you will see online include “Frozen food parties“, where friends prepare microwave-ready dinners and “Vision board evenings“Where groups create collages of their life goals.

These gatherings represent the experimental and less obvious ways in which people prioritize friendship while dealing with the problems of modern life. Everything now has the potential to be a party.

Hanging out has become more complicated

As you get older, it can naturally become more difficult to spend time with friends. Work, romantic relationships, children, and other care responsibilities can completely deplete your social contacts and reduce the time that was once reserved for your friends. But even younger adults, who theoretically have less to do, are not exempt from the exhaustion that comes with modern life.

Anna GoldfarbAuthor of Modern Friendship: How We Nurture Our Most Valuable Connectionstold Vox that many friend groups have become decentralized as people move and change jobs more often. “Our grandparents may have stayed in the same town most of their lives,” Goldfarb said. “Maybe they could have kept their jobs. They didn't have to work so hard to maintain those connections.”

Life has also become more expensive for many people due to inflation and tariffs. For many consumers, going to the movies, restaurants or drinks regularly can feel like a luxury, but it may not be worth it. (YouGovs Restaurant report 2025 found that 37 percent of U.S. diners say they are eating out less often than a year ago, with 69 percent citing “a perceived increase in costs.” And a 2025 CivicScience survey found that 27 percent of respondents are giving up multiplexes and staying at home because of movie ticket prices.)

With all of these hurdles, it's no surprise that social gatherings look very different.

When it comes to collecting, the only thing that matters now is the intention

In recent years, social activities seem to be much more productive and purposeful. Running clubsFor example, in the first two years of the pandemic, a more noticeable trend became apparent and the number of book club events increased. according to Eventbrite. There is also the phenomenon of “soft clubbing”. first reported last summer, where typical nightlife activities were replaced with sober, wellness-focused gatherings. (Think: Cold dip parties and saunas with 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 evenings And Meal prep parties are a welcome meeting place for organized, goal-oriented friends. In other cases, friends meet cleaning each other's houses, bakeand even provide Life updates. Many of these gatherings are based on a psychological concept called “body doubling,” which is often used by people with ADHD. (The content creator has always used this term when talking about the appeal of admin nights.) It simply means that other people are present while you complete tasks to keep you focused.

Irene S. Levinea psychologist and author of the book Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best FriendShe sees a lot of value in running errands with her buddies, even if it doesn't have to be as structured as a planned party. “It could go as far as going to the gym together or grocery shopping together,” she told Vox. “When you're pressed for time and you're doing things at the same time as your friends, you're killing two birds with one stone. You're taking care of business, so there's less guilt involved.”

But Levine made it clear that there's nothing complacent about spending quality time with your friends. “It’s actually so important for our health and emotional well-being,” she said.

There were many of them Reports and casual wringing his hands about the idea that people are partying less these days and that Generation Z isn't having as much fun as their same-age peers. At first glance, these new ways of hanging out don't seem to fit young people's stereotypical idea of ​​a good time. Presumably there will be no hard drugs, no sex, no stumbling home at 4 a.m. coupled with administrative evenings. But it makes sense that gatherings would look a little different when the world looks dramatically different. As life becomes more difficult to manage and relationships become more difficult to maintain, the hottest club in town could be your friend's couch, laptop open and automatic bill pay set up.