15 Interesting Social Event Ideas For College Students

If you are part of an event planning committee at your college and seeking fun, engaging, and interesting social event ideas for college students, the 15 college event ideas curated in this blog post are just what you need to build school spirit and camaraderie among your student body.

I recently graduated college, from an undergraduate program, and I can sincerely tell you that higher education comes with a lot of stress irrespective of the course you are studying and the country you are studying or aim to study at. But then, one of the great things about college is that fun events are being organized by various committees, societies, groups, etc. to help students unwind from college stress.

Now, if you are part of or aim to be one of these committees or societies that help organize social events in college, you need to come up with interesting social event ideas that college students will actually attend. Or if you have a thing for organizing social events and want to develop this skill while in college, you should join one of the committees in college that organize social events and contribute to organizing interesting social events for college students.

If you are out of ideas on a social event to organize or want to introduce something way cooler and completely different from the norm, this blog post will give you social event ideas that will boost engagement and attendance.

Benefits of Social Event For College Students

Aside from helping college students unwind from school stress, there are many other benefits of social events for college students. These benefits are:

  1. Social event in colleges helps college students understand different cultures and embrace them.
  2. Students develop social skills, and empathy, and build relationships with one another giving students the opportunity to expand their social circle.  
  3. Participating in college social events will help take your mind off school work such as reports, assignments, tests, exams, etc. which helps increase student productivity when they take up the task again.
  4. College social events offer students the opportunity to create a vast network of connections who can be of help to them and vice versa academically and professionally.
  5. Participating in campus social events helps you to connect with like minds and build meaningful relationships.
  6. You will gain other important skills like teamwork, critical thinking, time management, and leadership.
social event ideas for college students

Fun & Interesting Social Event Ideas For College Students

If you are involved in planning for a society or you simply want to plan a social event among your friends in the department, this blog post will offer you some great ideas.

  • Host A Student Gaming Tournament
  •  Organize A Student Farmer’s Market
  • Treasure Hunt
  • Dinner Out
  • Gallery Crawls
  • Comedy Nights
  • Clothing Swaps
  • Scavenger Hunts
  • Provide Free Massages
  • Karaoke Nights
  • Live Concerts
  • Costume Parties
  • Campus Comic-cons
  • Super Bowl Parties
  • End of the Year Carnivals

1.     Host A Student Gaming Tournament

It is rare to find a college student that is not a gamer, even those who aren’t gamers love to watch others play. Remember you are looking for social event ideas for college students that will boost attendance and engagement, so, why not consider hosting a gaming tournament among students? It is fun, engaging, and interesting, and a great number of students love it.

Get students to compete with each other in video game competitions. To make it even more exciting, you can invite a popular online gamer to play with the students either online or in a face-to-face competition. While at it, you may also want to invite local vendors to sell snacks and drinks to set the mood, which will also help their businesses grow and gain recognition among students.

2.     Organize A Student Farmer’s Market

You won’t know how many students would need this kind of event until one is actually organized. According to the American College Health Association, 95% of college students do not eat the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables, and I don’t have to go into describing the nutritional values of fruits or veggies for you to know that it is an important part of human nutrition.

Most college students don’t eat healthily, and in most cases, it is not their fault as they tend to consume what is around them which is mostly unhealthy. Now, if you organize a student farmer’s market which gives students the opportunity to buy fresh, organic farm produce especially fruits and vegetables, trust me, many students will show up. A student farmer’s market also gives students a chance to try out foods and ingredients of other cultures, share cooking recipes, and grow an interest in farming.

3.     Treasure Hunt

You must think this is a childish game, right? So, why should college students play it? In a moment, it won’t seem so childish anymore.

If you are looking for interesting social event ideas for college students, you can introduce a treasure hunt especially if it is an event that concerns freshers. Treasure hunts offer a fun way to get to know a place which makes it ideal for freshers as it will help them know their way around the campus or other university buildings.

Doesn’t seem so childish anymore, does it?

So, get into organizing it and come up with fun and exciting ways to play the game.

4.     Dinner Out

Another food event, and as always, pulls the crowd.

Bad cooking skills are popular among college students and even if you are a good cook, you would barely have the time to cook for yourself. As a social event planner, you can organize an event around this which I choose to call “Dinner Out”. This Dinner Out event involves organizing different societies, cultures, groups, etc. in the school to prepare food and offers to students who attend the event.

This event can be organized at a restaurant. This kind of event boosts cultural diversity and inclusiveness among students. Students get to share food recipes, eat food from other cultures, and learn to embrace other cultures. It is a fun event idea for a college student to eat healthily and learn at the same time.

5.     Gallery Crawls

This is a social event you want to organize to get students away from their phones, laptop, and the internet for a moment and appreciate the outdoor beauty. Organize a group of students to try a stimulating gallery crawl to see the latest art, sculpture, and photography exhibits.

Art students and every other student passionate about arts would love to go on this one. This event offers an escape for students who are mostly on the internet.

6.     Comedy Nights

Comedy nights, who would want to miss out on having a good, hearty laugh? This is another great social event idea you can organize for college students to have fun and cut themselves some slack especially when they are loaded down with exams.

Booking a comedian is really easy since they usually include colleges during their tour stops, so, just reach out to a famous name to check availability. Also, encourage students to try out their comedy skills by hosting an open mic night.

7.     Clothing Swaps

This is a cool social event that you can organize for students to bring their clothes and trade with each other. Fashion varies from culture to culture and a clothing swap will help students learn about the fashion of other cultures and embrace them accordingly.

8.     Scavenger Hunts

If you don’t already know how scavenger hunts work, it involves creating a list of items or goals for a group to find or accomplish. Use your creativity to design the list of items or goals, it can be anything, well, it has to be legal. The first group to complete the list wins a prize.

9.     Provide Free Massages

College students love free stuff, and in this case, it is massage. Oh my! No student is ever going to miss a chance of soft, experienced hands massaging stress, soreness, and tiredness away from their body. As an event planner, it is best to provide free massages to students before or after their exams. Simply hire a few professional masseuses to come to campus and offer 10 minutes massages to students.

10.  Karaoke Nights

Karaoke nights may be old-fashioned but it still offers premium entertainment to those involved. Gather students to perform their favorite songs in front of their friends either on campus grounds or at a coffee shop. You may also organize a karaoke night at the dining hall and engage other students to offer special drinks and mocktails at a discount to make it a party.

11.  Live Concerts

A live concert is another interesting social event idea for college students that any event planner can organize with the help of a few other people. It would be best to create a committee to help set it up and make it as fun as possible. Reach out to artists touring the area to visit your school for the live concerts and reach out to upcoming artists in your school or students who love to sing to also come and perform their songs.

12.  Costume Parties

It doesn’t have to be Halloween to organize a costume party for college students. A costume party can be organized at a time you feel students are super stressed and need a bit of a getaway to cool off and let off some steam.

Students can come dressed in a costume of their choice to listen to music, dance, have some snacks, and win prizes. To take it to the next level, set up photo booths for them to take pictures in their costume so they can post on social media and also have something to remember college with later in the future.

13.  Campus Comic-cons

Being an anime fan myself, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Many college students are into manga, anime, cartoons, comic books, etc. and a comic con is where they get to express themselves through their favorite character by dressing up as one. Comic cons have become a huge global event and a culture on its own and organizing it in your school will definitely draw a lot of crowds.

It also presents an opportunity to give back to the community and this can be done by setting up different booths where the locals will sell food, drinks, snacks and dessert, costumes, and various merchandise.

14.  Super Bowl Parties

Super Bowl is unarguably one of the biggest games in the world and you can draw an idea from here to organize a fun social event for college students. Set up a large TV either in the dining hall or campus lawn and invite students to watch the game. Invite local vendors to sell snacks such as nachos and hot dogs for students to buy and munch on as they cheer on their favorite team.

15.  End of the Year Carnivals

I’m ending the list with this final social event idea. Right after students have concluded their final exams, set up a committee to organize an end of the year carnival for students to unwind from the stress of the whole school year. There have to be different fun things to do at the carnival such as game competitions to win prizes, rides, and many more. This is where you get creative.

The event will be a full-day event that might even continue deep into the night. Carnivals are huge and very stressful to organize but the memories you will help create among students are totally worth it.

You can implement any of these 15 social event ideas for college students to create a fun atmosphere for students to have a good time and take a break from their studies once in a while.

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