November Blues: 20 Indoor Ideas for the Greyest Month

Statistically, November has the fewest hours of sunshine of any month in Germany – in many regions barely more than fifty across the entire month. On top of that: the Christmas season hasn't started, summer is long gone, and there isn't a single nationwide public holiday to look forward to.

That's the starting position. The good news: November is also the month when arranged evenings actually happen most reliably. Nobody is on holiday, nobody is at the outdoor pool, nobody cancels at short notice because the weather is too good. Invite people in November and you get acceptances.

Here are 20 ideas for indoors – sorted by effort and group size.

Why November Drags

It isn't only the weather. Three factors combine:

Less daylight. After the clock change at the end of October it's dark by 5pm. If you work in an office, some days you see no daylight at all.

No structure. October has Halloween, December has Advent. November has nothing to divide the month up – and without fixed points the weeks blur together.

Fewer chance encounters. In summer you bump into people. In November you meet nobody you haven't explicitly arranged to see.

All three respond to the same remedy: fixed dates that make one week distinguishable from the next.

Ideas for a Group

1. The Weekly Game Night

Same weekday, same time, rotating hosts. This is the single most effective move against a sluggish month, because it solves four evenings at once. How to set one up is covered in planning a game night.

2. The November Tournament

Four evenings, one scoreboard, one winner at the end of the month. The appeal is in the table: whoever sits third after evening two turns up for evening three.

For a tournament built on estimation questions and chips across several evenings, our winter game night page has a plan and a sample question to try.

3. The Quiz Night with Stakes

A quiz needs no preparation and occupies everyone at once. With QuizPoker.app you bet chips on your own estimates – details below.

4. The Cooking Night, Country by Country

A different country each time. Everyone cooks, nobody prepares it all alone. The work is shared, and the evening automatically has a theme.

5. The Series Group

One season, fixed group, one episode a week. From 1 November, Duell um die Geld season 5 runs on ProSieben – eight episodes across eight Sundays, and the schedule writes itself.

6. The Talks Night

Everyone gives a ten-minute talk about something on their mind. No expertise required – in practice the best talk of the evening is always about something completely trivial.

7. The Escape Game for Home

There are now plenty of escape-room-style card games that work on a kitchen table. Usually 60 to 90 minutes, after which the box is spent – ideal for a group that meets regularly.

8. The Baking Contest

One theme, two weeks' notice, everyone brings something. Tasting with scores. November suits this better than December, because nobody has overdosed on biscuits yet.

9. The Film Club

Not "let's watch something", but a series: one director, one decade, one genre. Twenty minutes of talking after the film. That's the difference between a TV evening and an evening.

10. The Unplayed Games Night

Anyone who went to a fair in October or received a gift probably has an unplayed game on a shelf. One evening where exactly those games hit the table. Recommendations in board games for adults.

Ideas for Two

11. The Restaurant Evening at Home

Three courses, table properly laid, phones away. The effort is manageable, the difference from a normal dinner is considerable.

12. The Planning Session

Sounds unromantic, but it works: an evening spent planning next summer. Destinations, dates, rough costs. Looking at a July trip in November lifts the mood measurably.

13. The Two-Player Game

Many board games work badly with two. But there's a whole category built exactly for it – from card duels to cooperative games. A well-chosen two-player game beats any streaming evening.

14. The Letter Evening

Everyone writes three handwritten letters or cards to people they haven't seen in a while. Side effect: you get post in December.

Ideas for One

15. The Project with an End Date

Not "I'll learn guitar", but "I'll be able to play three songs by the end of November". A project with a defined finish is worth more in November than an open-ended goal, because you see the result within the same month.

16. The Light Routine

Daylight lamp in the morning, warm light in the evening. Sounds like a self-help cliché, but it's the only point on this list with a direct physiological effect.

17. The Lunchtime Walk

Twenty minutes outside at the brightest part of the day, rain included. Commuting only between flat and office means weeks without daylight.

18. The Book with a Deadline

One book, one date it should be finished by. Without a deadline, the phone wins.

19. The Clear-Out with Music

One room, two hours, loud music. November is the only month when this is genuinely enjoyable – in spring you'd rather be outside.

20. The Call Instead of the Message

Phone someone once a week instead of texting. The hardest item on this list in terms of activation energy, and the one with the best ratio of effort to effect.

The Evening That Always Works

If you take one thing from this piece, take the fixed game night. The reason is simple: it solves several problems at once – structure in the month, contact with people, and a date to look forward to.

And it fails least often, because the barrier to entry is low. Nobody has to cook, nobody has to prepare a programme.

How QuizPoker Works

QuizPoker.app combines estimation questions with poker. Instead of multiple choice you get questions nobody knows the exact answer to: how many hours of sunshine does November average in Germany? How many cups of tea are drunk per year? Everyone submits a number.

In between, you bet. Each question has four betting rounds: before the question, after the first hint, after the second hint and in the final round once the answer is revealed. Your options in each round:

• Check – bet nothing and stay in the round
• Call – match the current bet
• Raise – push the bet up and apply pressure
• Fold – drop out and write off the chips already in

Whoever lands closest to the correct answer wins – or whoever bluffed everyone else out of the round. That's why the game works in groups with wildly different levels of knowledge.

You need one smartphone per person. One player starts, everyone else joins with a code. Over 400 questions across 18 categories, for 2 to 10 players, in the browser with no installation.

If you want to prepare, the poker bluffing tips cover the fundamentals.

Conclusion

November doesn't get brighter by ignoring it. It does get considerably shorter when four evenings in it are already spoken for.

Open the calendar, set four dates, and send the first invitation today. If rain joins in, our post on ideas for friends on a rainy day helps. And everything about the evening itself lives on our game night topic page.