While saying “have a nice evening” seems like a nice (and usually formal) option to a goodbye, there are a few better ways that we’d like to highlight. In this article, we’ll explore what these ways are and what makes them better for all situations.
What Are The Best Alternatives For “Have A Nice Evening”?
There are many alternatives to “have a nice evening.” It works well itself, but if you’d like to try one of the alternatives, some of the best ones are “have a pleasant evening” and “have a great evening.” Using a positive adjective is the best solution here.
Throughout this article, we’re going to take a closer look at some of the best alternatives. While we’re doing that, we’ll explain what situations call for them the most and when you’ll be able to say them.
In all cases, “have a nice evening,” and all of the alternatives are used to wish somebody farewell or goodbye. You typically say them at the end of the evening or when you’re saying goodbye to someone around evening time.
Is “Have A Nice Evening” Formal?
Before we get into the thick of it, we thought we’d quickly explore whether “have a nice evening” is a formal saying.
“Have a nice evening” is considered formal. You can use it at any point to say goodbye to someone, and it works particularly well in the workplace. The only reason we’re exploring alternatives is that “have a nice evening” is often overused.
It’s best to expand your horizons and vocabulary with new phrases, even if they’re almost identical in meaning. Nobody wants to get caught up using the same words and phrases again and again until people get bored of hearing what they have to say!
Without further ado, let’s check out what some of the words we can use are!
Have A Pleasant Evening
We’ll start with one of the best alternatives on the list. It also happens to be one of the most simple replacements.
“Have a pleasant evening” is a great alternative. It follows the same basic structure, but we’re using “pleasant” as the positive adjective in this phrase rather than “nice.” It is a formal phrase.
You’ll find plenty of uses for “have a pleasant evening,” and you’ll find that a lot of native speakers like to use it in formal situations. One of the most appropriate places to use a saying like this is when you and your colleagues are leaving the workplace.
If you’re all getting out at the same time, it could be good to wish them a pleasant evening in this way. The idea is that you’re all leaving work and heading home, and hopefully, you’ll have something exciting to do at home.
The promise from saying “have a pleasant evening” is that you will be enjoying your time away from work and that you’ll hope everyone who you’re leaving with will do the same.
To help you understand this slightly better, we thought we’d include some examples:
- I’ll see you tomorrow for a brand new day, Ben!
- Of course! Have a pleasant evening, won’t you?
- Have a pleasant evening tonight! Have you got much planned?
- Oh, yes. I’ve got a great deal of things going on tonight!
- See you all tomorrow!
- See you tomorrow, have a pleasant evening!
As you can see, it’s a kind way of saying goodbye to colleagues or employees when they’re heading off. We use it when everyone is going home rather than one or two people.
Have A Great Evening
The next adjective we’ll look at is using “great.” This is also one of the more popular choices (and one of the easiest to use). “Great” and “nice” are almost identical in impact, so you can use them interchangeably.
“Have a great evening” is the most well-rounded and versatile of the phrases on this list. You can use it in any situation, though it often still calls for slightly more formal ones when you do so.
Generally, we can use “have a great evening” in much the same way as we shared above. However, there are a few other cases where it might occur. We want to refer to one slightly more directly in this article.
Typically, if everyone else is leaving work but we have to stay behind (or even if only one or two people are leaving), “have a great evening” is a great farewell phrase to use.
The implication of “have a great evening” in this sense is that we’re hoping everyone who is currently leaving work will enjoy the rest of their evening. However, we can’t use “pleasant” in this way because we’re most likely not going to enjoy our evening – at least not until we get out of work too.
We’ll go over a couple more examples with this one to help isolate the major difference:
- I’m heading off now, George! See you tomorrow?
- Yeah, see you! I have some work left to do, so have a great evening.
- I’m sorry I can’t meet up, I have too much work to do! I hope you have a great evening still!
- Can you make it out tonight?
- No, I’m afraid not! Have a great evening, though.
Generally, if we’re not able to make it out of work (or if we’re too busy to meet up with somebody), we will use “have a great evening.” It can also be used synonymously with all of the other phrases on this list, so you can choose when it suits you best.
May Your Evening Be Blessed With Happiness
This one gets a little more specific than the other two, and you might not find a good use for it. Still, we thought we’d include it because it’s definitely a better alternative if you can find the right situation.
“May your evening be blessed with happiness” is a farewell phrase we use to address religious people. A “blessing” is something that people believe a god gives to you, so the word “blessed” has plenty of religious connotations around it.
It’s a really nice and positive saying when we want to wish somebody goodbye. Of course, it’s not common to use in any case when you’re talking to non-religious people. They’ll often laugh at a saying like this.
Still, just because it doesn’t work for everyone doesn’t mean this isn’t a better alternative. It shows you’ve put more thought and effort into your goodbye phrase than simply saying, “have a nice evening.” Religious groups will definitely appreciate this one over anything else.
- I’m sorry I have to head out, so I can’t catch the end of the service. May your evenings be blessed with happiness, though!
- Will you be here for the service tomorrow, Father?
- Of course! May your evening be blessed with happiness until then.
- I’m looking forward to the gathering tomorrow!
- Me too! May your evening be blessed with happiness until I see you.
As you can see, it’s much more specific when we are able to use this saying. It only refers to religious situations in almost all cases.
Accept My Evening Wishes
We also want to highlight the saying “accept my evening wishes,” which is an old-fashioned remark mostly reserved for telephones.
“Accept my evening wishes” is something that people say at the end of a telephone conversation when they want to say goodbye. It’s a nice way of saying “have a nice evening” without worrying about the meaning getting lost over the phone line.
“Accept my evening wishes” is short and to the point. “Accept” was a commonplace term for old-fashioned telephone manners as well, which made it such a popular choice.
Of course, today, it’s much less likely to hear this phrase used. However, if you want to end a phone conversation politely, you should consider this as a decent option for you. It’s still very formal, so make sure you’re only using it in formal business calls.
- I have to go now. Accept my evening wishes and goodnight.
- Will you accept my evening wishes and call me again tomorrow?
Have A Joyful Evening
Finally, we want to run you through one final phrase. “Have a joyful evening” is very similar to “have a pleasant evening” but uses yet another positive adjective.
“Have a joyful evening” is something we can say to a group of people when we want to wish them well with whatever comes after the evening ends.
We couldn’t think of any specific situations where this will work because it works so well in all of them. “Joyful” is a great adjective that means “pleasant” and “nice,” but it’s often underused in English.
We thought we’d include this saying to encourage people to use “joyful” more often. It’s great in all of the situations that we mentioned above.
- I have to go now, so I’ll see you all tomorrow! Have a joyful evening, everyone!
- I’m sorry, I still have work to do. Have a joyful evening without me, though!
- If you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to what I was doing! Have a joyful evening and see you tomorrow.
You may also like: 12 Better Ways To Say “Have A Nice Day”
Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.
