(someone) is going to (do something)

"Going to" is the basic way that English speakers talk about things that they think are going to happen in the future. When you're talking about your future plans, or predicting something that's going to happen, use "going to ___". Some examples include:

This is going to be so much fun!

Well listen, I'm going to go mingle a bit.

Use "going to" most of the time when you're talking about the future. "Will" is more often used in specific situations, like when you've just decided to do something or when you want to show a strong intention to do something:

I'll be back in a while.

I think I'll sit this one out.

keep it to (a number or group of people)

The phrase "keep it to ___" is a casual way to talk about putting a limit on something:

I want to keep it to about 25 people at most.

close friends

Your "close friends" are the friends that you spend the most time with and feel most comfortable with.

English speakers also use the phrase "best friend", but the word "best" usually refers to only one thing. So you can use "best friend" to talk about the one friend who you are closer to than any other friends. But it's a little strange to say "my best friends".

You can think of the circle of people that you know as falling into these groups:

1. your best friend (just one, technically, but sometimes people use this for more than one person)
2. your close friends
3. your friends
4. acquaintances (notice that I didn't say "your acquaintances" because we don't "own" acquaintances. You describe someone as being "an acquaintance", not "my acquaintance".

friends and family

The words "friends and family" often appear together.

For example, some telephone companies offer a "friends and family plan" that makes it cheaper for you to call people who are in your "network" of friends and family members.

Here's another example. This describes how someone got money to start a business:

They raised most of the money to get started from friends and family.