I have a few to recommend since the last two times I played with friends I made a small vanilla+ modpack to go with the server. Though the textures I chose can get kind of specific.

• Classic 3D, 3D Default, 3D crops Revamped, Better Boats: +1 @Zyratoxx@fedia.io. The combination of these was liked by all my friends. It’s something they specifically brought up by themselves as being good.
• Cubic Sun & Moon: +1 @Oberyn@lemmy.world
• Chests Reimagined: Goes well with the previous mods.
• Better Shadow Entity!
• Fresh Animations: This thing is awesome, and brings a lot of life to the mobs of Minecraft with better animations and eyes that move !
• Shrimp’s Immersive Interfaces: Nicely detailed interfaces.
• Shield By Side: Yes
• xali’s Enchanted Books and xali’s Potions
• Better Looking Torches and Redstone Torch Backport Supporter: I really like the look of the new torches, so if I’m playing on an older version, this goes in

• Cassette Music Disc
• Enchanting Table Magic Circle
• Animated Dragon totem