Hellobee Boards

Yeah.. No new friends. It's hard enough to maintain existing friendships! If I do meet new people it's always through church. I recently went to my first baby wearing group meet up... But I doubt I would go often enough to strike up friendships.

I've made two new friends over the last 18 months or so. One at one of my daughter's activities and one at yoga class.

I took me FOREVER to make friends. Like I've been looking for new friends for a good 3 years and was really struggling. I still have one friend (my best friend) from high school and a small group of really close friends that I met through hike it baby. No storytime or meetup group or even church (which is a mother issue I guess though, shouldn't church be the easiest place to make friends?) was helping me cultivate friendships. And even my "new" friends I basically just came out and said "hey, I really like you, want to do other stuff together?" lol I felt really lame saying that but I really needed friendship and I knew who I wanted it with!

The two people I would consider my best friends in the world right now I met through daycare. Our kids started together when they were young infants and they all just had their 4th birthdays. I literally don't know what I would do without them. So start hitting up the moms at your kid's school.

We moved and I knew no one in our new town. After feeling very lonely and isolated for a few months I joined a MOPS group at a church. It was great for my oldest to play with similar aged kids somewhat regularly but it just wasn't frequent enough and I didn't connect with the other moms outside the group. One of them mentioned another group in the town. It was much larger and the hosted activities, set up playgroups, sent out emails with all the local kids activities, etc. I joined a couple different playgroups and made friends that way, also friends of friends and just seeing the same people over and over at events. I know you don't want to join meet up groups and trust me, I didn't either! But you really have to put yourself out there and deal with uncomfortable awkward situations to really meet people.

I'm meeting more people through LO's school and sports.

We moved two years ago and I can finally say that we have a good amount of friends - at least all we can handle with our busy lives. I got lucky and literally the day after we moved I met two moms at a Gymboree open gym who invited me into their larger mom group and I've made a few close friends through that but also meet up with the group too. We also meet people through DS's school! And we are just starting to organize a neighborhood mom happy hour since there are a ton of moms with small kids in my hood.

I've made 2 good friends in the last year or so- one I met through MOPS and she lives in my neighborhood, the other was an introduction through a mutual friend- she also lives nearby. We hang out as whole families too sometimes with the husbands- I've lucked out with new friends.

Aside from the friends I've had since high school/college, newest friends are neighbors, and day care. We have one family who has 2 girls, and they're in my 2 boys' classes. So we see them a lot at drop off and pick up as well as at the older kiddos' birthday parties.

I'm struggling with this too. I know you said no meetup groups but would you be open to meeting people in other organized settings? Do you have any interests that you could take a class in? Music, photography, or any other kind of art? Physical activity groups are also an option. I know of several people who are in bike groups and go for group rides on Saturdays, etc. Do you like to drink beer/wine? If your area has a local brewery or winery they may host recurring events, if you go to the same thing a few times you might see some familiar faces and get to know them. There are many facebook groups for various neighborhoods etc, might be worth searching on facebook and seeing what you find. Are you on Nextdoor? That's a neighborhood site I've recently discovered that is kind of like your local coffee shop bulletin board - people post restaurant recommendations, warn about recent burglaries, ask for help finding a runaway dog, look for nannies, buy/sell stuff, etc. I have seen many posts on there along the lines of "Anybody want to join us in a group run on Sunday?" ... "I've just started quilting and would like to chat with others about it"... "Are there any other moms of 4-5 year olds who would like to meet at XX Park on Thursday evenings?" etc. Hope these help and maybe one day I'll take my own advice. I've made close friends wherever I lived throughout my life until having kids - it is just so hard to make the time and when I make the time, it is hard to get other people who have kids to make the time. Good luck.