Let’s be honest. Making friends as an adult can be hard and kinda weird, ya know?

When you’re a kid, you bond over random stuff like having the same favorite color or being in a mud puddle together. But when you’re an adult, it can be awkward to approach people and start a conversation. Half the battle is just figuring out where to be in order to meet like minded people.

If you’re looking to make new friends and meet people in Boise, here’s a few suggestions:

Book Clubs

• ​Rediscovered Books​ has community book clubs. They change but there’s always a few happening each month.
• ​Boise Book Club​ is a women’s book club that has a book of the month with monthly meetings to get together and discuss.
• ​Boise Banned Book Club​ is a book club dedicated to reading books that are on ban lists. Every month has a new book to read, and a monthly meet up somewhere in the Treasure Valley to discuss.
• ​Women Who Read (and Drink)​ is a just what it sounds like! Join by dming on Instagram.
• ​Parcero Book Club​ is awesomeee I just went to it last night! They meet every month on the last Monday. If you like wine + good books, you’ll love this!
• ​Oldspeak​ hosts several book clubs too.

Dinner Clubs

• ​From Boise Dinner Club​ is our new dinner club was created to meet new people! Fill out a quick questionnaire, get matched with 5 other From Boise readers, and enjoy dinner together. Next dinner is February 12!
• ​Wandering Table​ is hosted by Chef Gina D’Orazio-Stryker (aka Clean Cuisine by Gina). It’s intimate pop-up dinners designed to help strangers become friends over really good food. The next dinner is March 14 at Fast Lane Drive in Nampa. These always sell out so don’t wait to sign up!
• ​Under the Table​ hosts blind multi-course dinners that bring strangers together around a shared table. It’s cozy, a little mysterious, and designed to turn a group of first-timers into a mini food-loving community by the end of the night. These always sell out!

Gaming

To be totally honest I don’t know a ton about gaming but I asked around and did some research and this is what I found:

• ​Phoenix Fire Games​ is a game store that hosts gaming meetups almost every day of the week. They host Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Battletech, D&D, and much more. Here’s the ​event calendar​.
• Another game store is ​All About Games​. They also have events almost every night of the week. They do board game nights, chess club, D&D, MTG, Heroclix, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokemon meetups.
• ​Idaho Pinball Museum​ is a pinball arcade that is a place to go meet other pinball enthusiasts. It’s open Thursdays and Fridays 6-9pm and Saturdays 1-5pm.
• There’s a ​Boise Area Boardgame Enthusiasts​ meetup on meetup.com. They meet multiple times a week for all kinds of different games.

Volunteer

Volunteering is such a good way to meet people & we have some fun volunteer opportunities here:

• Local festivals and events always need volunteers & it’s a fun way to meet people! In the near future there’s ​Open Streets Boise​, ​Boise Pride​, ​Boise Comic Arts Festival​ & ​Spirit of Boise Balloon Festival​, all of which need volunteers. ​Treefort Music Fest​ in March is well known for being a super fun volunteer opportunity and friend-making place, and you get a super cheap ticket to the fest. These fill up fast so sign up asap!
• ​Boise Farmers Market​ uses volunteers for the drive-thru market and the mobile market. There’s lots of great people involved in the market & lots of interaction with the public.
• If you like music, volunteer at ​Radio Boise​ or ​Tropico.fm​!
• If you are a biker, check out the volunteer opportunities at ​Boise Bicycle Project​ needs volunteers for the Thursday repair nights, goathead picking parties, volunteering in the shop and during the kids holiday bike giveaways.
• ​Trash Club​ is a group of people that get together and pick up trash in different spots around Boise. They provide everything you need, all you have to do is show up!
• ​City of Good​ is a nonprofit that provides meals to food insecure individuals, children & families in the community by partnering with local farms and restaurants.

Sports & workouts

If you like to be active and are looking for people to exercise or play sports with, here’s a few options:

Running & Hiking

• ​Boise Area Runners​ is a casual running group that meets several days a week for short and long runs/walks. Afterwards they usually get a drink/coffee/meal together. It’s free to join!
• ​Boise Betties​ is a women’s running group geared towards those who are training for a race. It’s $50/year to join and they also have coaching.
• ​Boise Girls Run Club​ is a women’s running group that gets together for a 30 min run or walk every Saturday! It’s a super welcoming group for girls of all ages and abilities.
• ​Trail Fridays​ is a group that meets for a hike every Friday. There’s usually a shorter route (3-5 miles) and a longer route (8+ miles) to accommodate various fitness levels and goals.
• ​Here’s a list​ of more running groups.

Yoga Studios

We have a bunch of yoga studios in Boise and that has been a place where I’ve met people and found people to hang out with. Some studios I recommend are:

• ​The LITL Studio​
• ​Zen Riot​
• ​YogaSix​
• ​Flow Studio Yoga​
• ​True North Yoga​
• ​Hollywood Market Yoga​

F45

My little sis started doing F45 when she moved to Boise & she immediately made friends with people in the class! Here’s where you can check it out:

• ​F45 Downtown Boise​
• ​F45 Meridian​
• ​F45 Eagle​

Disc golf

If you are looking to find people to play disc golf with, here’s a few groups & clubs:

• ​Idaho State Disc Golf​
• ​Treasure Valley Disc Golf Club​
• ​Boise Women’s Disc Golf​

Volleyball

Volleyball is big in Boise/Treasure Valley. There’s super competitive leagues, casual leagues and everything in between.

• ​City of Boise vball league​ – seasonal leagues with coed summer sand league, mens & womens fall league, coed winter league, and a men’s and womens spring league. You can sign up as a free agent to be placed on a team.
• ​The Volley Gang Facebook Group​ – casual pickup games almost every evening at Ann Morrison.

Treasure Valley Sports Leagues

This is a local organization that has three leagues:

• ​Sand volleyball​ coed 4v4 league that plays at McCleary’s bar on State Street.
• ​Kickball​ – Tuesday & Thursday nights, you can sign up as a free agent or as a team.
• ​Flag football​ – coed league

Climbing Gyms

I just started climbing & it’s so much fun! I was honestly surprised about how nice & welcoming other climbers acted towards a noob like me. Highly recommend, it’s so fun. A few local climbing gyms:

• ​The Commons​ – they do themed nights like pride night, women’s climbs, bouldering clinics & more. There’s also yoga classes & they have a wall for people looking for climbing buddies!
• ​Asana Climbing Gym​ – they have bouldering, aerials, yoga & they have events and competitions. There’s also a bar in the gym!
• ​Vertical View​ – in addition to open climbing they have leagues, competitions and events.

Hiking, fishing & nature groups

Birding

If you like birding, the ​Golden Eagle Audubon Society​ has regular birding events, including bird photography classes, nature walks, accessible birding and more in different locations around the valley. Most of them are free to join.

Hiking & backpacking

We have some local hiking groups if you are looking to hit the trails and make friends.

• ​Idaho Hiking club​ is primarily organizing group hikes but they also do camping, backpacking, snowshoeing and other outdoor activities.
• ​Blister Sisters​ is a hiking/fast walking group but they do other events too like trivia and kayaking and stuff like that.
• ​Big Gal Backpackers​ is a body positive backpacking group. They mainly hike in Boise but sometimes have backpacking trips. Also it’s open to all people, not just women!
• ​Explorer Chicks of Boise​ is a group of women who go on big international backpacking and nature trips.
• There’s also the ​Idaho Mt Biking and Outdoor Adventurers​ group which is a group that goes hiking, camping, kayaking, weekend trips.
• And there’s the ​Idaho Natural Hot Springs Group​, which is a group that enjoys skinny dipping at hot springs and there’s 3,747 members 😮

Fishing groups

• ​Boise Valley Fly Fishers (BVFF)​ is a fly fishing group that does conservation projects, fishing trips, monthly meetings & hosts the Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo. They always need volunteers for that event, too.
• ​Women Fly Fishers of Idaho​ is a club for women anglers of all levels. They do outings, clinics, seminars, and regular meetings.
• ​208 Anglers Facebook Group​ is a group for fishing reports, fish pics & meeting other anglers.

Work groups

• ​Boise Remote Workers​ is a meetup group for people who work from home. It’s a super active group! They do happy hour meetups, dinners, and more.
• ​Oldspeak Write Club​ happens every Friday at 11:11am at Oldspeak book bar in Garden City. It’s a casual coworking container for the creative entrepreneur.

Local friend apps

• ​VLLG app​ is a new friendship matching platform based on core values, interests, and location. It was created right here in Boise!
• ​VillageCo​ is a community-building experiment focused on helping people form small, intentional groups called “Villages” that support real connection and shared responsibility. It’s grassroots, volunteer-run, and Boise-based.

Ok that’s everything I got off the top of my head. What am I missing? Do you know of any welcoming clubs or groups? Any place you go that would be good for making friends? Reply & let me know!

Thanks for reading!

With love from Boise,

Marissa