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 feels hard/scary to even approach people and start a conversation.
Boise is a super welcoming place. I think that more often than not, people are down to talk to strangers and make new friends. But 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 Books and Bites is a casual book club to read books and try new places to eat around Boise. It's free to join!
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. They have club values that they ask people to review before joining.
Boise Banned Book Club. Credit Boise Banned Book Club.
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:
If you are 21 or older and like to game, Spacebar could be the place for you. It’s an arcade bar in downtown Boise that has classic arcade cabinets, a whole wall of pinball machines, and classic gaming systems like NES, N64, Gamecube & more. It’s a very welcoming place to meet other gamers. Also note its 21+ bc it's a bar ya know.
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 D&D, MTG, Heroclix, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokemon meetups. They also have a board game night on Tuesday at 6pm and the Boise Chess Club meets here on Monday nights at 5pm. Here's the event calendar - scroll down a bit.
Idaho Pinball Museum is a pinball arcade that is a place to go meet other pinball enthusiasts. They host tournaments every Thursday night at 6pm. They also have a women's pinball club called Belles & Chimes.
There’s a Boise Area Boardgame Enthusiasts meetup on meetup.com. They meet multiple times a week at All About Games, Phoenix Fire, they have a Sunday board games & brunch at Meriwether Cider in Garden City, weekend afternoon boardgames at the fancy Albertsons on Broadway, and more.
Alsooo there is a new gaming bar coming to Boise! It’s called Belching Dragon Tavern and it’s still in the early stages, but they are launching a kickstarter campaign to get it going. There’s a launch party happening this Friday if you wanna check it out.
Board game night at All About Games. Credit All About Games.
Volunteer
Volunteering is such a good way to meet people & we have some fun volunteer opportunities here:
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! It's our amazing community radio station. They need volunteers to help at events where DJs are spinnin, during radiothon fundraisers and other things. Great way to meet cool people.
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. They need volunteers for special events, to work the cafe at Shakespeare Fest, and to make pantry produce deliveries.
Here's my volunteer story with some more ideas - this one was a lil holiday season focused but you get the gist!
Downtown litter clean up. Credit Trash Club Boise.
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Sports & workouts
If you like to be active and are looking for people to exercise or play sorts with, here's a few options:
Running Clubs
Boise Area Runnersis 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. Here's the upcoming schedule. 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.
SWIMBA (Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association) is a local mountain bike advocacy and volunteer organization that works to build and maintain trails in SW Idaho. They host group rides & other events - schedule here.
Brave Endeavors is a mountain biking coaching, skills training & strength training adults & kids. They offer multiple types of group rides, clinics & coaching.
Crank Queens is a women's mountain biking group. They do group rides, skills clinics, bikepacking adventures & more.
Boise Mountain Bikers is a group for all levels of riders to connect with each other.
I went to my first barre class at Pure Barre recently & it was equal parts fun and hard. Highly recommend if you are looking for a low impact but challenging workout with nice people.
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:
I’ve actually never been to an F45 workout bc I’m too lazy to drive to Meridian after work, but there’s a new F45 gym opening in downtown Boise soon. My little sis started doing F45 when she moved to Boise last year & she immediately made friends with people in the class! Here's where you can check it out:
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.
Treasure Valley Sports Leagues sand volleyball at McClearys. Credit TVSL.
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. Next season starts on Sept 14, must sign up by August 11 (next Wed).
Flag football - coed league, next one starts on Sept 17 & you have to sign up by Sept 1.
Spikeball
Boise Spikeball League has weekly pickup games on Saturdays at Ann Morrison and they also have fall and spring leagues.
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.
Climbing at The Commons.
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.
Birding with friends. Credit Golden Eagle Audubon Society.
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.
Boise Hiking with Dogs is exactly what it sounds like. They do group hikes, sometimes for specific dogs like small hikes and such. They also do backpacking, camping and other outdoor experience for you and your dog.
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, they have one this weekend on August 5, hiking to Duck Lake. 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.
And there's the Idaho Natural Hot Springs Group, which is a group that enjoys skinny dipping at hot springs and there’s 3,580 members :o
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.
Boise Young Professionals is a group for 21-40 year olds working in Boise. They offer a bunch of different events and programs like social networking, lunch & learns, mentoring programs, community engagement & volunteering. They do a lot of stuff! It’s membership based, 75/year or $50/year for students, military and front line employees. Companies can also buy memberships for their employees.
Boise Breakfast Club is a networking and community for women in Boise. They do monthly events that are usually a breakfast, training and a networking activity. You can just go to one event for $45 or you can join with an annual membership. There’s actually a waitlist for the annual membership right now and the events usually sell out so if you want to go to the August event, get your tix now!
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? Let me know! Hit reply or send me a message --> marissa@fromboise.com
Every Tuesday, read a story about a person, place, piece of Boise history, or local happening. Every Thursday, get a huge list of things to do over the weekend. No news, no politics - just the fun stuff.
