Are you struggling to make friends in Fort Lauderdale?
Did you recently move to South Florida or Miami, and you’re wondering how to meet people?
You’re not alone. This phenomena is extremely common, given the huge number of transplants that have recently found their home in the sunny state of Florida.
People are leaving their home states in droves for the sunny weather, low taxes, and great quality of living. Only, it can sometimes be difficult to build a whole new social group from scratch.
That’s why this article is designed to help you make friends in Fort Lauderdale with a couple of easy tips that you can follow.
No one likes to hear it, but making friends is all about consistency, persistence, and finding like-minded people who enjoy the same sort of activities that you do!
You gotta be willing to put in a little bit of effort and move past that fear we all feel in new social situations. But, if you’re able to, you’ll discover tons of new experiences that will make up your new life in Florida.
Let’s get to some of these easy ways to make friends.
1. Look into Meetup.com
Meetup is simple app that you can use to find interesting events located near you. These events might be social happy hours, activities, or related to one of your hobbies.
It’s an easy way to find some basic events that you can attend where participants are receptive to meeting new people and making friends.
The way that meetup works is that a host will create an event and participants will indicate whether or not they’d like to attend that event. Sometimes the host is present at the event, but not always.
2. Explore Miami Meetup Events
Fort Lauderdale is relatively close to Miami, which is a huge social hub in South Florida. You can tap into this community of events to discover new friends and social connections.
Often times, many people do not actually live in Miami. You’ll find that many are attending events and gathering from Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, and other areas around Miami.
Popping down to Miami to attend an event is a great way to broaden your horizons, discover new spots, and also get to know others who are interested in exploring these areas.
3. Re-Discover Your Hobbies
This is the perfect opportunity to invest some time into those hobbies that you might have been neglecting. Hobbies are an easy way to make friends around a common shared interest or activity.
These hobbies could include things like sports, such as:
- Kickball
- Golf
- Tennis
- Volleyball
- Running, jogging
- Biking
- Yoga
- Paddle boarding, kayaking
- Fishing, water sports
It could also include other activities such as:
- Museums and cultural events
- Bookstore author events
- Volunteering
- Music-related gatherings
- Bars & nightlife
- Painting, writing, & artistic endeavors
- Dancing (ballroom/salsa)
Whatever your interests are, try to pursue them more deliberately, and while you’re engaged in that hobby, begin to make small talk with other people who are as well.
Over time, you’ll meet like-minded individuals who you connect with and will be able to form friendships. The key to this is to also invite those people to events outside the context of the original place you met them.
4. Check out Facebook Groups
There are many different Facebook groups that are available to residents of Fort Lauderdale. All you gotta do is seek them out.
A lot of the times, these groups are an easy way to stay up to date on local news, but they’re also key for connecting with others. Some groups will have events, outings, and you also be proactive in messaging members that you connect with.
Here’s another great one that we’ve put together to help.
You can also dial into your interests a bit more when seeking out these groups. Sometimes they will have groups that are more related to something you’re interested in, such as a hobby like writing.
Facebook groups are an easy way to connect, meet, and organize with others.
5. Join Discord Groups
Similar to Facebook groups, Discord Groups are another way to connect with people in your local community who are interested in chatting, coordinating, and in some cases, getting together.
You can easily search these Discord Groups on your own related to your hobbies, or you can join a specific group that is related to Fort Lauderdale.
Discord tends to have more of a tech-friendly community, so you may be more likely to meet this demographic if this is something that you’re looking for.
6. Get Involved At Your Job
Sometimes, you just want to get away from work, but it can also be a rich source of connections that turn into lifelong friends.
A lot of the times, employers are very receptive to you organizing after-work outings, company sports teams, or other events that will bring their staff closer together.
If nothing else, you could ask a couple of coworkers that you interact with regularly to hang out after work, grab a drink, get some food, or do something fun on the weekend.
The worst case is that you’ll find you might not get along. The best case is that you guys do get along well and have a great time together.
7. Bumble BFF
Lastly, you can take a look at Bumble BFF which is a new initiative by the dating app which is designed to help people make friends on the app.
You can use this app to find things like a travel buddy, workout partner, mommy meetup, outdoor activity friend, and more.
Bumble BFF is an easy way to get synched up with people who have similar interests and are also looking to proactively make friends.
You might find it’s not for you, or you might find your newest best friend.
Take a second to join the Miami Meet & Mingle newsletter which will hook you up with some of the coolest events to all of the best spots.
You can just point, click, attend, and BOOM, you got yourself a whole new circle of friends.
This is a killer way to:
- Build a social network from scratch
- Meet cool friends and new people
- Discover new hot spots in the Miami area
Make sure to subscribe (free) for access to this and more.
Hope you enjoyed this article and got a lot of value out of it!