Club Events

Around Town

Looking for something fun to do around Seattle? Check out these great picks from the Seattle Social Club Volunteers. Looking for someone to join you? Think about reaching out to someone you’ve met at one of our events and see if they want to join you!

Thrift Crawl in Seattle

Love the thrill of the thrift? Join Remake on April 20th at 1pm for their Earth Day Thrift Crawl! You’ll unearth hidden gems as you connect with other fellow thrifters all while participating in Sustainable fashion! This is a great event to also shop for your “Dress as your hobby” outfit for our birthday party! Price: Free

Barks 'N Crafts: Dog Bowl Painting

Are you into crafts and have a furry four legged friend? This is the event for you! Check out The Dog Yard on May 1st from 6-8pm where you’ll be able to paint your own ceramic Dog bowl for your best friend. Dogs are welcome but not required and all tickets include entry to the private yard for your pup and materials for the event. They’ll even fire up your bowls for you, so they’re nice and safe for your dog. This is a great event to meet other dog owners and participate in some fun crafting. Price: $35

Bad Date Storytelling!

Dating can be stressful, awkward, sometimes just downright funny! Check out Bad Date Storytelling on May 3rd at 7pm, where you’ll be able to hear some of the comedy and horrors of your fellow daters. Commiserate with fellow daters as you hear the good, the bad, and the ugly of dating in Seattle! You’re in store for a fun night of laughter and is sure to bring back some of the lightheartedness of dating! Price: $10

Lounge Thoughts

by Lucas Chaufournier

It’s been a busy few weeks as I’ve been prepping for our upcoming events. One thing that’s been capturing my attention is how to foster a budding connection after an event. We all know the drill. You meet someone at an event, you have a great time, you exchange numbers or instagram handles, you go your separate ways and then……. radio silence. You never reach out because you wait for them to, they never reach out because they’re waiting for you, or you both just continue on with your lives and it slips your mind. They say it takes two to tango but in fact it first takes someone to lead! Someone has to make the first move to get the dance started.

So the first step to foster your new connection, is to take the reigns and reach out first. Propose a get together for the two of you; hopefully relating to something you chatted about before. Going to check out a new coffee shop? Send a text asking if they want to join. Maybe you’re going to the bookstore, invite them along. Maybe you’re just going for a walk around Green Lake. Send the invite, make the first move, and get things rolling.

Now it can be quite intimidating making the first move in any scenario, so I challenge you to do so without hesitation and without fear. Don’t worry about the fact that you’re bothering them, or fear that they don’t actually want to hang out. If they didn’t want to hang out, they wouldn’t have exchanged contact information.

It also helps to keep in mind that every relationship, friendly and romantic, is give and take. One person offers a bid and it’s up to the other to accept the bid and respond. If the bid is accepted, the relationship moves forward. If the bid is outright rejected, the relationship stalls and starts to falter. On the other hand, if the bid is rejected and countered the relationship continues to move forward albeit at a slower rate.

So make the bid, invite them out, and see how it’s responded to. If it’s accepted, great! If it’s rejected and countered, that’s also great! But what if it’s outright rejected? This can be tricky. They may just be busy or they may be less interested. It’s hard to say. I’d recommend you follow the three times rule. Invite them once, if it’s rejected, wait a little bit and try again when schedules calm down. If it’s rejected again that’s ok, it may be time to consider focusing your efforts elsewhere. You can try again one more time and it’s not desperate to do so. There’s nothing wrong with putting effort into your relationships with others. But if it’s also a rejection, without further discussion of alternate plans, then it’s time, for sure, to move on and find someone who’s enthusiastic about hanging out. Don’t waste your time on those who don’t match the level of effort you are putting forth. Also don’t feel bad that they no longer want to hang out. It is in no way a reflection of who you are, how you acted, or any other factor in your life. They have their reasons, and it is not your task to worry about that! Focus your efforts on people that are interested instead.

Disclaimer: If you reach out twice and get no response whatsoever then it’s not worth your time to reach out again, move on to someone who will respond.

But wait what if I’m on the other side? Someone reached out from an event, how do I foster the connection or slow it down?

If someone reaches out, and you’re no longer feeling it then don’t leave them hanging. It’s perfectly acceptable to respond saying “It was nice to meet you but I don’t have the time right now to hang out with additional friends. I wish you the best!” It’s far better to be direct and honest rather than hoping they’ll get the hint and leaving them uncertain. Keep in mind, how they respond to that kind of text is on them not you. Your job is to worry about how you’re feeling and how you act, not how another person acts. They may get angry, they may get sad, they may be chill. Say your part, don’t worry about their response, and move on. Their reaction is on them, not on you.

If you’re interested, then great. Accept their bid for connection, have a great time and watch your connection start to build.

Now what if you are interested in hanging out, but you’re just really busy or not so interested in what they propose? This is where you reject the bid and counter. Let them know you can’t make what they’re proposing but you’d love to do something else another time. Propose a counter plan, or let them know: “I can’t make this event but I do want to hang out.” This lets the other person know to keep trying and to not just let the connection simmer and fade. Even better, you can take the reigns and be the next to propose a plan. This is where the two start to tango! A beautiful back and forth where eventually you’ll settle on a time and place to do something fun and your connection will start to take off.

Once you get the first hang out of the way, it starts to get easy and feel more comfortable to reach out and continue to hang out. But remember any relationship takes intentionality. If you want something to grow you have to put the time and effort to keep things going, building a relationship, platonic or romantic, doesn’t happen by accident. So keep trying with folks!

One last tip: always be direct and clear in your communication. Leave no room for them to have to guess how you’re feeling. You’d be surprised how easy it is to make new friends or date when nothing is left up to mind reading and miscommunication. Trouble brews when people have to guess where they stand and have to resort to pushing their own self-conscious biases on the dynamic. It distorts the truth and makes it really difficult to have a strong connection. It’s far simpler to just let the other know how you’re feeling and proceed from there. Let them know when you’re into things, when you’re not so into things. If you’re feeling lukewarm on something or the friendship, its ok to let the other person know this. Vulnerability breeds connection!

To wrap up a long article, this topic has been top of mind for me lately, and I’m looking at how to create better events that make it easier for you to connect with others at events and build stronger relationships! Give these strategies a try the next time you meet someone really cool at an event and see where your connection goes.

Time for fun!

This week’s Time for Fun is a social challenge! Your task, should you choose to accept it, is:

It can be hard making time for all your friends and it’s oh so easy to let great connections simmer for too long. This challenge is aimed at getting back in the habit of being intentional with your friends and having a more intimate conversation then just texting back and forth!