How to Find Mom’s Groups Near You
Are you a new mom who wants to find other new moms for baby play-dates and to share new experiences with? Here is a list of ideas, websites, and companies that helped me to find other moms with kids of similar age to my son. Since we live in the Silicon Valley/SF Bay Area, some examples are local in nature. But, you can find similar groups/locations near you.
Meetup.com
Meetup.com has tons of meetups for expecting and new moms. You can find meetups for SAHM’s and working moms, stroller fitness groups, single parents groups, bilingual parents/kids groups, you name it. In fact, you can even start your own meetup. It costs $15 per month to host a page on meetup.com. You can pay for the group yourself or ask members to pay couple dollars to help you host the page.
Facebook
Search Facebook for mom’s related groups, there are tons of them or you can make your own moms group too. Unlike meetup.com, Facebook does not charge any money for creating groups. But, Facebook does not send out email updates about group activities either.
Las Madres Neighborhood Playgroups
This non-profit organization gathers only moms from the Bay Area/Silicon Valley California where I live. With this group, you get a 60-day free trial membership and then you pay around $50 per year. In addition to meeting great people, the $50 entitles you to tons of discounts for children’s activities such as museums visits, gyms, and art studios. There are likely similar groups around the country.
Gymboree
If you are into fitness and educational play, you should try Gymboree. Gymboree has a great Play-and-Learn program for newborns and up. You are likely to meet many like-minded parents and similarly-aged children in the classes and activities. My son loves the Gymboree teachers, the Gymbo song and playing under their colorful parachute. However, you may have to shop-around a little bit for the Gymboree for you. They are a franchise and have many similar procedures, polices, and employees. But, sometimes the little differences can make an individual location a better fit for you. Don’t give up if the first one you visit is not to your liking.
Nextdoor
Nextdoor is a social network site for neighborhood. It is a great service to join even if you don’t have a child. But, once you have your firstborn you will want to know what is going on in your neighborhood. Since anyone can post and be seen by all the neighbors, it is a good place to seek out other new-parents that are a short distance away without advertising to the entire world you have a child. Before we even had our son, we met a couple two blocks away from us who was expecting a baby girl the same month.
MOMS Club
MOMS Club is nonprofit organization with 1500 local chapters around the USA. MOMS Club provides meetups and activities for moms and kids as well as organizing moms night outs. Membership fees for MOMS club is $35 per year. You can find your chapter here. (link)
Mom and Baby Yoga Classes
Look for local Mom and Baby yoga classes in your area. Yoga is a great low-stress exercise for you and your baby and a great way to meet other local moms. My son enjoys mom and baby yoga class. He likes looking at me and around at other babies and their moms. My son’s favorite mom’s yoga position is baby cobra: “Hiss”. Blossom Birth yoga in Palo Alto, where we attend, has some mom’s support-talk after the yoga. That is a nice time to share your feelings with other moms. We go a little out of our way for this class because it is for babies only. Toddlers are in a different class at this center unlike many other yoga studios that do one class for both babies and toddlers. I feel that these groups of children are different enough in their mobility and social-skills that the should be in different classes. However, I have heard good things about Cindy’s moms and baby classes located in Sunnyvale and I might give it a try when my baby is a toddler.
Please, share with us how you found local mom’s groups. It would be great if we can include your ideas into this list to help other moms to find local mom’s groups.