12 Types of Events You Should Try at Least Once

Run clubs are having a moment, and for good reason. There's something about moving together that strips away the awkwardness of meeting new people. You don't have to make eye contact. You don't have to be witty. You just have to show up and move.

The best run clubs aren't about pace. They're about consistency. You see the same faces every Tuesday, and before you know it, you have a group of people who expect you to be there. That quiet accountability is how friendships form.

Who it's for: Anyone who wants to be more active but hates going to the gym alone. All fitness levels welcome, and most clubs have multiple pace groups.

Why you should try it: Because the post-run coffee is where the real magic happens.

Activity-based events are the cheat code for introverts. When there's something to do, conversation happens naturally. You're not standing around with a drink trying to think of something to say. You're solving a puzzle, rolling a bowling ball, or debating whether the answer to the trivia question is 1997 or 1998.

Escape rooms are particularly good for this. Being locked in a room with strangers and forced to collaborate is basically a friendship accelerator. I've seen people exchange numbers after a 60-minute escape room who would never have spoken at a cocktail party.

Who it's for: People who find open-ended socializing exhausting. Give me a task and I'll make friends doing it.

Why you should try it: Because the best conversations happen when you're focused on something else.

Gallery openings are one of the most underrated social events that exist. They're usually free. There's often wine. And the art gives you an instant conversation starter with literally anyone in the room.

But beyond galleries, this category includes live music in small venues, poetry readings, film screenings, cultural festivals, and open studio nights. These are events where you encounter ideas, not just people, and that difference matters.

Who it's for: Curious people. You don't need to know anything about art to enjoy a gallery opening. You just need to be willing to look at something and have an opinion.

Why you should try it: Because free wine and interesting conversations is an unbeatable combination.

A supper club is a dinner party hosted by someone you probably don't know, with a table full of people you definitely don't know. It sounds terrifying. It's actually one of the warmest, most human social experiences you can have.

The format works because eating together is ancient. It's how humans have bonded for thousands of years. You sit down, food arrives, and conversation just flows. There's no networking agenda. There's no pitch. There's just really good food and the kind of meandering conversation that doesn't happen at structured events.

Who it's for: Anyone who loves food and is willing to sit next to a stranger. The food community tends to be incredibly welcoming.

Why you should try it: Because some of the best meals of your life will be at tables you didn't expect to be sitting at.

There's a reason adult craft classes and board game nights are exploding in popularity. We spend all day staring at screens, and there's a deep, almost primal satisfaction in making something with your hands or engaging your brain with a physical game.

Pottery classes are meditative. Board game nights are chaotic. Both are excellent for meeting people because they create a shared experience that's low-pressure and high-engagement. Nobody's checking their phone when they're trying to center clay on a wheel or figure out if their friend is the imposter.

Who it's for: Creative people, tactile people, people who miss making things. Zero experience required for virtually all of these.

Why you should try it: Because you'll leave with something you made, even if it's just a lopsided mug.

I know, I know. I'll write a whole post about why networking events don't work. But founders dinners are different. When you put 8 to 12 people around a table who are all building something, the conversation gets real in a way that panels and mixers never achieve.

People share their actual struggles. They ask for help. They offer introductions. The intimacy of a small group eliminates the performative energy that ruins most networking events.

Who it's for: Founders, creators, builders, freelancers: anyone who's working on something and wants to connect with people who understand the journey.

Why you should try it: Because the best business relationships start with honesty, not elevator pitches.

A themed party gives you permission to be someone else for a few hours. Whether it's an 80s night, a costume party, or a cultural celebration, themes lower the social barrier by giving everyone a shared context. When you're both dressed as characters from a movie, it's pretty hard not to start talking.

The events that stick in my memory are almost always the ones with a theme. They're more fun to prepare for, more fun to attend, and they produce the kind of photos and stories that become inside jokes.

Who it's for: People who are fun, or people who want to be around fun people. Also people who own too many costumes and need excuses to wear them.

Why you should try it: Because adult life doesn't have enough occasions where you're allowed to be ridiculous.

Hiking with a group hits different from hiking alone. The shared physical effort, the scenery, the fact that you're away from the city and your usual routine. It all creates an environment where deeper conversations happen naturally.

I've noticed that people open up on trails in ways they don't at restaurants or bars. Maybe it's because you're walking side by side instead of face to face. Maybe it's because nature has a way of stripping away pretense. Whatever it is, hiking groups produce genuinely close friendships.

Who it's for: Nature lovers, people who need to get out of the city, anyone who thinks better while walking. Most hiking groups have routes for all skill levels.

Why you should try it: Because you'll see your city from a perspective you didn't know existed.

Book clubs are the original community event. They've been around for centuries because the format works: read something, then talk about it with people who read the same thing. That shared intellectual experience creates a kind of bond that's hard to replicate.

The best book clubs I've been to aren't strict about the reading. They become an excuse for a regular gathering where interesting people have interesting conversations. The book is the catalyst, not the point.

Who it's for: Readers, obviously. But also people who want to be readers. Joining a book club is the most reliable way to actually finish a book.

Why you should try it: Because discussing ideas with real people in a living room is infinitely better than arguing with strangers on the internet.

A mastermind group is 4 to 8 people who meet regularly to support each other's professional growth. Each meeting, someone presents a challenge they're facing, and the group brainstorms solutions. It's peer coaching, accountability, and networking rolled into one.

What makes masterminds work is commitment. These aren't drop-in events. They're ongoing groups where trust builds over time. The advice gets better as people understand your context. The accountability gets stronger as relationships deepen.

Who it's for: Professionals who want to level up but don't have mentors. Entrepreneurs who are tired of figuring everything out alone. Anyone who believes in the power of collective intelligence.

Why you should try it: Because the fastest way to solve a problem is to explain it to someone who's solved a similar one.

If you have a dog, you already know that dogs are the world's best conversation starters. Dog park meetups formalize what happens naturally: a bunch of dog owners standing around while their pets play, talking about everything from training tips to life stories.

But organized pet events take it further. Breed-specific meetups, dog-friendly hikes, puppy socialization classes, even dog birthday parties all create recurring communities around the one thing pet owners never get tired of talking about.

Who it's for: Pet owners who want to meet other pet owners. Also people who don't have pets but desperately want to spend time around animals.

Why you should try it: Because your dog has a better social life than you do, and it's time to fix that.

Cultural exchange events (language exchange nights, international potlucks, cultural celebration festivals) are some of the most enriching social experiences available. They push you out of your bubble in the best possible way.

I've attended language exchange events where I spent two hours alternating between broken Korean and broken English with someone, and we walked away feeling like we'd known each other for years. There's something about the vulnerability of trying to communicate across a language barrier that accelerates connection.

Who it's for: Anyone curious about other cultures. Expats and immigrants looking for community. Language learners. People who believe the world gets smaller when you understand more of it.

Why you should try it: Because the person you have the most to learn from is probably the one who grew up completely differently from you.

For completeness, here are the formats that consistently fail to produce real connections, no matter how well-intentioned the organizer:

• Speed networking: The illusion of connection at highest velocity. You meet 20 people for 3 minutes each. You remember zero of them.
• Generic happy hours: Large groups, low activity, high performance. Everyone standing around pitching themselves to strangers.
• LinkedIn mixers: See above, but with more business cards and desperate eye contact.
• Founder happy hours: Specifically the ones marketed as “networking opportunities.” You're all too tired and too guarded. Nothing real happens.
• Open bar-only gatherings: Events where the only connecting tissue is free alcohol. Once the drinks run out, so does the conversation.
• One-off conferences and galas: 500 people, zero repeated exposure. You meet five people, follow up with zero, forget all of them within a week.

These aren't bad because of low execution. They're bad because of their format. You can't create genuine connection with a room full of people performing their best selves for three hours. It's architecture, not effort.

I didn't write this list to promote Escape's event categories (though yes, all 12 of these map to categories in the app). I wrote it because I genuinely believe that trying new types of events is one of the most reliable ways to break out of a social rut.

Most people attend the same types of events over and over. If you're a fitness person, you go to fitness events. If you're a foodie, you go to food events. And that's fine. But the friends you don't have yet are probably at events you haven't tried yet.

Pick one from this list that you'd never normally attend. Go alone if you have to. The worst case is an interesting evening. The best case is a new friendship, a new hobby, or a new perspective you didn't know you needed.

The world is full of people you'd love if you ever met them. Events are how you meet them.