The Best Ways to Make New Friendships in Retirement

When you begin enjoying your retirement, you obviously have a lot more free time on your hands. One of the best ways to fill up all of this added free time is to make new friends. Unfortunately, many older people find it hard to make new friends. This is especially true for retirees who move to a new location when their careers are over. If you are ready to start making new friends to have fun with in your golden years, here are the some of the best ways to make new friendships in retirement.

1. Socialising with People at Your Retirement Village

When you live in a village of retired people who all have loads of free time on their hands, you have a huge community of people just like you who are looking for things to do. This makes it a lot more simple to find new friends. All you need to do if you want to find new friends is to join in the community activities in your village. You will be amazed at how easy it is to make new friends when you make the effort to join in these community activities.

2. Joining a Sports Club or Walking Group

As you get older, it becomes more important than ever to do everything possible to stay fit. You can kill two birds with one stone when you join a walking group or sports club. Not only will it get you up off the couch so you can get some much-needed exercise, but you will also meet lots of new people who could easily turn into new friends. When you can get fit and make new friends, it is a win-win situation that every retired person should embrace.

3. Joining a Community Group

Making new friends is really just as simple as getting out into the community and interacting with likeminded individuals. One of the easiest ways to do that is to join a community group that interests you. A popular type of community group that often appeals to retired people is a book club. The great thing about a book club is that it will often pull together people from different age groups, which is wonderful if you want a chance to make friends with younger people who will help to inspire you just as you inspire them. Other community activities you should consider to make new friends include joining a volunteer organisation, helping with a community clean-up day or joining a community organisation committee.

4. Host Dinner or Parties at Your House

One of the easiest ways to increase the size of your social circle is to host a dinner or party at your place. Make it a party where every guest is requested to bring a friend, and you will be exposed to a bunch of new people who you can form new friendships with. Having people over to your home allows you to play the gracious host and charm them, which makes it easy to befriend them. If you find it awkward introducing yourself to new people, hosting this kind of party where your friends introduce you to new people is just the thing.

5. Using Apps

If you are trying to find new friends, there is definitely an app for that. You can always try using dating apps to make new friends, but make sure that you are clear on your profile that you are just looking for friends unless you do want to also make new romantic connections. There is actually a version of Tinder called Tinder Social that is just for making friends. Other good friendship apps you can try include Skout, CLIQ and Bumble BFF. For dog owners, Meet my Dog is an app where you can make new friends for your dog and new friendships for yourself with their owners.

If you want to find new friends, it is not as hard as you might think. By using these five methods, you will find that your social calendar is soon filled with engagements with your new friends. All it takes is a friendly face and a little effort, and you will be overjoyed with all the friends you have.