Cultivate Community Challenge + Galentine’s MNO

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Moms, we need one another. We need friendship, we need community, we need to know we aren’t alone. The heart behind DC Area Moms Blog is to help connect moms in meaningful, useful ways. To help us all create the community we crave and were meant for. All of us are so different with our unique challenges, circumstances, kids, resources, personalities, and so much more. Even with these differences, we do have several things in common like the fact that we are moms and we all need friends!

Galentine’s Event with Fellow Moms

Over the next few weeks, we are not simply encouraging you, but challenging you to cultivate the community and friendships you want. To be the friend you’d want to have. All of us need light and hope in our world and this challenge is for YOU to take steps to make true friendships. It takes time and doesn’t always come naturally, but it’s so worth it!

At the end of the 4 week challenge, we are celebrating with an epic Galentine’s Moms’ Night Out at Kendra Scott in Bethesda, MD on Thursday, February 13th from 6-8 pm (4 weeks from now!). We will have snacks, sips, a card-making station, a percentage off all jewelry sales, a rose for each mom, and giveaways!!! Plus, Follian will be offering Gua Sha/facial rolling, mini consults, and a custom sample. Plus, we have some other fun treats in store for moms! Be sure to grab your ticket asap and go ahead and invite friends. You won’t want to miss it!

10 Ways to Cultivate Community (Weeks 1 & 2 Challenges)

We live in such a transient city. Many of us aren’t from here and often don’t have family around. Built-in social networks simply aren’t here and we have to work hard at building them. This is something we can and MUST do! Consider this your nudge to get out and there and get friendly over the next few weeks!

1. Make a point to call and text friends. If you don’t have a friend in the area to call or text, head to the local park, museum, or walk around your neighborhood and intentionally look for friends. Also, perhaps you may not need friends—that is awesome! However, if you look around, I promise, there is probably someone nearby that DOES need a friend and it could be you. If you think you don’t have time for more friends in your life, try to shift your perspective and think not only of yourself but how you could potentially help your community by being a friend. Also, be sure to also call your friends from back home! Old friends can be a huge source of comfort and encouragement as you branch out to make new friends here in the DMV. 

2. Search in your neighborhood or in your building for potential friends. Friends can be anywhere and can be any age! Perhaps you don’t have any family nearby and on your floor there is a kind widowed woman who also has no family around. This could be one of your friends too! Community and friendship go beyond mothers alone. Are there some stay-at-home dads near you? Reach out! Also, if you head to a kids’ birthday party, search for someone new to talk to. This is a great opportunity to meet even more friends through mutual friends.

3. Join our Community and Conversation Groups! These were created to be intentional spaces for community. Yes, we love our events, but we also want moms to feel empowered to ask other local moms to meet at the park on a Saturday morning for a picnic or grab a coffee. Little things like this help form friendships. 

4. Ask a mom to the movies or dinner after the kids are asleep at night. This is such a fun thing to do. As moms, it is all-consuming. We are all exhausted and could use a night out to reenergize and remember that we are individuals who can still have fun! Asking people to things like this help solidify mom friends!

5. Ask for a new friend’s number. When you are at a park, intentionally talk to other moms. Ask the age of their child, compliment them on their shoes (or whatever), ask if they live in the area, etc. If you enjoyed chatting with them (and I hope you did!), ask for a mom’s number. Then text them later and say that it was good meeting them. Stay in touch!

6. Invite people over (even if it’s not perfect!). When we invite people over, we are literally welcoming them into our homes and hearts. Having moved several times, I remember living in some very tight quarters in furnished rentals. When a friend would invite me over to their home I was ecstatic to be in a welcoming space that was pleasant! Also, I remember when we lived in a very small apartment (with one child) I would sometimes host a Sunday lunch at our home. My friend commented that she appreciated that we asked people over even though we didn’t have enough seats for everyone! Honestly, friendship and community is way more important than making sure things look perfect or that we even have enough seats for people.

Once I heard on a Sally Clarkson podcast that she went to a friend’s home and it was a mess (she and her friend didn’t mind at all!). Her friend simply shoved all the stuff on the table to the side so they had a space to visit. They had tea and connected and the mess was just in the background. We can learn a lot from being in someone else’s well-lived home or inviting them into the chaos of our own homes. No one’s home is perfect especially with kids (amiright!). 

7. Be kind to strangers. We could all use more smiles in our lives and I think it makes US have happier days too. Look at people in the eyes and say hello. Let the driver in from of you in and offer a wave. 

8. Bake some cookies and deliver them! Involving our kids in ways we can create friendships is an awesome thing to teach. I love that holidays always seem to be around the corner. We could bring baked goods for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras, or May Day. 

9. Volunteer with kids. This is another awesome way to get kids involved and give back to our community. Kids feel a strong sense of purpose when they are “helping” and we get to help outside of our bubble. When we volunteer with kids, we also have the opportunity to meet other locals with the same values and interests. Another great way to ask a new pal for their phone number. 

10. Mark your calendar for our fun Galentine’s Event! Grab your ticket asap (or go ahead and grab two tickets and force yourself to bring a pal to the event!). It is going to be fun and you won’t want to miss it! Stay tuned for other ways you can get involved with DC Area Moms Blog too!

Please stay tuned for deeper ways to cultivate the community you want with our Part II of our challenge in a couple of weeks. Be sure to grab your event ticket and focus on ways you can meaningfully connect with others over the next few weeks. We will have a giveaway at the end of this challenge, so be sure to do some or all of these suggestions! We are so glad YOU are a part of the community of local moms we are creating. Thank you! 

**If you are a business and would like to be involved in the Galentine’s MNO event, please email me at Courtney {at} dcmomsblog {dot} com. Thank you! 

Grab your ticket here! 

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Courtney Whittington
Courtney was born and raised in Louisiana where she met her husband (married in 2005). They have moved several times, but finally feel very settled in NW DC after moving back in 2016. She has four energetic kids: Cormac (2010), Evangeline (2013), Solomon (2016), and Antoinette (2019). She thinks motherhood is absolutely wonderful, but is constantly trying to figure out how to manage it all. She spends her days talking Star Wars, playing with legos, doing crafts, having tea parties, and chasing her toddler. Motherhood is wonderful and wild and in 2017 she banded together with other mothers to start DC Area Moms to inspire, learn, and grow together. She loves morning coffee, chocolate, chatting with people since she's an extrovert, a clean house (which is rare these days). She dislikes when her kids don't listen the first time, she abhors littering, and doesn't enjoy shopping.