Modern Mamas — Our First Outing

Charlotte Enjoyed the Swings at the Park for the First Time Today

Today marked the first official meeting for the mom social club I have created. After posting the event in our group, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a large majority of the group members were planning to attend the first mom outing. So, I had to get prepared by buying some chips and salsa, as well as getting together some simple, hands-free ice-breaker games for the moms to get to know one another.

The group today ended up being about half the size I had initially anticipated, so ice breaker games weren't necessary. With only four moms and their littles, the small intimate group made it easy for us girls (and our little ones) to get to know each other. I still have the ice breaker games ready for the next meeting when a larger group can attend.

New Best Friends Today at Our First Outing - Photo Courtesy of Karen Fiel

The ice breaker games I decided on were simple activities the moms could do to get to know one another. When choosing games and activities for a moms group, if the kids are not involved, it's best to keep it hands-free. It is also valuable to keep an activity that allows moms the option of opting in and out of, as their responsibilities can change momentously (diaper changes, feedings, owies, tantrums . . . the possibilities are endless). Here are a few of the games that I think we will get to enjoy at the next meeting, although they may be a little cheesy at first.


Yarn Game. Take a large spool of yarn, and cut it into various lengths. Each person selects a piece of yarn. They are instructed to introduce their self to the group for as long as it takes to wrap the yarn around their finger. Make sure a few of the strings are extra long, so you really get to know about your new friends.

Two Truths & One Lie. As straight-forward as it sounds, this is another get-to-know you type activity. Each person in the group takes a turn sharing two truths and one lie about their self. Then the other participants try to determine which fact was untrue.

Story Telling Activity. This game requires a little preparation, but you are then able to gear it towards moms specifically. On either notecards or post it notes, write out various sentence starters to pass out to each mom. Some of the story starting sentences I used were:

"The time my baby was the messiest was when . . . "
"The best part of my day is . . . "
"The best advice I have received so far has been . . ."
"If I had three wishes for my family, they would be . . ."
"The part about being a mom that surprised me the most was . . . "
"My funniest mom moment has had to be . . . "
"My ideal family vacation would be . . . "


We had a great time getting to know each other at our first outing, even though we didn't get a chance to do these activities. If you're trying to start a mom group, be sure to get feedback from the other moms on what they would like out of the group. Find out what accommodates their schedules best, what types of activities they would like to do, places they'd like to meet, as well as anything else that will help you make the group better for everyone involved. I also encouraged group members to create their own events when they see an activity they'd like to do or a class they might want to attend.

Feel free to share any other tips for starting a mom's group below!