What Actually Happens at a Filled Cups Friend-Matching Event
If you've been wondering, here's the play by play.
FRIENDSHIPSSOCIAL SKILLS
8/10/20263 min read
What Actually Happens at a Filled Cups Friend-Matching Event
I get some version of this question almost every week. Someone will message me, or come up to me after an event, and say something like "okay but what actually happens there?"
I love that question. Because I remember being on the other side of it. Before I ever ran an event like this, I was the person googling "friend making events near me" at midnight, trying to picture what I was signing up for. Was it going to be awkward? Was I going to stand in a corner holding a drink, waiting for someone to notice me? Would everyone already know each other?
So today, on the day of one of our Mix, Mingle & Play events, I wanted to pull back the curtain and walk you through exactly how it goes. No mystery, no guessing. Just the real flow, start to finish.
Before you even walk in
Here's something I want you to know. Almost everyone who shows up is nervous. You are not the exception, you are the rule. I have had people tell me they sat in their car for ten minutes before coming inside. I have had people admit they almost cancelled three times that day. That nervous flutter in your stomach means you care about connecting with people, and that is exactly the kind of person this event is built for.
Check-in and name tags
When you arrive, I greet you at the door. This part matters to me more than almost anything else, because I want your first few seconds inside to feel warm, not transactional. You check in, and then you make a name tag. But it is not just your name. You also answer a quick icebreaker, something like your favorite TV show, your go-to snack, or the best restaurant in town.
That little detail does so much work. It gives you an instant conversation starter with anyone who glances at your tag, and it takes the pressure off having to come up with something clever on the spot.
Finding your table
Before the event, you filled out our pre-matching questionnaire. That is where the real magic happens. I use your answers to thoughtfully place you at a table with people you are more likely to click with. Not randomly assigned, not just whoever happened to buy a ticket at the same time as you. I sit down and actually think through the groupings.
So when I tell you which table to sit at, that seat was chosen with you in mind.
The activities begin
Once most people have checked in, I go table by table and introduce the get to know you games. I get the first question rolling for each group, and then I quietly step back and let the table take it from there.
And almost every time, something beautiful happens. People lean into it. They pick up the dice breakers, they ask the questions on the cards, and they actually answer them for real. Not the polished small talk version of themselves. The honest version. I have watched strangers go from stiff and unsure to fully cracking each other up in the span of twenty minutes.
By the end of the ninety minutes
This is my favorite part to witness. By the time we wrap up, tables are usually loud with laughter. People are pulling out their phones to exchange numbers, already making plans to meet up again. I give out a small piece of swag to the person at each table who traveled the farthest to be there, because showing up matters and I want to celebrate that.
People walk in a little nervous and they walk out with new friends, new group chats, and real plans on the calendar. I have run this event enough times now that I should probably stop being surprised by it. And yet I still am, every single time.
If you have been on the fence
I know it can feel vulnerable to sign up for something like this. But making friends as an adult is hard for almost everyone, even the people who seem the most social and put together. This event exists because I wanted a space where you do not have to do that work alone, where the structure does the heavy lifting so you can just show up and be yourself.
Our next Mix, Mingle & Play event is coming up soon, and I would genuinely love to have you there. Come find your people. I promise you, they are looking for you too.
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