Dublin-based social club is For the Girlies

Seánna Hopkins and Georgia White both decided – separately – to go to the picnic in Merrion Square because they’d seen it on social media.

It was promoted as “For the Girlies” a Dublin-based social club, an event for women to just hang out. So, why not?

About a dozen women came, who didn’t know each other, says Sarah Ó Tuama , the founder. 

Sat on the grass, they talked about where they were from, work, their favourite shows, books. That kind of stuff.

After that, White says, Hopkins asked in the chat if anyone wanted to play bingo. 

“And I was at a loss for something to do that night, so I went out with her,” she said. “And yeah, now we're best friends and living together.”

Ó Tuama said she started “For the Girlies” after graduating with a degree in communications from Dublin City University in 2024. 

She’s always been outgoing, she says, with a ton of friends. Some people asked her how she had such a big circle, she says. 

But Ó Tuama felt the drop in community after college, she says. She had been meeting people constantly, organising things. Now, she wasn’t.

“I was like, Oh my God, what's happening with my life?” she says. “Like, is this what being an adult is? It's so boring.”

“So I guess, yeah, it started that I just didn't want to stop meeting new people, and I couldn't organically do it,” she says. 

Maybe others

Ó Tuama posted on social media, suggesting a local meet-up, she says. 

The goal was in part to reach other creators, she says, something she’d been getting into. Her TikTok post got a lot of attention, she says.

Ó Tuama said she had maybe 5,000, 6,000 followers at the time, so it wasn’t that she had a big audience to push it, she says. 

As she sees it, it was the idea. “I think everybody in their 20s feels that sort of way. Do you know what I mean?” she said. 

“As you grow older, you see your friends less regularly and it's not set in stone,” she said.

About a dozen people showed up to the first meet-up at Merrion Square, Ó Tuama said. She was delighted, she says. 

It’s easier for people to come along now, she says. “Because, you know, they may have heard of us. They've seen, like, videos of our previous events.” 

“But for that first meetup, I kind of like, I'm so proud of the girls that showed up because they had no idea, like, what they were stepping into. And it did start,” she says.

Erica Boyle said she went to that first meeting, and has been involved since, because she’s met really good friends. “Who had similar likes to me, similar interests and similar ambitions.”

Ó Tuama’s group grew a following. She started organising events about twice a month: jewelry making, yoga, craft events.

Boyle said it was refreshing that events weren’t geared towards alcohol. “I think that's a big thing in Ireland, and it's something that divides a lot of friendships.”

She said these events are different. They’re social and fun and comfortable, without the pressure to drink, she says.

Says Ó Tuama: “Ninety percent of the people that come to our events come completely by themselves and don't know anyone and just walk in blind.” 

Growth

Eventually the group got too big for one WhatsApp group chat, with over 1,000 people.

So they just got rid of it, she says. Now, there’s events twice a month or so, as well as subgroups on WhatsApp with other events based on interests, age, and area, though they’re not official “For The Girlies”. 

"We have girls from Brazil, from the UK, from the States, Australia,” Ó Tuama said.  And of all ages too, she says.

She said she’s looking into running more age-specific events too.

Ó Tuama said she’s met some of her best friends from the group. That’s what White, Hopkins, and Boyle said too. 

The events are all on social media at forthegirliesdublin.

“The hardest part is doing it the first time,” says Ó Tuama.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.