40 Hobbies for Women

You know how satisfying it is to express yourself on your Instagram feed, make beautiful images with that simple editor? Take it to the next level and get yourself a camera. Digital cameras have come way down in price, and even simple ones will have loads of traditional camera settings to learn and use to take expressive #nofilter pictures.

You can actually press a lot more than flowers. Entire stems, grasses, ferns, leaves, and other bits of plants show off amazing properties and unusual beauty when pressed. You can keep this really simple and press flowers in a dictionary, or you can buy or make a press that can be tightened to do the job “properly.” You can keep pressed flowers in a journal (and record what each one is, where you found it, etc) or use them to make crafts, paper, and cards. This also goes well with…

You don’t have to hike the Appalachian Trail if that’s not your thing, but a long walk through the woods and a little rocky terrain requires basically no special skills, equipment, or planning. It’s a good workout, gets you out of the house and into nature, and is perfect alone or with a friend. It keeps you engaged while also clearing your head. It’s a hobby that can get more serious as your interest and skill level grow, so today you might just be going for a walk in the woods, but in a year, who knows– you might be ready for the Appalachian Trail!

If you love gardening and plants and flowers but you rent (like most women in their twenties), keeping an indoor garden is a good hobby. You can still create beautiful green space inside using small plants, attractive pots, stones, sand, and more. Succulents are perfect for keeping indoors because they’re readily available, hardy, and take well to being potted together. You may even find gardening indoors to be a fun challenge due to the need to keep everything compact and tidy.

It’s like hiking, but on a bike! This might be a surprising hobby for women, but hear me out. There are lots of different types of mountain biking. Cross-country mountain biking generally refers to riding a mountain bike on fairly tame, long trails that don’t have tons of drops, obstacles, and jumps: the point is distance and speed. Lots of parks offer mountain bike rentals so you can try this out before you go dropping big money on your own mountain bike. It’s an amazing cardio workout and you don’t have to worry about aggressive drivers when you’re in the woods.

Lots of women like to keep their nails looking fresh, and then you have the women who take it to the next level, women whose nails always look like works of art. Why not you? You’ve got to have pretty good dexterity in your hands for this. A quick look online or even at the posts on this site will give you loads of ideas for nail art that you can do yourself. If you pick up nail art as a hobby, not only will you get better and better at it and enjoy the process, you will also have awesome, fresh nails all the time.

Not your grandma’s knitting, no offense to grandmas. But seriously, knitting is pretty cool. It is very much a women’s hobby, because for decades, women have set up “knitting circles” for women to come together, share techniques, knit together, and socialize. Yes, there are cool, hip, young knitting circles where you can go knit with other young, hip women. So you’ll be keeping your hands busy making cool stuff and you’ll have a great way to meet other women who share your hobby. Yes, knitting is pretty cool.

As far as hobbies go, baking isn’t terribly expensive- home made bread or a batch of scones or muffins only require basic staple ingredients. Baking is both an art and a science, especially bread baking. This is definitely a progressive hobby that will change as you get good at it. There is so much to learn about baking, and good food doesn’t get old: you and the people around you are always going to appreciate freshly baked anything. But if you’re not so much for kneading and spending hours on bread, maybe you’d be into…

Those super pretty cupcakes you’re always seeing on Pinterest? THEY COULD BE YOURS. Seriously, if you learn from scratch and have the right tools and ingredients (and the requisite patience), you can make that stuff happen. You won’t be guest starring on Cake Boss any time soon, but there are loads of cake decorating skills you can learn that build on each other. Start simple, learn slowly, and eventually you will be making adorable works of art in sugar.

Let’s move past the fortune tellers of your grade school days and talk about how amazing origami can get. A quick search online will show you that origami gets a lot more complicated (and interesting, and beautiful) than cranes and frogs (no offense to paper cranes and frogs). Start simple and build on what you learn. Once you’re getting good with whatever paper is lying around, you can treat yourself to some of that beautiful patterned, foil paper for a special project.

This is a seemingly old-fashioned women’s hobby that has had a weird resurgence in the last few years, and now it’s actually pretty hip. A cool, personalized cross stitch is a great gift for girlfriends, and you can decorate your own space with whatever cross-stitch you want. It will keep your hands busy but the repetitive motion is sort of meditative, too.

Speaking of meditative, calligraphy is another meditative way to work with your hands. Watch a short video of someone writing in script with a fancy pen and you will see how soothing hand-writing can be. Calligraphy can be done with pens or brushes, so there’s a lot to explore, and you will forever write the best birthday cards and personal letters.

I didn’t know this was a thing until pretty recently. There are so many talented, athletic women out there who have elevated the use of a hula hoop to an art form. It’s something like dance, aerobics, and acrobatics all at once. Look up some videos on Instagram if you aren’t familiar. Guarantee it will make you want to go get a hoop and start learning.

I loooove having nice, fancy soap to use every day, but I don’t always want to spend $8 on a bar of soap. I could solve this by learning to make soap myself, which is not all that difficult! And you know what else is easy to make by yourself? BATH BOMBS. Yes, you could be making your own custom soap and bath bombs to use and give to your favorite ladies. Let’s be real, it’s not gonna stop you from dropping $50 at a time at Lush, but this is a fun, legitimately useful hobby.

Draw whoever is around you or attend a class– they are common at community centers. Even if you don’t feel you have much artistic talent, you may find that quickly drawing basic forms with charcoal is entirely different and brings out skill you didn’t know you had.

I’m an actual professional writer so this may seem like a biased contribution, but I know a whole lot of closet writers who spend hours writing just for themselves and never show anyone a word! People journal, write poetry, personal essays, fiction, and everything else under the sun. You can use writing as a very personal, private way of expressing yourself or join a writing group where you can talk to other hobby writers and share you work. If you need somewhere to start you could also get into…

Book blogging, if you will. Do you know how many incredibly successful bloggers out there have blogs that are just about the books they’re reading? Reading and reviewing books, if you can get into it, is a very engaging hobby. It’s more than just reading and enjoying a book: you’re also thinking hard about it and putting your thoughts in words. Lots of people do this on their own blog, or on Amazon, but you could also check out Goodreads. It has a great organized, social interface for tracking the books you want, the books you’ve read, and for posting, reading, and sharing reviews.

Ever spend hours looking through a pile of old stuff? You can make a hobby out of that nostalgia by scrapbooking. You will be glad to have beautifully preserved and organized memories in years to come, and putting care into presenting those things now is fun. You can do this very simply with basic materials, or go all out with loads of fancy papers and craft supplies.

You might already do your makeup in the morning, and you might even get a kick out of being creative with your eye shadow, but you could also be learning to make yourself look like a mermaid or zombie (if that’s your thing). Maybe it’s not the most practical look for class or a day out with your girlfriends, but it’s definitely fun and passes the time. Also, everyone will be dying for you to do their makeup for special occasions and Halloween.

Hit the thrift store or flea market and find a diamond in the rough emphasis on rough.The point of furniture rehab as a hobby is that it’s a a process and a lot of work to find a piece with potential and do the work to bring it out (repairing, stripping, refinishing, reupholstering, etc). This takes some grit, elbow grease, and creativity, and I’ve always found that women are way better at this particular hobby than men.

Yes, this is completely different from knitting and gets to be its own item on this list. Crochet uses one hooked needle, and the results are very different from knitting. Where you might knit socks, a hat, or a sweater, you can crochet squares into a blanket, or, using any of a million patterns you can find online, nearly any animal or object you can think of. It’s pretty amazing what you can with just a piece of yarn!

Okay, you’re going to need some serious supplies for this, so your best bet is to take a class or get space at a studio if you really want to get into this. You can make a lot more than pots and bowls on a pottery wheel, and it’s a creative process with a tangible result.

You can be social and take a class, you can watch Youtube tutorials at home with a friend, or you can download an app that teaches you everything step-by-step. You can take it up as a hobby and learn a few poses, but you may find it becomes a major part of your lifestyle and day to day routine.

Ah, the actual purpose of a mason jar! This is sort of a seasonal hobby, in that it’s best to do it at certain times of year when specific fruits and veggies are in season, and thus abundant, ripe, and cheap. Certain fruits can be safely canned with nothing more than a giant pot of water, but for other things, you may need to invest in a pressure canner. There’s some cost involved here, but if you commit to it, you might find that you save yourself money, and in any case, you and everyone around you will enjoy canned goods made with love year round. If you like big day-long projects, canning could be your thing. If you like the idea of a hobby that provides you with loads of good food but canning doesn’t sound fun…

If you have the space, DO IT! This won’t last all year, no, but it can occupy you for months, and it’s something you can tend to every day. Even a small, raised soil bed can be enough to grow certain veggies, and you get fresh, local produce out of the deal. It may turn out to be a hobby you look forward to all winter.

Adult coloring books got so crazy popular this past year! They’re so popular, there are adult coloring groups popping up in which people get together to color and socialize. I tried it, and it’s pretty fun. And you know what? Adult coloring books are gorgeous and feel sophisticated, but if all those fancy designs don’t appeal to you, a plain kid’s coloring book and a box of crayons is just as relaxing.

If you really like shopping but have yourself on a budget, come up with a mission like finding ten cute little owl trinkets for under $20. Now you have something to go after and a safe amount of money to spend. Thrift stores and flea markets are super fun to explore, so you’ll get to see a lot of interesting things while you’re on the hunt, and then get the satisfaction of finding what you were looking for. If you collect a particular type of object (vintage pocket knives, pillboxes, anything) you can always, always do this.

You can make jewelry out of almost anything. You can make beads out of paper and string them on hemp twine, or you can buy glass beads and wire and the works. You can make jewelry out of nothing but string, or mold tiny dinosaur-shaped earrings out of modeling clay if you’re so inclined. You can do this your way, and if you find you have a knack for it, you get to share your creations with the people around you.

I don’t care if you get take-out five nights a week– if you’re even remotely interested in learning new skills in the kitchen, pick something interesting and learn how to make it from scratch. It is possible, I promise. It might even be more fun and better as a hobby for people who don’t tend to cook a lot, because setting out to learn how to make falafel or homemade pizza or whatever feels more like an occasion and an activity when you aren’t cooking your own meal for the twentieth time that week (like I am).

Ukuleles have gotten common and inexpensive, and they are comparatively easy to learn how to play. I find it a little hard to casually recommend someone pick up piano, or violin, or saxophone, because that’s a pretty heavy commitment, but who wouldn’t like a little more fun and music in their life? Ukulele is a much more hobby-friendly option. Or, if you’re a more physical type of person…

I’m not even talking about a full drum set– I’m talking about bongos, or a single djembe drum. If you’re a little bit of a hippie, this might be for you, because drum circles- a group of people coming together to socialize and jam on drums- are becoming very common, and they’re pretty groovy. Jamming by yourself at home is good, too, especially if you’re just getting the hang of it.

Here’s why this is a good hobby for women even if you aren’t the fortune-telling, spiritual, superstitious type: there is history and so much to learn about all the cards in the deck and everything behind this tradition. Many people use tarot as a way of getting perspective and thinking through a problem, without necessarily believing that it predicts anything.

If you have family or friends far away, get into this. If you have a much younger family member, a little kid? WRITE THEM FUN LETTERS. Personalized letters and small packages are fun to put together and get a great reaction. Even if you’re just writing hand-written notes to your distant friends and relatives, it’s a bit like journaling and it makes people feel special to get a letter. Really, this is a viable thing to do with your time on the regular.

The ultimate companion hobby if you’re also into thrifting and furniture rehab, but just as good if you aren’t. Making your space Pinterest-worthy is a lot of work (contrary to what Pinterest queens would have you think, it is not effortless), but it’s creative, engaging work. Your particular space has its own unique challenges (you can’t paint your walls, you have a tiny bedroom, you have really ugly wood paneling in your apartment, etc.) and if you’re interested in decorating and fixing up your space, you will not only have a hobby but a beautiful, comfortable home to enjoy. And if this sounds like too much, you might be just as happy to have a single table in your house that you curate with seasonal decor throughout the year.

Okay, this is not a cheap hobby, but surely some of you out there have some money to spend on an awesome thing to do with your time, right? It is absolutely possible to safely brew your own beer, wine, or cider at home. You’ll need space and some serious supplies and patience for this, but there’s a certain type of personality that really takes to this activity. Enlist friends in this, as starting a big batch of beer is a major project. If you’re a beer gal but home brewing sounds terrible…

No, I’m not suggesting that just drinking is a hobby, but learning about and tasting and enjoying craft beer is (be responsible, of course!). I once lived with another girl who loved craft beer as much as I do, and we would go to the store together and buy one bottle of fancy beer and split it at night in our apartment. We’d do the same thing at bars. I have another craft-beer loving friend that I always get beer flights with. There’s a lot to learn about beer, and responsibly, thoughtfully enjoying the fancy ones is something you can do on your own or with a friend. You can even download an app like Untappd to record what you drink and what you think of each beer you try.

If you’re generally sociable and open and willing to learn new things in a group, see if there are swing dancing classes and events in your town. I knew plenty of people who did swing dancing in college, and it always looked so fun. Also, isn’t this a super cool, classy thing to have as a skill? “Oh, would you like to go out SWING DANCING sometime?” Um, yes.

If you want to move but aren’t so keen on dancing with a partner, belly dancing is another awesome thing to learn. If you find a class, you’ll most likely be with other women, and it’s a super body-positive, female centered environment.

Use dried or fresh flowers, leaves, twigs, and any other natural object that fits. You can even pick wildflowers on your next hike to do this. This does not have to be expensive at all if you visit a farmer’s market or find wild flowers and grasses to use in your projects. Imagine how nice it would be to get good at this, get good at finding deals, and spend a little time every few days making yourself something pretty to display in your house.

Paint on canvas, or watercolor paper, or on rocks, or vases, or wood, or with spray paint on whatever. You do not need to be an artiste to enjoy painting. You can take classes and learn techniques, or you can paint whatever comes to mind- patterns, shapes, abstract figures, your cat’s cute little face- anything!

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