I need to get invited to more parties and hang out with larger groups. But how?

The last couple of weekends have found me hanging out with groups of strangers who happen to friends of friends, people who have made me reconsider my policy towards people I don't know. Random people are alright, even if I don't have previous connections to them, and it's worth trusting them as far as going out and talking and playing board games, it turns out. Maybe. To even consider that option, I must get invited to more parties and hang with larger groups, socialize like a bird and make friends, in all the places. I must shine, collaborate and communicate, not hide within myself and try to be unnoticeable. To do that, one must find friends to invite, people with connections to larger groups that I can tap into. Maybe invite them to begin the transaction, so to speak, and get the wheels of social interactions moving. I've been an ascetic, a hermit, for far too long, social fasting must end. I must grow, and I must grow my community.