Anyone can run one
Host something. You come up with it, your leader helps you run it
The best nights are the ones a member came up with. If you fly, run a fly-in. If you fish, take a boat out. If you know a place that would have us, say so. You don’t need permission and you don’t need to be a squad leader.
Tell us what you have in mind. Your city squad leader will get in touch and help you run it, sort out the venue and get the word out. You stay in charge of it. That’s the point.
The bar is lower than you think
It doesn’t need to be elaborate or expensive
Half of what works is a table booked somewhere ordinary at a time men can actually make. Nobody is expecting a production.
If it costs money to attend, say so on the invite and keep it small. Plenty of the best ones cost nothing at all.
Pick one and copy it
Formats that already work
Somewhere with a table
A booth at a restaurant or a bar with room to sit. Low effort, works in any weather, easy to leave early.
Dinner at Las Palmas, Mansfield
A regular slot at one place
The same venue on the same week each month. Men stop having to decide, it’s just where everyone is on the third Wednesday.
Cigar night at Henry’s, Mansfield
Something with a scoreboard
A game or a tournament. Gives the quiet ones something to do with their hands and a reason to talk that isn’t about themselves.
Poker at One Tribe Outdoors · Trivia at False Idol Brewing
Watch a game together
Book a section, tell people the kickoff, done. One of the easiest to run and one of the best turnouts.
World Cup watch party at Charlie’s Tavern, Arlington
Get outside
Fishing, a lake day, a hike. Takes more planning and more notice, so pick a date further out than feels necessary.
Reel Dads tours, Grapevine and Eagle Mountain
Bring the family
Occasionally, and say so clearly on the invite. Most of what we run is for the men, so a family day has to be labeled as one.
Aviation night, Mid-Way Regional
Getting it out the door
The two lists that decide whether it works
Before you finalize it
- A date and a start time. A rough idea is fine when you first pitch it, but the version that goes on Facebook needs the actual day and hour.
- A place with an address, so nobody is circling a parking lot.
- Whether it costs anything, and roughly how much.
- Whether families are welcome. If you don’t say, men will assume not.
- Who to look for the day of, your name and what you’ll be wearing. The single most useful line for a man showing up alone.
- A rough idea of numbers, so the venue isn’t surprised.
- Get it out at least two weeks ahead. Three or four for anything that needs a day off.
On the day
- Get there first. Somebody arriving to an empty table and no familiar face is how you lose a first-timer.
- Watch the door for the first twenty minutes. Anyone who checked “first time” had their name sent to you, so use it.
- Introduce every new man to two other men, by name, then leave them to it.
- Afterward, check off who showed up on your squad dashboard. Thirty seconds, and it’s how we notice when somebody stops coming.
Got something in mind? Build it.
You don’t have to be a leader to bring dads together. Pick what kind of night it is, your city, a place and a time, and it can be on the Dad Squad calendar in a few minutes.
A leader gives new hosts a quick look before it goes live, and after your first approved event, the next ones go straight on the calendar.
Build your own event
About three minutes on your phone.
Choose a DadSquad+ Network Location or any place you like, set the date, and invite the guys.