Dads who meet up, city by city, so there is somewhere to go and somebody to talk to. No fee, no application, no forms. And if the part putting you off is walking in on your own where everyone already seems to know each other, every one of us did that once. Here is the whole thing, start to finish.
The Short Version
Find your city
Dad Squad runs county by county across Texas, and inside each county there are city squads. Pick the one nearest you. One membership covers all of them, so go to whichever suits your week.
Turn up to something
Every meetup is on the calendar with a date, a place and who to look for. Say you are coming, a first name and an email, no account needed, and tick the box if it is your first one.
Join when you feel like it
You do not need an account to come to anything. Joining is free and takes a minute, and it means you hear about events before they fill up, you get what the local businesses put on for members, and your squad leader knows who you are. There is no membership fee and there never will be.
When you are ready, host something
The best nights are the ones a member came up with. Once you have been to a couple, put one on yourself. Your squad leader helps with the venue and getting the word out, and it stays your event.
What It Costs
Being a member of Dad Squad is free. Not a trial, not an introductory rate, and not a version of it with the good parts held back. Everything on the calendar is open to you, you can join the squad nearest you, and nobody is going to ask you for a card. There is a paid pass and there is a paid tier for businesses, and both of them sit on top of a free membership rather than in front of it.
Free
Come to anything, join a squad, get told when things are on, and have a leader who knows your name. No fee, no application, no card on file. Some events cost something of their own, a ticket, a buy-in, your own dinner, and the event says so before you say yes.
$5.99/month
Discounts at partner venues, savings on ticketed events, and rewards for using them. It buys you extras. It does not buy you in. Every meetup is open to you without it, and plenty of the men here do not have one. Cancel anytime.
$150/month
DadSquad+ program or preferred partner
If you are a member, listing your own business in the directory is free. That is what the directory is for: men in the squad hiring men in the squad. If the business is not member owned, the way in is $150 a month, either joining the DadSquad+ program, which makes your place one of the spots where pass holders get their discount, or being featured as a preferred partner, one per trade per county. That sponsorship is a good part of why membership costs nothing.
How It Is Organized
Every county, the cities inside them, and the man running each one. Leaders are ordinary members who took it on: they post the events, greet the new men and pick up the phone when somebody goes quiet. Nobody is staff and nobody is paid.
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Collin County
Kean Moore
- Frisco Kean Moore
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Dallas County
James Deems
- Dallas Beto Padilla
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Denton County
Peter Correro
- Denton Anthony Griffith
- Flower Mound / Argyle Siddharth K Chawla
- Lewisville Austin Ingram
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Rockwall County
Chase Crenshaw
- Rockwall Gary Bourgeois
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Tarrant County
Jeremy Smith
- Arlington Jaime Ventura
- Benbrook Josh A Harville
- Mansfield Cory Cook and Alex Hickman
- Northeast Fort Worth Samuel Snow
- Southlake / Keller / Grapevine / Colleyville Jeff Setzer
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Travis County
Michael Reaves
- Austin Michael Reaves
What Is Coming Up
Upcoming meetups, projects, and gatherings across all Texas squads.
What A Night Actually Looks Like
Cigars Or A Watch Party
Cigars, a game on, a booth at the back of somewhere loud. The easiest kind to walk into, because nobody notices a new face arriving and you can stand at the edge until you are ready.
Somebody’s Backyard
A cookout, a fire pit, a poker table. Smaller, so you end up actually talking to people instead of shouting over a game. Bring something for the grill if you want to.
Out On The Water
Fishing off a boat, a pontoon on the lake, a morning somewhere quiet. Long enough that you stop being the new guy about an hour in.
Questions Men Actually Ask
No. All sorts of dads are here: new ones, step-dads, weekend dads, men whose kids left home years ago. But you do not need a kid to belong. If you show up for people and want to build something where you live, that is the whole test.
No. It is not run by a church and no meetup is put on by one. Faith does come up though. A lot of what gets talked about here is what matters and what makes a life worth living, and belief is tied up in that. Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and atheists all post about where they stand and what has helped them. That is men speaking for themselves rather than the group taking a position, and nobody has to agree or explain themselves.
Politics is the same. Both are welcome, in conversation and in the events men put on, as long as they are handled with discretion and kindness. The group rules put it plainly: hard conversations are welcome, disrespect is not.
No. Nobody sits in a circle. It is men doing something ordinary at the same time and getting a conversation out of it. If you need more than that, the Ask page has real numbers on it and we would rather you used them.
Being a member costs nothing, and there will never be a membership fee. Some events have a cost of their own, a ticket, a buy-in, your own dinner, and it says so on the event before you say yes.
There is one optional paid thing, the DadSquad+ pass, at $5.99 a month. It gets you discounts at partner venues and savings on ticketed events. It is an extra, not a door. Every meetup is open to you without it and plenty of the men here do not have one. The rest of what keeps this going comes from local businesses who sponsor it, which is why there is a directory and why some listings say partner.
Usually not. Most of what we run is for the men, and that is the point of it. When something is a family day it says so plainly on the event.
Then you do not say much. Standing around quietly next to other men is a legitimate way to spend a Saturday and it still counts.
Yes, and most of what is on the calendar started that way. You do not need permission and you do not need to be a leader. Say what you have in mind on the Host page and your squad leader helps you sort the venue and get the word out.