Setting Up a Monthly Kids Club
Addison Station Kids Club
One of the best parts of college was the immediate vicinity to friends. It was wonderful to get back to a dorm at the end of the day, simply walk down the hall to a common area, and bump into someone to hang out with.
This is hard to replicate in the real world after school. People return to their home cities or travel to different cities for a job. Even when friends end up in the same city, they live in different neighborhoods and have plans to coordinate around. Any kind of plans requires planning and a group text thread. So many texts threads…
This only gets harder when people have kids. Instead of just getting yourself, and potentially a partner, across the city, friends need to travel with an ornery baby or toddler and a small arsenal of baby-related paraphernalia. As any parent knows, those first days of parenthood are a confusing mix of emotions. On one hand, nothing feels more right than being at home with your new family. But on the other, it can be kind of lonely and you miss your friends.
So what to do?
My wife and I chose chose to institute a monthly kids club where, on the first Saturday of every month, our doors are open from 9am - 12pm for a playdate at our place. This kids club operates based on a couple of principles to try and emulate the drive-by-hangout spirit of college as much as possible.
- I created a simple WhatsApp group for those invited to the club where I send out a poll a week before the planned playdate to get a sense of our turn out. The basic ask here is for people to indicate whether they are planning on coming or not. If you’re not sure, just mark that in the poll. This thread is meant to be as low-burden as possible.
- If you weren’t planning on coming but your plans changed, just show up anyways. Or philosophy is that we are going to be in our home attempting to entertain a three year old and a one-year old during these hours - the more the merrier!
- Refreshments are basic to reduce the mental burden of planning - ours are coffee, fruit salad, and bagels.
- Guests can just bring themselves and their family. No obligation to bring anything!
This little monthly event has worked well for us. It creates a sense of community within our pocket of Chicago by allowing us to see people we care about with all the back-and-forth that seems to be otherwise required for more ad-hoc get togethers. As added bonuses, it gives us something to look forward to in the cold months and it’s fun for our various social circles to cross paths. At the end of the day, our house is going to get obliterated by our toddler and one-year-old on a Saturday morning, so we might as well open our doors and spend some time with friends while their at it!
Starting your own kids club
Here’s my suggestion for setting up your own kids club if you’re interested:
- Pick a cadence and time.
- Set up a group thread on WhatsApp and name it something cheeky like the Addison Station Kids Club (ASKD).
- Introduce the concept to the group and set your first date.
- Get some coffee, fruit salad, and bagels. I splurged and got this coffee dispenser to keep the coffee hot.
- Bonus: Once you’ve got your feet wet, start planning some seasonal activities and themes (i.e. flower potting in the spring, college football the fall, etc.)