During last fall’s federal government shutdown, Tim Laughlin was furloughed and searched for ways to occupy his time.
A group called DMV Dads hosted weekly meetups on Friday mornings at a Panera Bread in Alexandria, Virginia. But when the shutdown ended, Laughlin was unable to attend the sessions, which he said helped him “maintain my sanity and come through it all in one piece.”
Searching for the same type of companionship, Laughlin was inspired to start his own weekly meetup. He started with email invitations, and the first dinner included nine people. Now, it’s grown into a Facebook community and the weekly Tuesday night dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings in Manassas draws about two dozen dads. It’s been executed for about 40 straight weeks, even through the holidays.
Prince William Times reported that Laughlin created the group Prince William Dads in October 2025.
“It is hard to make friends once you become a parent,” Laughlin, a father of three, said. “There’s so many other things pulling at your time and your energy and your attention that the one thing you kind of tend to lose focus on is building friendships. For many of us, it’s just something we’ve unintentionally neglected for a long time.”
For Laughlin, the feeling was amplified when two of his closest friends moved away during the pandemic. He quickly realized that the only outlet he had for meeting new people came through his kids’ social circles.
“I needed regular interaction that wasn’t about the kids,” Laughlin said. “I needed that time to sort of recharge my battery, so that when I do go back home at the end of the night, I’m ready to go, ready to rip and roar the next day with my kids and my wife.”
The dinners start at 5:30 p.m. and are hosted at the same long rectangular table near the bar. Sometimes, they last until close to 9 p.m. Conversations usually cover work, kids, spouses, the stock market or fantasy football. The group, Laughlin said, isn’t political, religious or focused on professional networking.
The group popped up on Kelvin Hamilton’s Facebook page, and though he considers himself an introvert, he decided to attend because he lives nearby. Now, he’s been a part of the meetups for about eight months.
“I took this opportunity to try to meet some folks and get out of the house, get out of my comfort zone and break out of the whole introvert thing,” Hamilton said. “I’m glad I did because it turned out to be a good brotherhood. A lot of guys here that I wish I’d have known a long time ago, but I feel like we’ve known each other for years.”
The events include both new dads and granddads and Laughlin doesn’t check if any attendees actually have kids or live in Prince William County.
In some cases, the bonds have become so strong that there have been other events too. There are planned Nationals or Wizards games, camping trips and pool parties. In one case, there was a painting and ice cream party at a frozen yogurt shop. Some of those events include spouses and kids.
“Mental health is so important and this is providing a great opportunity for just men to let their hair down, so to speak, to just hang out without having any type of motive or directive,” Gary Shivers said. “Just coming, hanging out for a few minutes and that’s it.”
Recently, Laughlin’s family had an emergency. With no family in the area, he panicked about where the kids could stay while he and his wife went to the hospital. Laughlin called one of the group dads and asked if the kids could be dropped off. He was told yes without any hesitation.
Then, when they got home from the hospital, the group put together a “meal train,” so they had home-cooked meals to enjoy for a week.
“When I started it, I was just hoping for a Tuesday night hangout once a week to find some people to connect with once a week,” Laughlin said. “It’s turned into way, way more than that. And I think it’s turned into way more than that for a lot of these guys, too.”
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