Beyond the Book Club

I have nothing against a book club, I promise. But so far, the ones I've been a part of are more about drinking wine and gossiping than about the actual book.

If you love your book club, awesome! Go finish that next chapter.

If not, this post is for you. Stop trying to read the Spark Notes version of the book the night before your club meets, and start something new. And I'm going to help ya'll get started.

How To Start a Non-Book Book Club

1. Make it Manageable 

Listen, sometimes I wish I could be the kind of person who flew through a new novel every week, but that's just not me. And this club shouldn't feel like homework or those chores that never seem to get crossed off your To Do lists. Instead of a book, have everyone choose something to share within a specific theme. Here are some ideas:

• Best magazine or online article you read that month
• Favorite new recipe
• Funniest thing that's happened to you lately
• Best date you've been on recently
• New skill or hobby you're working on
• A Netflix series you're loving
• Latest hike you went on
• A small getaway spot you've discovered, like a park, museum, or coffee shop
• Big dreams like career goals, ultimate vacation spot... all those Bucket List Items
• The podcast you're obsessed with

And you don't have to come up with allll these themes at once. You can take it week by week. Did you just try a new restaurant that you NEED all your friends to try? Make that the next theme and your friends can share their ideas as well.

2. Gather Your Girlfriends

Something I've learned with book clubs that I think totally applies to these non-book clubs too is not to limit yourself to just a handful of friends. Chances are not everyone will be able to make it to every gathering, and it is so fun to see the different chemistry with different combinations of people in a room. But I'm also wary of starting a 25 person group text and having my phone blow up all the time. Here are two ways to keep in touch, vote on the next topic, and foster this new community you're creating:

• A Facebook Group. Chances are, most of your group is on Facebook. Facebook groups can be great with all the different ways you can post and interact, create group-only events, and communicate to each other. This is my personal go-to.
• GroupMe. GroupMe is an awesome app I've seen people use forever but I just joined. It's pretty amazing. The best thing about GroupMe is it doesn't matter what kind of phone you have, what service you're on... anything like that. It's an easy-to-use chat platform for your phone that, like Facebook, allows you to create events and polls. Plus, it's really easy to add GIFs and those are pretty important. 

3. Choose a Name

Is this necessary? I mean, I guess not? Do you hate fun?

This is one of my favorite parts about creating a group chat, starting a Fantasy sports league, or anything of the sort. If you have a great idea already, pitch it! If not, have everyone in your group propose an idea and vote on it (ideally make this a blind vote so no feelings get hurt).

Here are a few ideas to spark your imagination:

• The Gathering 
• The Swarm, The Flock, The Zeal (or another animal group)
• A Group Has No Name (for the Game of Thrones fans)
• All the Feels
• Silence Isn't Golden
• Yaaas Queens
• Have You Heard
• LA Ladies (sub in your city!)
• Girl Gang
• The Pink Ladies

Go get 'em girls.