The Giggle Box Is the Perfect Social Distancing Activity
Where in Missoula can you visit a beach filled with flamingoes, a graffiti-filled alley, the bustling office of a cub reporter, and a grandmother’s house all in the span of an hour?
The Giggle Box of course!
Located in Southgate Mall (where Herbergers used to be), The Giggle Box is the perfect social distancing activity because the way it is set up ensures you’ll only interact with the group you arrived with. Participants book tickets in 15-minute time slots and tour at their own pace, usually about an hour.
The Giggle Box is an experiential art museum, meaning you are supposed to experience the art, not just view it. Just because it is a museum, don't think of it in terms of stuffy still pieces of artwork in gilded frames and marble statues that you can’t come near. At The Giggle Box, YOU are the exhibit. Every room is outfitted with professional lighting for taking great photos as you walk through the exhibits, and the owners encourage interaction. You can touch, play with and pose in each installation. The entire museum is a selfie station.
The museum was the brainchild of Logan Foret and Michael Gardner, whose background is in concert and performance set design, and artist Tanya Lee. Foret said he hopes The Giggle Box teaches kids that art doesn’t have to be static.
With Lee’s guidance and the help of dozens of volunteers all 25 rooms of the 18,000-square-foot store were transformed into eye candy for every taste. The days leading up to The Giggle Box’s opening were a community effort, reminiscent of the creation of a Carousel for Missoula. Volunteers swung by at all hours to eat pizza and work on various installations.
406 Families co-founder Tiffany Williams even created a flower wall, adhering thousands of flowers to a wall and felt scandalous doing so. Have you ever HOT GLUED flowers to the wall of the mall before?
After much ado and lots of community participation to get it up and going, The Giggle Box opened during a tenuous time — in March a week before Covid-19 shut Montana down. While the owners had to postpone the Grand Opening and many events thereafter, it turns out touring an experiential art museum is a perfect way to pass the time, especially during cold weather months.
You can even rent out The Giggle Box for birthdays and corporate parties.
Ticket Info
Giggle Box tours begin every 15 minutes and are limited to groups of six to ensure a private, calm experience. Please plan to arrive at least 5 minutes before your scheduled tour time and allow for 60 minutes to tour the entire space.
Children under the age of 4 are free and do not require a ticket
All guests under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult
Tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable and tickets purchased through third parties will not be accepted
Here’s the best part: The Giggle Box is offering 406 Families readers $2 off per ticket. Visit their ticket page here, schedule your tour on the calendar, and then enter the code 406families at checkout to claim your discount now through Nov. 11.
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