Most Cheap and Cheerful Alum event?
 

I know that many generous gc alums have posted their local AA events, and I have read about many that I plan to use in the next year. But what I’d like to ask now is; what is your favorite easy, low-cost event?
We have a group of alumnae exhausted by a year of difficult and pricey events, so we need to ease up on the amount of planning and spending.
What’s worked the best in your area?

Tour of the Redhook Brewery. Costs $1 and you get to keep the souvenir glass. We then usually go to lunch afterwards at somewhere inexpensive (Red Robin).

Happy hours can be cheap as well.

Usually our Founders Day is the only expensive event for us.

We had two that were very cheap and very popular.

One was tailgating for the Knights game (minor-league baseball team in the area). It was only $8 to get in to the game, but only four of us actually went in! Everybody came for the tailgating in the parking lot. :D

The other was a potluck/game night. One of the alums hosted it at her house, and everyone brought a covered dish of some sort, and a board game or cards or something. I wasn't able to attend this one, but I heard it went very well.

Great Ideas!
 

Thanks, these are some great ideas! I love the tour idea--I'm going to do a internet search for something similar in my area! And the tailgating for minor league baseball is great, a super fall kick-off event. I was thinking of a traditional pot-luck, I love these myself but I find that really young alumnae get intimidated by the idea of making something to share with everyone. Maybe we'll assign them salad so they won't stress!
thanks again!!!

Just tell them they can buy something. I don't think I've actually made anything for a potluck in years.

Our best "On Target" Event
 

We had a meeting at the shooting range and had an off-duty police officer teach us all how to shoot Glock 9's.
Just cost the shooting range time/ammunition.
Silver

The one event we had where we had the most turn out and people enjoyed was an Alumn mixer with one of the fraternity alumn associations in the area. It was a great idea since it gets so hard to meet people after college and why should the collegiates have all the mixer fun :). We got together at a local bar and did a happy hr where we had a room reserved for us and we did icebreakers. It was great, some dates and business contacts came out of it!

A "Make Your Own Ice Cream Sundae" event is similar to a potluck, but less intimidating and time consuming because everybody just brings some sort of ice cream topping to share. Anybody can buy some hot fudge, caramel or whipped cream!

Combine that with a Chick Flick night and you're good!

Dee

Potlucks with a theme can be very successful. Our favorite is the Mexican Potluck where everyone brings some sort of Mexican dish - which means lots of chips, salsa, queso, bean dips, etc. We almost always host our events at a member's home. Last time, everyone else brought the food and the host provided great margaritas - both spiked and virgin options.

We also have "philanthropy" nights where everyone brings a donation for goodie bags to donate to a local charity - such as a battered women's shelter - we spent the night stuffing bags with soap, shampoo, etc, munched on snacks and spent some fun time with sisters swapping stories.

We had a financial advisor come one time, she was free, and got some referals out of it. She spent 45 minutes or so talking about women and investing, giving advice, warning us of mistakes that many women make, etc. I'm sure if you called any American Express Financial, AG Edwards, etc office, you could get someone to come. They will see it as an opportunity to find new clients.

Look for "Free Concerts/Movies/Plays in the Park" type events in your area. We did that when I lived in Texas and it was great fun. We all just brought our own picnic dinner and enjoyed the concert.

One of our other associations had a wine and cheese tasting party where 1/3 brought their favorite white wine, 1/3 brought their favorite red wine, 1/3 brought their favorite cheese and crackers.

THANK YOU!
 

Wow, you guys have held some creative events. The shooting range one was definitely original, I've never heard of that one before. I bet everyone had a great time!
I like the variations on the pot-luck theme, that gives everyone a focus and you could tie it to various holidays etc...
The mixer one is great. I'd love to see that one taken on, especially by our younger alumnae I bet they would love planning and inviting to that one. Also, there's potential for a city-wide Panhellenic/IFC mixer. I think that would be fun to work towards as maybe a once- a year "big event."
I also so appreciate the philanthopy idea. So many women want to be able to do more philanthropic work but our lives are so crowded. That's such a good way to get together and do something useful at the same time.
You guys are fabulous, your AAs must be so much fun to be involved in.
thanks again,

Great ideas!

Our AA has done this for the past two years, and it's been very well attended:

Holiday cookie swap, combined with a Toys for Tots collection. It's held on a Saturday morning in early December, the hostess serves a light lunch (like soup and bread), then everyone heads off for holiday shopping. There is a contest for best cookie, with an (ugly) owl ornament as the rotating award.

Edited to add: Last year we boxed up a bunch of the cookies for the collegiate chapter to snack on during finals. They were thrilled!

this was not something my ac did, but i went to a a "byob" party...bring your own banana. you had to decorate your banana for a theme. there were prizes for the best "dressed," most origional, etc., then we made banana splits! everyone could bring their own banana and then assign a topping or an ice cream, drinks, etc.

for your potluck, you could list out the items you need and let people choose. personally, i always choose a wine or desert, so i don't have to make it! for our holiday potluck, we said people could either bring a dish or make a $10 donation to our philanthropy. some of our new moms were thrilled to make a donation instead of having to cook!

Re: Most Cheap and Cheerful Alum event?
 

We have an annual Spring picnic where we invite the brothers and their spouses/kids. The event is held at a park where we use the grills. We all BYOB it and bring whatever we feel like grilling.We usually follow the event with a miniature golf tournament. It's very inexpensive and your wife won't bust your b@!!$ too hard for going out. :)

Best Regards,

Boodleboy322
Phi Mu Alpha
Gamma Theta Alumnus
Delta Omega Class of 99

ornament exchanges at christmas are fun

bunko parties are popular

have some speakers in-investment or financial planning, insurance, wills and trusts, cooking, pampered chef, mary kay(might give everyone mini facials)

spa night-if you have massage schools in town, they may give short massages for free for the practice

themed potlucks

Re: Our best "On Target" Event
 

GREAT idea!!! We did this for another organization, not our AA. One of the members belonged to the range, and some NRA sharp shooters gave the short-version Personal Protection class!

Potlucks are popular here, too - and here's a hint, if you're into them: when you see a yard sale, pick up a casserole dish or plate for a dollar or under. That way, if you don't get your dish back at the end of the night, you don't feel as badly about it.

We've done Mary Kay, Avon, and some candle thing. This month, we're going to meet at our chapter suite and paint. That could be interesting!

ONe of my favorite programs of the past few years was having a local police officer come and do a "safety audit" of the hostess' house. He talked about alarm system pro/con, deadbolt locks and how to deal with home intruders. Most police departments have someone designated for 'community education' and they are happy to present safety issues pertinent to your area. He went an hour over... at our request. Some of his suggestions were simple things that I've installed... while I'd like to think the bad guys would go to the expensive homes by the golf course and not drive all the way over to my subdivision, I'd rather be safe.

We also did a silent auction last year that raised over $1000! We called it "Make it, Bake it, Fake it, Take it". Everyone brought something.. could be home made, or not. It was soooooooo much fun.

I've been wondering for years. What exactly is bunko?

These are all GREAT ideas.

i have played it once years ago(and i stunk), but bunko involves dice-everyone has their own dice . can someone else explain it in detail?

Bunko:

Four players to a table. You are paired with the person across from you. There are 6 5-minute games to a set (and 3 sets to a match): you roll for 1's in the 1st game, 2's in the 2nd game, 3's in the 3rd game, 4's in the 4th game, 5's in the 5th game, and 6's in the 6th game. After each game, the winning partners (the ones with the most points) move to the next table but switch partners (they will each partner with one of the losing players from the other table). You most probably will pair back up with previous partners, but try to pair up with everyone at least once (it's more fun that way).

For whatever number you are targeting, you count a point for each one. If you roll 3 of that number, it's a Bunko (of course, you have to holler "BUNKO"), and it's worth 21 points. If you roll 3 of another number (like 3 4's when you are trying for 2's), it's like a wild card. It's worth 5 points, and your turn continues. When you don't roll anything that is worth any points, your turn ends, and you pass the dice to the next person. Partners combine their score to see which team won.

Prizes may be given (or $$ split from the pot) for most points, least points, most bunkos, etc. It's a fun time, but it's a fast-paced game because you are trying to get the most points you can in only 5 minutes. Sometimes we all start talking and forget to count or set the timer!!! There is no talent involved and no thinking, just a little math! ;) Hope this helps.

When I played, each table had 3 dice that we all passed to the next player, but I guess this could be another option.

Wow, fabulous events!
 

All of you must have some fabulous AA's going on!
I love the "safety audit" idea. That sounds so helpful. It also sounds like a show I saw once or twice, "It Takes a Thief." The premis is to get a family to leave their house for the night and challenge a professional thief to try and break in. The she sow films the break in and ensuing theft and show the shocked family. The thieves always manage to get in within a matter of minutes if not seconds. It's shocking. Then they advise the exact measures the homeowners should take to protect themelves and their homes. Its great stuff, scary but actually quite helpful.
I would love to do something like that this fall.

I've also never played Bunko but it sounds perfect, cheap, fun, and easy to play.
I also thought of a evening of playing "Celebrity" I always think that's a fun game. Maybe a game night this winter would be a fun idea.

What a lot of fun ideas! It's nice to have such a variety of new things to suggest for the coming year.

For an inexpensive dinner your chapter can do a baked potatoe bar (everyone brings an item to go on the them 10 that I can think of) and usually the hostess provides the potatoes and elect some one to bring the chili or crock pots if your are into to that.

Another would be potluck Bunko night you could do a coed and invite significant others or gals night out. Charge $5 to $10 to put in the pool ($10 would be for the fundraising part). Pardon me if any of these were mentioned already I didn't read all of the postings.;)

edited to add:
Texas Hold em is a big thing out here now and I have been to a backyard movie night (need a projector hooked up to dvd or vcr) and a large white sheet works great for a screen. We collect $4-5 to cover the cost of the movie and snacks.

Spin the bottle and ho-train.

and how much do your charge to do your comedy routine, dionysus?

Night at the Movie, get Animal House (Or something along the line of a Greek Thing), add pop corn and beverage!

See if You can compare any of the characters in the Movie.:D

Or for Grins, get "Blazing Saddles" funnier than all get out!

Free or charge a few bucks to pay for the event.

Cook out with special twist.

Do a Shrimp Boil, everyone bring 2 lb. of shrimp and do potatoes and salad for side. Do at someones house.

We do this every Homecoming at tail gate before the Game. Messy but damn good and fun!:cool: